(7.) Worn coins appear to be purchased by the mint by weight at the price paid for bullion. The expense of recoinage is borne by the government.

The following has been the monetary system of Turkey since 1844 :

(1.) Both gold and silver are standards of value, in the relation of about 15 1/12 to 1. Copper and bronze are also standards of value.

(2.) The unit of value is the piastre.

(3.) The standard fineness of gold coin is 916 1/2 per mille, and the remedy of fineness is 2 per mille. The standard fineness of silver coin is 830 per mille, and the remedy is 3 per mille.

(4.) The standard weight of the Turkish pound of 100 gold piastres is 2 1/4 Turkish drams, or 7.216 French grammes. It therefore contains 6.614 grammes of fine gold. The standard weight of the silver medjidee of 20 piastres is 7 1/2 drams, or 24.055 grammes. It therefore contains 19.957 grammes of fine silver. The remedy of weight is 2 per mille for gold and 3 per mille for silver.

(5.) Other coins are composed of fine copper of Tokat or of bronze. In the latter case the proportions are 95 of copper, 3 of tin, 1/2 of zinc, 1 1/2 of lead. The Turkish coinage over-estimates the value of silver and copper, and thus the gold piece of 100 piastres is worth 101 1/2 silver piastres, or 120 copper or bronze piastres.

(6.) There is a charge for coinage.

(7.) Light coin is received by the Mint as bullion.

Finally, we proceed to the monetary systems of those countries which still retain the silver standard.

The Austrian currency is chiefly regulated by the decrees of 1857 and 1870, the latter referring to the manufacture of gold coins.

(1.) The sole standard of value is silver.

(2.) The unit of value is the silver florin.

(3.) The standard fineness of silver is 900 per mille, and the remedy of fineness is 3 per mille.

(4.) The standard weight of the silver coin is such that from the Austrian pound ( = 500 grm.) of fine silver are coined forty-five florins. The florin, therefore, weighs 12.345679 grm. The remedy of weight is 4 per mille.

(5.) Gold coins are only manufactured as trade coin. These are the "eight-gulden" and four-gulden " pieces, which are respectively equivalent in weight and fineness to the French twenty-franc and ten-franc pieces. The remedy is 2 per mille for both weight and fineness. The value at which foreign and national gold coins are to be received, and the manner in which they are to be taken instead of silver coins, are fixed from time to time by " those to whom the management of traffic and commercial interests is entrusted," Subsidiary silver coins are also authorized, but to what amount they may be legally tendered in payment we have been unable to ascertain. The following table gives their standard fineness and weight and the remedies :

Denomination.

Weight.

Fineness.

Standard.

Remedy.

Standard.

Remedy.

Grammes.

10 neu-kreutzers*

2.

10 per mille

500 per mille

5 per mille

5

1.3

375 „

The copper currency consists of coins of 3 kreutzers, 1 kreutzer, and 1/2 kreutzer, which are not legal tender for amounts exceeding the fourth of a florin.

* 100 neu-kreutzers = 1 florin.

(6.) There is a charge for coinage of 1/2 per cent.

(7.) There are no regulations as to the recoinage and circulation of worn coin. In the case of gold "trade coin,' however, pieces below the remedy of weight are not allowed to reissue from government offices, and are returned by them to the Mint. Such pieces are received by the government offices at their value by weight, 1/2 per cent. being, moreover, deducted for the cost of recoinage.

The following are the regulations respecting the coinage of Russia:

(1.) The sole standard of value is silver.

(2.) The unit of value is the rouble.

(3.) The standard fineness of silver coin is .86805 per mille; no remedy of fineness is allowed.

(4.) The standard weight, with the remedy, of all standard silver coins is given by the following table:

Denomination.

Weight.

Standard.

Remedy.

Roubles.

Grammes.

Grammes.

1.00

20.731500

•1333

0.50

10.365750

•1111

0.25

5.182875

•0888

(5.) Gold coins, under the names of "imperial" and "half imperial," are also authorized for trade purposes. Though nominally worth ten and five roubles respectively, they always take their intrinsic value with respect to silver coin, which is, at the present time, something in excess of this estimate. The fineness of the gold coins is 916 2/3 per mille. The standard weight of the half imperial is 6.544 grm., and the remedy is 1/30th of a gramme for single pieces, and 4.2656 grm. for 1000 pieces. Subsidiary silver coin is also issued at a nominal value twice that which it really possesses, and is only legal tender to the amount of three roubles. The standard fineness of these coins is 500 per mille.

(6.) There is no charge for coinage.

(7.) The recoinage of worn coins is also carried on at the expense of the state.

The following is the monetary system of Mexico, as determined by the coinage law of the 27th November, 1867:

(1.) The sole standard of value is silver.

(2.) The unit of value is the "peso" ( = 100 "cen-tavos").

(3.) The standard fineness of silver coin is 902.7 per mille, and the remedy of fineness is 3 per mille.

(4.) The standard weight of the silver peso is 27.073 grm.; the silver coins of 50, 25, 10, and 5 centavos have proportionate weights. No remedy of weight is recognized.

(5.) The standard fineness of gold coins is 875 per mille (21 carats), and the remedy is 2 per mille. The standard weight of the 20-peso gold coin is 33.841 grm., and the gold coins of 10, 5, 2 1/2, and 1 pesos have proportionate weights. The copper centavo weighs 8 grm.

(6.) There are no provisions as to least current weight, recoinage, etc.

Before leaving the subject of Mexican coinage, some mention is due to the famous "pillar dollar,"* which emanated from the mints of this country, and which, succeeding to the place once filled by the celebrated Venetian "sequin," continued for about three centuries the chief trade coin of the civilised world.