with that of the earlier magistrates bearing the same name, and connected by some scholars, not only with the republic, but with the kings. There were also the Decemviri Sacrorum, who were custodians of the Sibylline books. Their number, which originally consisted of two, and after wards of ten, at last reached fifteen. It devolved on these functionaries not only to guard the Sibylline books, and to consult them on all emergencies of state, but also to take a prominent part in the celebration of the games of Apollo.
DECIMAL COINAGE. It has often been proposed to
substitute for our quarto-duodecimo-vicesimal system of
reckoning money one entirely decimal, and therefore in
harmony with the system, employed in all civilized coun
tries, of reckoning numbers both integral and fractional. In
the case of numbers, there is ho difficulty in regard to the
standard by which to reckon ; it is unity, and all integral
numbers are either so many units, tens of units, hundreds
of units, &c., or combinations of these, and all fractional
numbers either so many tenths of a unit, hundredths of a
unit, <kc., or combinations of these. In the case of money,
however, the selection of the standard of value, or the unit
by which to reckon, constitutes the main, if not the sole,
theoretical difficulty to be overcome, previous to the intro
duction of a decimal coinage. Practical difficulties would
arise from the unwillingness of people to make the changes
in thinking and speaking that would be necessitated by new
coins, or the altered values of old ones.
Of all the schemes proposed in England, that which
advocates the retention of the sovereign, or pound sterling,
as the unit of value seems to have met with most favour.
According to this scheme, the pound would be divided into
10 florins, the florin into 10 cents, and the cent into 10 mils.
The name florin, as well as the coin, is in use already ; the
names cent and mil would mark the relation of the corres
ponding coins to the pound. The cent, being the y^th
part of the pound, would represent 2|-d., or nearly 2|d. ;
ihe mil, bsing the n^th part, would be worth a little less
than a farthing, which is the -y^th. The coins which it
would be found necessary to issue would probably be in
copper, the mil = -5^., the 2-mil piece = if d., rather less
than a halfpenny, and the 5-mil piece =1 id., rather less
than a penny farthing ; in silver, the cent = 2 f d., the 2-cent
piece = 4|d., the 5-cent piece, or shilling, and the 10-cent
piece, or florin ; in gold, the half-sovereign, and the
sovereign. In addition to the preceding, perhaps a double
florin = 4s., in silver, and a crown = 5s., in gold, might be
found convenient.
The chief disadvantage of this system is that it would
abolish the copper farthing, halfpenny, and penny, and the
silver coins representing 3d., 4d., 6d. Since 6d. = 25 mils
is the lowest number of pence which could be paid exactly
in mils, inconvenience would thus be caused to the poorer
classes, whose unit of value may be said to be the penny ;
and difficulties would also arise in cases where fixed imposts
of a penny and a halfpenny are levied, such as penny and
halfpenny tolls, postages, &c.
A second scheme advocates the adoption of the farthing
a:s the unit of value, and its coins of account would be the
farthing, the cent or doit = 10 farthings, the florin =10
cents or doits, the pound = 10 florins. The coins required
for circulation would probably be in copper, the farthing,
the halfpenny, the penny ; in silver, the cent or doit = 2|d.,
the 2-cent piece or groat = 5d., the shilling = 12|d., and
the florin = 25d. ; in gold, the half-sovereign = 10s. 5d., and
the sovereign = 20s. 1 Od. Here also a silver double florin =
4s. 2d., and a gold crown = 5s. 2|d., might be found con
venient.
The chief disadvantages of this system would be the
abolition of the present pound sterling, the unit of value in
national finance, in banks, insurance and all great -com
mercial offices, and the trouble that would thereby be
caused in comparing values expressed in the old coinage
with those of the new. Among its advantages may be
reckoned the fact that, during the transition to the new
state of things, the old coins would still be serviceable, for
any sum of money expressed in the new coinage could be
paid by means of them. The alterations on small imposts,
requisite under the first scheme, would here be unnecessary ;
and inconvenience would be saved to those classes of the
population who receive weekly wages, which are generally
fixed at so many pence per hour. The reduction of sums
expressed in the old coinage to their equivalents in the new
would, however, be slightly more difficult than under the
first system.
A third scheme proposes as the unit the half-sovereign,
a coin almost as familiar as the sovereign, with the view of
having only three instead of four coins of account. The
half-sovereign would be divided into 10 shillings as at
present, and the shilling into 10 pence, each of which would
therefore be equivalent to l|-d., or 20 per cent, more than
the present penny. As a penny is of more value than the
metal of which it is made, the present copper coinage could
be made to serve under the new system. This scheme,
from its alteration of the value of the penny, is open
to most of the objections that can be brought against
the first ; and, in comparing accounts expressed in the
old and the new coinages, it would necessitate a very
slight inconvenience certainly multiplication or division
by 2.
A fourth scheme proposes that the penny be made the
unit of value, and that all accounts should be kept in
tenpences and pence. All the present coins, though only
one of them would be a coin of account, could still remain
in circulation ; and only two new coins would be required,
the tenpence and its half, fivepence.
It has also been proposed that there should be only two
coins of account, the higher equivalent to 100 of the lower,
such as florins and cents, the cent in this scheme being the
mil of the first. Centesimal coinage similar to this exists
in several foreign countries, &c. ; but it is probable that,
should a change bs made, the practice of other nations
will be imitated only where it is found to conduce to
national convenience.
The preceding are the most important of the schemes
that have been suggested to replace the present system, and
the adoption of the first of them has been recommended by
a committee of the House of Commons. But since 1855
public opinion on the question does not appear to have
advanced much. The arguments for and against a change
are numerous, and to detail them would be to fill a
moderate volume. The principal reason for making the
change is that calculation would be enormously simplified,
for reduction from one denomination of money into another
could always be performed at sight ; and the compound
rules, as far as money is concerned, would be virtually
abolished. The greatest objections to the change, apart
from the difficulty of getting people to make it, which is
doubtless much exaggerated, are that a decimal system does
not admit to a sufficient extent of binary subdivision, and
that it does not admit of ternary subdivision at all. The
third part, for instance, of a pound, of a florin, of a cent,
being 333^, 33J, 3J mils respectively, could not be exactly
paid in decimal currency, while there is no difficulty in
paying the third part of a pound, or of a shilling by our
present coinage. Again, the J, , of the pound, the ,
of the florin, and the | of the cent are the only binary
subdivisions possible with the decimal coins of account ;
the i, I, |, T V, A, A of the pound, and the , , $ of the
shilling are possible at present. Notwithstanding these
drawbacks, the advantages of a decimal system seem con-
