The Arkansas banner., 1848-02-15
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 Mn- Epron- In sle Casstis of to-day, fnd the following PsrssrsPh. fron eae Sf i's exchanges:
 4 verY DaagcEeas ceanserfeit.
 The new United States coinage has received sad disheuos in sew and most dsngeseas mode Of countesteiiing. It is . piece Of silver eneased in gold. The ork is done 90 perfectly that neither by the look. the weight the ssund noF the appIca- tiOa cf acids. can the fraud be discovered 1t ean only 6e aseeFsained by rnising into ths piece in manaer which sFolts 1t for circulation We have seen quarter eagle which had beea cut in two. vesag the cheat fully, bat at the mint they were unsble, even with . miscroscope, 10 discern the least deteet in its appearance. seens in fact that thcse pieces mast have been stamped in some one ot the minss. The quarter ragse eca,aias gold to the value of 9s and silver 10 the value of 10 % thai the Pros ot kRavsfy Is about lIs eests upon each piece. This discovery will throw such dis credit oa the geld coinage of the United States that ihe hopes of ihe politieisns who desire that gold should supercede bank notes will be entirely frus- tTased. While such suspicion hangs uron them. !hey wil be god neither fer circulation hoard irg. rJo~r cf ConmsTes
 The information eonsaiAed in this, viii, no doubt. be useful to ihose who have to receive gold coin; that S b the exssn, of warning them that very in genicas e0us;eEe of that kind of eoia is in >reu- Iafoa. To fhat extent 1t is desirable the, you should lend your eOlumns to its publicity. For this Pur- pose send is tc you. Bat ss the original psbEica- iioa. had. cbvic0sly. anOthera very diiFerent-a far les la0dsbe object in view; and ss ii is mixed uP wish array of assertions. which tt wo0le re- qnire little less than miracle 10 make true; &C., eompan y Twiih few words of commentary. The extraordinary assertions to whieh allude, are chiefly those asca, the dscsy e aesscsi.s tkis cOwafrItfif even when attention has been directed to it. and iRthe hands of persons seensouse to such examinations. and prepared with the requisite means { of making them. Mark. "7Rs rork is dsas e per- fsesiy tlat neIhsv by te lOOk, Hs se;gM Ae sound, e- :As application q aess tAs fand bs dsteeted. It oaly be ssceitained by cutting into the pieee in manner which spoil. it for circulation" Again: "At the mint. ihry were unable. tren aiA micro scope, 10 discern the least defect in its appearance. IT all his hc irue-and other mode than actually 'cstfiRg info e pieee. be found by tho scien- fife and practically skifal men attached 10 the T. $. Mint. for detecting this counterfeit ihen indeed. has yillsny triumphed oser the most exact of the sciences, and attained truly snperhuman skill in art which may well eanse honest men 10 despair ofthe welsre of society. and grave philosophers to credit the widest tales of wiichcraft and demonolosy. AVN opSrENSt HoNctcf. Nbdt. abtHOu2i. tHe au- thor of the paragraph obviously intends to impress he reader with the idea, and even say. in terms, that 10 o,hermode than eut;ing into the piece can serve 10 detect the fraud; yet the ic uties be arrays and would have us believe insnrmonntabe. do not qni,e complete the circle of imPossibIty-as it is easy to shew. True, he says that the ioOk the sreisk, the sosRd, and the application o acids to the sus- pee;ed coin, failed to prove its arsoandness. But is there other feature by which it may be judged: l He says ecthne of hs size-he bsK of the co,n-a feature that IS all important. indispensable indeed one. venture to say, of which the consideration was never, before, omitted, in an examination of suspected coin The loOk of gold and i's resistance to the action of acids, may both be readily and sue eessfully attained by thin external covering of that metal: and the sound may not be difficult, to produce. by skillfGl worker in metals if he have an accurate musical ear. Bat that ihe exact wsigAf without variation frosn ihe standard size of the piece, can be prcdaeed by the use of any other me tai than Cod itself, is impossible.
 The truth of this position is known even 10 the tyIo in Natural PhiIo.nphy-,ha, s, he have pro- gressed as far as the terms "speoe graFitJ" These terms. will mention os the information of unseien- t6c readers, mean" The relation between the ~eigh of body and its balk; thus, supposing four bodies 10 be of the same size, bat which weigh, one [, another g. another 2 and the fourth |; the speee grarity of the first will be four times greater than that pG the last. The specific grsvitiSs of different bodies are, therefore the weights, bulk for bulk For solids and liquids water is taken as :he unit Thus, water Is 100; Mercury at the common tenn peraure, I3.5s. Whence we concIute. mercury is between l3 and II times heavier than water IDunsiison.l This was known more thaa two thou sand year. ago; and is said 10 have been discovered by the philosopher -7resmedss and first applied in practice, the story goes. in ease s,rknsly simi- lar to the one now under considerations for the de- lection of the fraud of worker in gold, by de,er- mining the relative quantities of precious and base metal n the crown of lie King of Syracuse. [.in- noR.l
 In the manner stated, and for facility in eomputa- lion. ,he specific grssiies of alrnos, all substances in nature, and Of all the ascertaned taetals, have been determined. by experiment. quote that of gOld and ofsuch others could. possibly. be used in combination with h for the purposes of counter feiiing:
 i Specific gravity of Zinc-6ss.
 [" :" Iron-7o7
 Tin-709.
 " |" Bismnih-9se