PEN 
American dates. We (hall here merely enumerate them, 
and mention the time of their inftitution. They are— 
The American Philofophical Society, formed 1769;. the 
Society for promoting Political Inquiries, instituted in 
February 1787; the College of Phyficians,'inftituted in 
in the fame year, and incorporated in 1789; the Pennfyl¬ 
vania Hofpital, eftablifhed in 1751 5 Philadelphia Dif- 
penfary, inftituted in 1786; the Pennfylvania Society for 
the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of free Negroes 
unlawfully held in bondage, begun in 1774, and enlar¬ 
ged in 1787 5 the Society for alleviating the Miferies of 
Prifons, which is become a regular work-houfe with an 
annexed place of confinement; the Society of United 
Brethren for propagating the Gofpel amongthe Heathens, 
inftituted in 1787 ; the Pennfylvania Society for the En¬ 
couragement of Manufactures and ufeful Arts, inftituted 
in 1787; the Philadelphia Society for the Information 
and Aftiftance of Perfons emigrating from from foreign 
Countries, inftituted in 1794. Befides' thefe, there are 
two infurance-companies; an humane fociety, for the 
recovery of drowned perfons, inftituted in 1770; an Agri¬ 
cultural Society, a fociety for the relief of German, and 
another for the relief of Irifli, emigrants; a Marine So¬ 
ciety, a Society for the Support of Widows and Families 
of Prefbyterian Clergymen, and St. George’s and St. An¬ 
drew's charitable Societies. Molt of thefe focieties are 
in the city of Philadelphia. 
In the Philofophical TranfaCtions for 1757, there is an 
account of a fpring in Pennfylvania, which rifes from a 
copper-mine, and yields 800 hogflieads in 24 hours. 
The water is of a pale-green colour, of an acid, inky, 
and naufeous, tafte. The faline matter which it holds in 
folution is probably fulphate of copper; fora piece of 
polifhed iron immerfed in it is foon covered with a cruft 
of metallic copper. It contains alfo, it is faid, fulphate 
of iron. 
Near Brownfville, a town on the Monongahela, in the 
western part of Pennfylvania, a ftorm lately (July 1821) 
tore up a large oak. By its fall with its roots, the fur- 
faceof a fand-ftone was laid bare about fixteen feetfquare. 
On the fmooth furface of this work feveral figures are 
engraved, among which are two of the human form, a 
man and woman, with a tree between them ; the woman 
has fruit in her hand : figures of deer, bears, and turkey- 
cocks, are alfo Carved on it. The oak was at lead from 
500 to 600 years old, confequently thefe figures muft 
have been carved long before the difcovery of America 
by Columbus. Similar difcoveries have likewife been 
made in other parts of the United States. In the coun¬ 
tries about the Ohio feveral hills have already been dif- 
covered, which are certainly the work of human hands, 
and muft have required the labour of thoufands. On the 
fidesand on the fummit grow large oaks, apparently from 
four to fix hundred years old. Near the mouth of the 
river Mufkingham, 183 miles below Pittlburgh, there is 
an ancient fortification, occupying about forty acres of 
ground. Round it are feveral quadrangles of 140 to 200 
feet in length, furrounded with ramparts from ten to 
thirty feet in height, on which there are alfo very old 
oaks. On each fide are three openings at equal diftances; 
the middle one about thirty feet in breadth and twenty- 
two in height. The whole is furrounded by a mound of 
earth, the bafe of which is from thirty-fix to forty feet, 
and its height about ten feet. According to all appear¬ 
ance, the works have been abandoned for many centuries, 
but by whom they were ereffed is unknown; the oldeft 
Indians fay that they exifted at the arrival of their fore¬ 
fathers. In digging cellars and wells, are occafionally 
found petrified inftruments and utenfils, which indicate 
a degree of civilization unknown in any of the Indian 
nations. For accounts of other antiquities and natural 
curiofities, fee the articles Philadelphia, Reading, 
Schuylkill, &c. Morfe's American Geography, 31 onth- 
ly Mag. Aug. 1817. Gent. Mag. Nov. 1822, 
PEN 557 
PEN'NY, a town of Bengal: eighteen miles fouth-eaft 
of Purneah. 
PEN'NY, f. plural pence; [penig, Sax. It is derived 
by Camden from pecunia; but by others from pemlo, to 
weigh, and it was fometimes written, according to this 
origin, pending.'] A fmall coin, of which twelve make a 
/hilling. A penny is the radical denomination from which 
Englifti coin is numbered, the copper halfpence and far¬ 
things being only ntimmorum famuli, a fubordinate fpe- 
cies of coin.—The fame fervant found one of his fello-.v- 
fervants which owed him an hundred pence, and took him 
by the throat. Matthew. 
She fighs and ftiakes her empty ftioes in vain, 
No filver penny to reward her pain. Dryden. 
Proverbially. A fmall fum.—We will not lend thee a 
penny. Shakefpeare. —Becaufe there is a latitude of gain 
in buying and felling, take not the utmoft penny that is 
lawful; for, although it be lawful, yet it is not fafe. Bp. 
Taylor's Holy Living. 
You fhall hear 
The legions, now in Gallia, fooner landed 
In our not-fearing Britain, than have tidings 
Of any penny tribute paid. Shakefpsare's Cymbeline. 
Money in general.— It may be a contrivance of fome 
printer, who hath a mind to make a penny. Swift's Mif- 
cellanies. 
Pepper and Sabean incenfe take; 
And with poft-hafte thy running markets make; 
Be fure to turn the penny. Dryden. 
The ancient Englifti penny, penig, or pening, was the 
firft filver coin (truck in England ; nay, and the only one 
current among our Saxon anceftors; as is agreed by 
Camden, Spelman, Dr. Hickes, &c. 
Of the heptarchic pennies we have given an account 
under the article Medal, vol. xiv. p 820. and we have 
there given a brief hiftory of the penny, as a filver coin, 
both before and after the Conqueft. 
The penny, which in Elthelred’s time was the 20th 
part of the troy ounce, was equal in weight to our three¬ 
pence; five of them made one (lulling, or fcilling Saxon ; 
and thirty a mark or mancufe, equal to our 7s. 6d. It 
was the largeft filver coin in England, and retained this 
value till the reign of Edward III. 
Till the time of king Edward I. the penny was ftruck 
with a crofs fo deeply indented in it, that it might be e.a- 
fily broken, and parted, on occafion, into two parts; 
thence called half-pennies ; or into four, thence called 
fourthings, or farthings. But that prince coined it with¬ 
out indenture; in lieu of which lie firft ftruck round 
half-pence and farthings. 
Stow, in his Annals, p. 200, fays, that half-pennies 
were firft coined round, A. D. 1279, in the reign of Ed¬ 
ward I. But hiftorians have fince difcovered, that half¬ 
pennies of this kind were coined by Henry I. and that, 
though the ufual way in the reign of the two firft Williams 
was to cut the penny into two for making of half-pennies, 
&c. yet it has been fuppofed that fome few halfpennies 
might even then be coined round. Some few pieces of 
this kind are preferved in the cabinets of the curious. 
See Mr. Pegge’s remarks on this fubjedt in Gent. Mag. 
vol. xxviii. p. 64. 
Edward I. alfo reduced the weight of the penny to a 
ftandard ; orderingthat it ftiould weigh thirty-two grains 
of wheat, taken out of the middle of the ear. (Stat. 13 
Edw. I.) This penny was called the penny Jlerlmg. 
Twenty of thefe pence were to weigh an ounce; whence 
the-penny became a weight as well as a coin. 
By 9 Edw. III. it w’as diminilhed to the twenty-fixth 
part of the troy ounce : by 2 Henry VI. it was the thirty- 
fecond part; by 5 Edw. IV. it became the fortieth, and 
alfo by 36 Hen. VIII. and afterwards the forty-fifth ; but 
by 2 Eliz. fixty pence were coined out of the ounce, and 
during 
