In the year 1707 the pillar dollar contained 386 7/8 gr. troy of pure silver, as assayed by Sir Isaac Newton, Master of the Mint; as the pound troy of English standard was at this time divided into sixty-two shillings, it may be easily calculated that the value of the pillar dollar was then 4s. 6d. After the Declaration of Independence this coin became the monetary unit of the United States. It had then, however, for some years contained only 377 1/4 gr. of fine silver, and this was in 1786 further reduced to 375.64 gr. In 1792, the dollar was adopted as the unit of value of the United States, and its weight of fine silver was fixed at 371 1/4 gr. By these changes the value of the dollar in English money was reduced to 49 5/16 pence, but yet the value of the old Spanish dollar of 386 7/8 gr. continued until quite recently to be termed the " par of exchange" between England and America. After the revolution of the Spanish-American colonies, the coinage of the pillar dollar, which perhaps properly belongs to the history of the coinage of Spain, was abandoned, and its place in commerce has been supplied by the dollars of the Mexican, Peruvian, and Bolivian Republics. The Mexican dollar was the chief coin circulated in China until the issue of the rival "trade-dollar" of the United States.

* "So called from the pillars on the reverse of the coin, which represent the pillars of Hercules, or the Straits of Gibraltar. In Morocco, across the Straits, they are called cannon dollars, from a pardonable misapprehension of the device and its meaning." (' Manual of Coins,' by Eckfeldt and Dubois, p. 119, note.)

In many of the South American Republics, including Brazil, the currency is exclusively paper, coins being only manufactured for export. In Bolivia the following regulations prevail. Gold and silver are both standards of value, in the relation of 15 1/2 to 1; the unit of value is the "boliviano" ( = 5 francs). The fineness of coins of both metals is 900 per mille, and the remedy of fineness is 1 per mille for gold coin; for silver coin no remedy is mentioned. The remedy of weight for the gold "'bolivar" ( = 50 francs) is .002 grm., for the "half-bolivar" .0025 grm., and for the "escudo" ( = 10 francs) .002875 grm. The remedy of weight for the silver "boliviano" ( = 5 francs) is .005 grm., and more for the smaller silver coins. The only copper coin is the "centavo" (=5 centimes), which is not legal tender for amounts greater than 10 centavos. Peruvian coin is established upon the same principles, and Chili also uses the standard of 9/10ths, though subsidiary silver coins are issued of the fineness of 835 per mille.

Throughout Asia silver is still the principal medium of exchange, and the fluctuations in the price of silver bullion are perhaps more due to the increase or decrease of the demand from that continent than to any European influence. Gold is, indeed, so valuable as to be almost useless to the vast native population of Hindustan, where the wealth of an individual would often be more than measured by a single piece.

For the following particulars as to the currency of Hindustan, China, and Persia, we are chiefly indebted to the excellent 'Manual of Coins' compiled by Messrs. Eckfeldt and Dubois, of the United States Mint, in 1842.

In Hindustan, the three Presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, issued their own distinct currencies until 1835, when the coinage of all British India was rendered uniform by Act of Parliament. In this year the Calcutta Mint adopted the standard of 916 2/3 fine, which had been used at Madras since 1818, and at Bombay since 1825. The weight of the gold mohur and of the silver rupee was at the same time fixed at 180 grs. troy. The rupee is practically the standard coin of the country. It is divided into 12 annas; the anna is again divided into 12 pice, and sea-shells called cowries are used by the natives for more minute subdivisions.

It is remarkable that China, " the centre of the world," as she is proudly titled by her people, possesses no gold or silver currency of her own manufacture. The only coin struck by the Chinese mints is the brass or copper 'cash'; of these about 1700 or 1800 are equivalent to the Chinese ' tael' or monetary unit, which represents nearly 580 grs. troy of pure or 'sycee' silver.* The tael is decimally subdivided into 'mace' and 'candareens.' Gold is only current in bars,+ in which shape silver is also sometimes paid.

* The exact value of the Chinese tael it is difficult to discover. There are in fact several taels, many of them being only local. The most important is perhaps the "haikwan" tael, which appears to he generally used for the payment of custom-house duties; its weight is about 578 grs. troy. In commercial transactions almost every port uses its own tael, the "Shanghai tael" being perhaps the best known. The rate of exchange between the various taels and the copper "cash," which are of very uncertain size and weight, fluctuates almost daily. See the Appendix to the ' Report of the Director of the U. S. Mint for 1874-5/ pp. 88-93.

+ From their peculiar shape these bars are called " shoes" by English, and "boats" (schuit) by Dutch and Japanese traders.

The coinage of Persia is rather interesting than important, as that of one of the first countries which are recorded to have coined money.

The normal money-weight of Persia is the 'miscal,' equivalent to about 3 dwts., and the present gold 'toman,' which weighs f of a miscal (53 3/4 grs. troy), corresponds to the old European ducat or sequin. The silver 'sahib-koran' weighs 83 grs., and, as ten sahib-korans are equivalent to a toman, gold is estimated with regard to silver in the relation of 15 1/2 to 1. The copper 'shakee' is worth one twentieth of a sahib-koran.

It is not, however, easy to assign any definite weight to the coins of this country, as it appears to be the fashion there for the monarchs to frequently recoin them, "not so much to refresh their appearance, as to derive a revenue by making them of less weight."*