13s. 4d.; the carolus, 23s.; the jacobus, 25s.; and the moidore, 27s., are no longer coined. When United States currency was first issued, £1 was worth $4.444. In 1837, the fineness of our gold coin was reduced, and £1 became worth about $4.84. Since the accession of Victoria, the fineness of English gold coin has been increased, and now £1 is worth $4.8675. Our quotations of exchange are based upon the old value of the pound, and hence exchange upon England is always nominally at a premium. Thus: Real value of pound sterling.....$4.8675 This gives a nominal premium, when exchange is really at par, of .4231 4.444' or 94 per cent.. At the nominal rate of exchange, the £ = $4, whence the s. = $4. Hence, to find the value in American coin of English money, we may reduce it to shillings, multiply by &, and add the premium of exchange. THE METRIC SYSTEM. As Congress has authorized the use of this system in the United States, it is possible that it may gradually creep into general use. It is so simple and comprehensive, and so extensively used in scientific measurements, that we are glad to give its leading features. It was intended that the unit of this system should be .0001 of the distance from the equator to the North Pole, and careful measurements were undertaken from which this distance might be accurately computed. In accordance with the result of these calculations, a platinum measure of length called the metre, 39.3708 standard inches long, was constructed and deposited in the national archives of France. The unit of surface was made the are, a square whose side was ten metres, equal to 119.6 sq. yds. The unit of volume was made the stere, a cube whose edge was one metre, equal to 1.308 cu. yds. The unit of capacity was made the litre, a cube whose edge was one-tenth of a metre, equal to .908 qt. dry, or 1.0567 qt. liq. meas. The unit of weight was made the gramme, the weight of a cube of pure water whose edge was one one-hundredth of a metre, equal to 15.432 gr. The number of denominations in each table is eight, of which the unit is the fourth. The first, second, and third, are .001, .01, and .1 of the unit, respectively, and are named by prefixing Milli, Centi, and Deci to the name of the unit. The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, are respectively 10, 100, 1,000, and 10,000 times the unit, and are named by prefixing Deka, Hekto, Kilo, and Myria to the name of the unit. This gives us the following tables: Prefix. Value. Length. Surf. Volume. Capacity. Weight. The Nickel Five Cent piece is 2 centimetres in diameter, and weighs 5 grammes. Tables involving no Arbitrary Unit. Used to measure circles, and to locate points upon them. The divisions are relative, and depend for their absolute size upon the dimensions of the circle. TABLE. 60 seconds (") make 1 minute...' The term Sign is used as a division of the Zodiac, a belt of the heavens, 16° wide, within which the sun, moon, and planets are always found. It is shown in Fig. 1, with the symbols of the signs. The names of the signs, with the constellations now corresponding to each, and the month in which the sun appears in each, are as follows: The stars seen in the zenith at midnight of any month are six signs from that in which the sun |
