The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1869-09-23
Curious, Useful and Suggestive.

NOmismo from Nonids, because it was
ordained By law; and by the Romans
pecHnia, from pecHs, the flock, because
on their first coin was a rude image of |
a COW, or, as Camden states 10 one of
his improbable conceits, ''for that all |
their wealth in elder times consisted in
cnttalie; us now among the Irishe. -
These coins were made IN the sixth
century. Silver was first coined on the
island Of Egiua, and the earliest gold
coinage was the slater, or standard,
coin Of about the size and value of the
English sovereign. There is no eyi-
denee Of the Jews coming money until
about LA b. G. The Romans did not
coin silver until 291 Is. G., nor gold
until 207 Ii. @. When Caesar invaded
Britain the year 30 b. c., be found
them using coins made of the metals
before mentioned. and they probably
used them long before he came. Coins
were probably used as money as carly as
the 9Th century B. c., aud by the 4th
century of the Christian era money was
found throughout the civilized world.
In 1870 piece of gold weighing sixty
pounds troy wa1 found near La paz, in
Peru. In 1910 nugget weighing
thirty seven pounds troy was found in
Cabarrus county, North Carolina. A
mass weighing ninety.seven pounds
troy was discovered iu Zlatouch, dis
trict of the Southern Ural, in 1872
The Blanch Barkly nugget, found 10
Australia, Weighed 146 lbs 3 dwts.
troy. Another mass weighing 1l2
pounds troy was found in 1851 in the
same country, and also nugget Of LOG
pounds. The "Welcome Nugget
found in Ballarat, 1858, weighed 2,020
ounces, or l6S pounds troy. Another
nugget weighing ll2 pounds was found
in Australia few months ago. The
Iargest nugget ever found in California
was 100 lbs. weight, aud several have
been found averaging from twenty OF
thirty up to hundred pounds.
However low among our Celtic fore.
fathers, woman, in the abstract, might
be placed, she gained, in right of her
useful drudgery, certain standing
Thus, the hard.workipg house wife and
the good milch COW were viewed as
equally desirable possessions, for the
comfort of the household depended on
both; nnd, therefore, the British law,
while it estimated the woman's value at
| only one-third Of her husbands allowed
her an equal participation 10 his goods.
Strange, that among SO rude people,
aud from SO homelya source, the bright
and beautiful cycle Of Arthurian 70.
nance should have had its birth
stranger still, that race which placed
the wife no higher than among che most
valuable Of their household goods
should be chosen as the fancied exen.
plars of that ehiyalric creed which
recognized womanhood as tho idol Of al
excellence, and babe medinyal Europe
bow down before her in willing homage
1t would be very hard to tell wht
originated base bali for in the earliest
histories we have, the game Is mentioned
Homer describes it at length in the
Odyssey. The Ph@acian damseIs played
the game to music, and AIcinous asso
ciated it with music aud dancing. II
was the chief exercise Of the young
Spartans. The Athenians once erected
a statue to famous pitcher BY the
name of Aristonicus. At Rome il wai
played BY all classes, young aud ola
Pliny gives US an account Of grea,
player by the name Of Spurima. a,
played now the game is derived iron
heancient English game Of Roundsrs,
reduced 10 asystcm. -,
The shores or Delaware bay swarn
with crustaceans of species known a,
tho king crab, sometimes called, from
similarity, the horse,foot crab. Tn,
eggs cover the sand SO. thickly thai
they are shoyelled up BY the wagos
load, aud carried away 10 feed chickens
The young fsh are taken TO fatten hogs
the old ones are gathered into pens
where they soon die, and then they ar,
dried, ground down, and packed up il
bags to be sold at the rate Of aboul
| FIVE pounds per ton for manure that i
better than guano, n,
BY tho report Of 1868 there were
2l30 schools in Scotland: l3,442 il
England and Wales, with Registered
pupils over 10 years Of age to the mum
Der of 469, ,2s0. For every 100 pupil,
examined, the standard last year was
in reading, 9O03; in writing, SS.16
in arithmetic, 7e49 The total number
Of children registered in all the school,