a n y c h a n g e t hat will not only benefit commercial i n t ercommunication, b u t take that load off the shoulders of the DIPPINGS g enerations yet unb o r n . The work given under the head AND “Proposed changes in British Cur­ CLIPPINGS. rency,” is so valuable (a s showing a working system), that did space permit The ancient Romans used to keep ac­ we should quote it entire; as it is, we cannot refrain from submitting the count of the years by driving each year author’s “suggestions”: — a nail into the Temple of Minerva; thus “To us who have glided with such each nail became a sort of hieroglyph, ease into the use of decimal moneys, and the shrine of the owl-eyed God­ it seems that the people of Great Bri­ tain are unduly conservative, for the dess of Wisdom, the reliquary changes needed are very simple. Ap­ of a series of units of occult signifi­ plying a nomenclature merely by way cance. Prom the Temple of Minerva to of respectful suggestion, the table the portal of the rationalistic Twentieth would be: — £1—10 florins, Century, is a 1 florin—10 dismes, DECIMALSI AND long hark, but 1 disme—10 doits. DECIMAL ISATlON we have travel­ The doit or mil would be a trifle below BY led it, collecting the value of the present farthing, 1,- 000 going to the £ in stead of 960. ARTHUR HARVEY, and acquiring on Opponents of decimalisation for Eng- F . R. S. C. our way much land say a farthing is a very important knowledge on coin, but to us it seems too trifling to many subjects, but on none more than create concern in actual transactions over the counter, while as value in ac­ on the very subject of which the nails count the mil is rather more useful, in the temple were a sign—the sub­ and very much easier to deal with. ject of numeration. The English would certainly regret the penny, but even that name would prob­ The latest addition to fact and theory ably be restored with a new value, as along this line comes from the pen of soon as the old coinage had gone out A rth u r H arvey, F. R. S. C., of To­ of circulation. The new coinage would ronto, and is entitled, "Decimals and require: — Multiple of Decimalisation.” Value. Name. the mille. It is the office of the literary a rtist 1,000, the sovereign 1,00 mills. to make any topic he touches not .500, the half sovereign 500 “ only vital, but enjoyable; that Mr. .100, the florin...... 100 “ .050, the shilling, or sem i-florin 50 “ Harvey is able to breathe a living .010, the disme or te n n e r 10 “ spirit into the dry bones of such a .005, the new p en n y ...... 5 “ theme as decimals shows him to be .001, the d o it...... 1 “ an artist of no mean order, while his In all seven pieces, three only being new. The first two would be of gold, technical handling of his subject proves the next three of silver, the last two him a logician beyond reach of cavil. of bronze. A short period of confus­ At the outset, we have a proem skil­ ion would ensue, in respect of the fully managed. In a couple of para­ lower orders, which give rise, it is graphs we get hints that bring before true, to the most numerous trans­ the eye of fancy that dry rogue Auto- actions, but its endurance should be lycus, perhaps Shakespeare’s choicest rendered easier by the conviction that rascal, with his ballads, and his rib­ the reform would benefit untold future bons, and his cambrics, and his lawns, generations.” and his “pins and poking-sticks of Under the head, “Need for Britain steel”; of Polixenes and Camillo; of the to Adopt the Metric System,” Mr. clown Mopsa, Dorcas and the rest; of Harvey shows the disadvantage under Florizel and “the prettiest low-born which England labors in the markets lass that ever ran on the green sward,” of the world, and incidentally the dis­ Perdita, “the queen of curds and advantages under which we labor, she cream;” and incidentally we have the being one of our chief customers, by keynote to the on-coming discussion, clinging to antiquated methods and in the difficulties the clown experiences complicated systems of weights and in making a reckoning of a certain measures, when we have but to put yield of wool and its fetching—“with­ out a hand and take the arrangement out counters.” This incident, the France introduced to the notice of the author points out, brings us “close to world, an arrangement in which not one of the chief reforms of recent only is the easy gradations of “tens’ times, namely, the use in arithmetic, ployed, but in which the units of not merely of decimals, but even of lengths, superficies solidity and weight the figures which we now employ.” are simplified and correlated. The United Following this, Mr. Harvey takes a States is shown to be already moving brief glance at the history of early in the matter of a change, while in systems of numeration, touches lucidly Canada the metric system, though on the decimal system, which, by the legalized, is not yet, owing to the slug- way, stepped westward to us along the gishnes of England, practical. same road our language stepped (from Under the headings “Decimalisation India by way of Arabia), and sup­ of the Arc” and “Decimal Division of planted, as the language supplanted, Time” is pointed out the inestimable Rome and what was Roman. Some advantage of such methods in regard nice bits of history are brought in to the construction of marine charts, under the clauses dealing with the in geographic surveys, in the study of duodecimal and sexagesimal systems, the structure of the earth’s surface, and the stirring times of the French its grand features of mountains, val­ Revolution are solidified for us under leys, etc, and in the convenience which the head, “The Metric System.” Here, would accrue from a more thoroughly too, we are once more brought face harmonized and regular system of to face with the “Mother of Progress,” time-keeping the world over. in the person of la belle France; catch The essay closes with an appendix a passing glimpse of the cynical, sar­ showing the experience which Austria, donic Talleyrand under one of the more Hungary, Belgium, France, Germany, pleasant aspects of his character, the Italy, Switzerland and a score more thoughtful and astute statesman, and other European countries have had are obliged to confess that the isola­ with the metric system, and their tion of England has sometimes deserv­ ( with but trifling differences) unanim­ ed the qualification stupid, rather than ity of opinion as to its superiority over that which we so often and so proudly ancient processes. render it, “splendid.” The pamphlet comes from the press Extremely practical and to the point of Hunter, Rose & Co., and is entered is the information we get under the as “The First Anglo-Keltic Work for head, “Inconvenience of British Coin­ the Twentieth Century.” F. age.” How well we all remember the heart-burnings occasioned by those dreadful “Pounds, Shilling s and Pence