Why was the banking system first introduced into England?

Because, in the turbulent times of the Commonwealth, the merchants and tradesmen, who had before trusted their cash to their servants and apprentices, found that no longer safe; neither durst they leave it in the Mint, by reason of the distress of majesty itself, although this was before a public deposit. In the year 1645, they first placed their cash in the hands of goldsmiths, who began to exercise both professions. We quote these facts from Pennant, who states the first regular banker to have been Mr. Francis Child, goldsmith, who began business soon after the restoration; but Granger mentions Mr. Child as successor to the shop of Alderman Backwel, a banker, in the time of Charles II., who was ruined by the shutting up of the Exchequer, in 1672: he lived in Fleet-street, near Temple Bar, where the banking business of the Childs is conducted to this day.

About fifty years after the above, in 1720, the credit of Bankers was much injured by what has been in our times called a panic, or run. Swift turned their tribulation to humorous account. Thus, in some lines of the above date:

"The multitude's capricious pranks

Are said to represent the seas;

Which breaking Bankers and the Banks,
Remove their own where'er they please.

No money left for squand'ring heirs!
Bills turn the lenders into debtors:

The wish of Nero now is theirs,

That they had never known their letters."

Rymer mentions the draft and cheque. The money changers of Scripture, the Trapizæta of the Greeks, and the Argentarii, or Nummularii of the Romans, all illustrate the high antiquity of banking.

Why is the Bank of England an important adjunct of the Government of Great Britain?

Because it receives the taxes, pays the taxes, pays

the interest of the public debt, and conducts the various other pecuniary transactions of the exchequer. For these services the bank receives a per centage, or commission, which amounts annually to about 260,000l. to, which must be added the profit derived from the use of a floating balance due to the public, never less in amount than four millions sterling. This balance, employed in discounting mercantile bills at the rate of four per cent. yields a revenue of 160,000l. per annum, which being added to the commission of 260,0001. gives a total of 420,000l. as the profit which the proprietors of bank stock derive every year from the connexion subsisting between that establishment and the Treasury.-Quarterly Review, No. 86.

The Bank of England was first established in 1694: its projector was one Paterson, born in Dumfrieshire, and said to have died of grief, occasioned by the ingratitude with which he was treated by the world.

Why were the labours of the alchemists beneficial to mankind?

Because, however great their follies, their researches were instrumental in promoting the progress of chemical discovery. Hence, in particular, metallic pharmacy derived its origin. Mr. Herschel justly observes, "among the alchemists were men of superior minds, who reasoned while they worked, and who, not content to grope always in the dark, and blunder on their object, sought carefully in the observed nature of their agents for guides in their pursuits."

Why is mercury used in amalgams?

Because, being habitually fluid, it readily combines with most of the metals. When these metallic mixtures contain a sufficient quantity of mercury to render them soft at a mean temperature, they are called amalgams.

A work on metallurgy, and the use of quicksilver in refining gold and silver, was written by Alonzo Barba,

a clergyman of the church of St. Bernard, at Potosi, in the year 1640, who has by some writers been supposed to be the inventor of amalgamation. He discovered the process by mere accident; for, being desirous of fixing quicksilver, he mixed it with fine powdered silver ore, and soon found that the mercury had attracted every particle of silver to itself, which presented him with the idea of refining metals by means of quicksilver. This experiment he made in the year 1609, but he was probably unacquainted at that time with smelting works in America, and does not appear desirous of claiming the invention of amalgamation as practised in that country. The book, though published at that late period of the art, and notwithstanding there were many superior treatises on the same subject already published in German, was considered of such importance by the Spaniards, as containing all their metallurgic secrets, that they endeavoured to suppress it: but a portion of it was translated into English in 1674.

WORKING METALS.

Why are the ancient Britons concluded to have been expert in working metals?

Because the art of working in iron and steel had risen to such perfection in the tenth century, that even the horses of some of the chief knights and barons were covered with steel and iron armour. Artificers who wrought in iron were so highly regarded in that warlike time, that every military officer had his smith, who constantly attended his person to keep his arms and armour in order. The chief smith was an officer of considerable dignity in the court of the AngloSaxon and Welsh kings, where he enjoyed many privileges, and his wages were much higher than those of any other artificer. In the Welsh court, the king's smith was next in rank to the domestic chaplain, and

was entitled to a draught of every kind of liquor that was brought into the hall.

Why were bellows first invented?

Because they might imitate the action of the lungs and a hollow reed placed in the mouth of the blower, the latter being the first instrument employed for blowing a fire. Our common bellows appear to have been known to the ancient Greeks, and Roman lamps have been found in the form of bellows.

Why is it to be regretted that we know but little of the ancient construction of bellows?

Because more information on this subject would enlarge the knowledge we possess of the metallurgy of the ancients.

Strabo tells us, on the authority of an old historian, that Anacharsis the Scythian philosopher, invented the bellows, the anchor, and the potter's wheel; but this seems doubtful, as Pliny, Seneca, Diogenes, Laertius, and Suidas, only attribute the two last to him; and Strabo also remarks, that the potter's wheel is mentioned by Homer, who lived prior to the time of Anacharsis. It is, therefore, probable that the latter became acquainted with the invention on his travels, and having made it known to his countrymen, was looked upon as the inventor.-Beckmann.

Why are forge-bellows constructed with three boards? Because they are required to keep up a constant and unremitting stream of air through the fuel, to keep it in vivid combustion. Thus, the centre board is fixed, and furnished with a valve opening upwards, the lower board being movable with a valve also opening upwards, and the upper board being under a continual pressure by weights acting upon it. When the lower board is let down, so that the chamber between it and the middle board is enlarged, the air included between these boards being rarefied, the external pressure in the atmosphere will open the valve in the lower board,

and the chamber between the lower and the middle boards will be filled with air in its common state. The lower board is now raised by the power which works the bellows, and the air between it and the middle board is condensed. It cannot escape through the lower valve, because it opens upwards. It acts therefore, with a pressure proportional to the working power on the valve in the middle board, and it forces open this valve, which opens upwards. The air is thus driven from between the lower and middle boards into the chamber between the middle and upper boards. It cannot return from this chamber, because the valve in the middle board opens upwards. The upper board being loaded with weights, it will be condensed while included in this chamber, and will issue from the nozzle with a force proportionate to the weights. While the air is thus rushing from the nozzle, the lower board is let down and again drawn up, and a fresh supply of air is brought into the chamber between the upper and middle board. This air is introduced between the middle and upper board before the former supply has been exhausted, and by working the bellows, with sufficent speed, a large quantity of air will be collected in tne upper chamber, so that the weights on the upper board will force a continual stream of air through the nozzle.-Lardner.

There are usually two blast-holes to conduct the stream of air from the bellows to the laboratory of the furnace, placed on opposite sides, but so angled that the streams do not impinge on each other. The bellows are commonly cylindrical, and their pistons are worked by a steam-engine.

Why are these bellows superior to the house-bellows? Because the latter are constructed only with two boards, and have thus only an intermitting action, or blow by fits, the action being suspended while the upper board is being raised.

Why are German bellows made of wood superior to those in common use?