444 
HE POUT —1854. 
only decimal in their steps from the highest to tile lowest of their four moneys of 
account, but in reality millesimal, and therefore necessarily requiring four columns 
of figures and moneys of account, in all accounts of even one pound in amount. 
The scheme of this description proposed in the Report of the Committee of the 
House of Commons, dividing the pound sterling into mils, with intermediate decimal 
terras called cents and florin*,— the scheme of M r. I lead lam and Mr. Davidson, dividing 
a new pound of 80s. lOrf. into 1000 farthings, with intermediate decimal steps.—the 
scheme of “A Haired Merchant,"—of n Correspondent of the " Economist'’ and 
" Glasgow Citizen"—with various attempted modifications—me all shown to be alike 
bad and vicious in form, inconvenient, injurious and imjust, if noL wholly imprac¬ 
ticable in operation, most unnecessarily destructive of our present moneys of account 
and familiar coins,—in short, unsound" in principle, and mischievous in result. 
The suggestions for getting over these fatal objections are found to be alike incfilc- 
tive and unjust, und such as neither have, nor are ever likely to have, the sanction of 
Parliament. Whatever variety of schemes, arid under whatever new nnmes and 
altered forms, and whether four, three, or two denominations arc adopted, this 
millesimal division, by means of decimal steps of the highest money of account, mvit 
ever involve the same results. 
2 nd. The second class comprise the various schemes which surrender and abandon 
the pound as a money of account, and adopt a lower ruling integer or unit. Iher 
are the scheme proposed by Mr. W. T. Thomson, of the Standard Insurance Office, 
Edinburgh, to the Institute of Actuaries, adopting ten shillings ns the highest money 
of account, and thus, by decimal steps, briuging out halves of the proposed money i 
o( the Committee,—a scheme shown to involve more than all the preceding objec¬ 
tions, with only slight advantages gnined in (wo minor points ; the two schemes 
adopting 2s. and is. ns the highest moneys of account— only in fact the plans of 
the Committee s Hcport and Mr. Thomson's, without their highest terms, the pouml 
and the ten shillings, or ducat; and the three, now well-known, and moat exten¬ 
sively and beneficially introduced, decimnl systems of Kurope and American-founded 
on the dollar, equal to about Jive times 10 , or fit) d. Rnylish, the /loriu to twice tenpvw' 
and the franc to just nbout Hid. present English currency. Notwithstanding that the 
lint oj these adopted our own penny ns its foundation, and the consequent biciM) 
and simplicity of the transition from our pounds, shillings, and pence iuto the 
present American decimal currency, an examination of the principles nod prnctic-i 
results of the brench monetary' system, with its smaller unit, shows its vust and in¬ 
structive superiority to cvitv other yet introduced,—but at the same time the u 
impracticability and inexpediency of our adopting the proposition of Mr. James Yite*. 
to introduce, intact and without modification, their beautiful *' systbne metrique. 
3rd. Wc are thus brought by a process of exhaustion, arising out of the unwar¬ 
rantably injurious effects, and indeed impracticability of every other scheme vvlia 
ever, to modes of proceeding little more than permissive, but affording, nlm > 
without perceptible change ur inconvenience of any description, AM- we scck-a l’ urC 
and perfect decimal avateiii of accounts, entirely suited irt results to cvcrv obj • 
social and rommomul n*\A . ■ • .-*...winrd of vfliutr 
dence of the Cumnuttce of the House D f Commons, with reference io a vW 
sounder, and more comprehensive mode of proceeding ’—absolutely requires notin'. 
more than to substitute ten pence as the money of account instead of twclvcpencc 
by rendering the former instead of the latter the lequt form of account in t* 
country. I he important results of this were explained, and its further 
mere,at advantages (discovered and established by the late Mr. James Laurie), shorn; 
ES?'“ “«“ un ‘ ^ last valuable work, completed on his death-bed- 
heat ions of this last scheme were suggested by Dr. John Edward Gray, of the Bn - 
Museum, and by Mr. Minasi. 
Concluding observations were made on the other arrangements which might bene¬ 
ficially accompany this scheme on its introduction into this country, together 
anticipations of tfce grand world-wide results to which it would ultimately lead- 
