, 1873-12-20
The Oldest Symbol Known to the
Human Race.
4 Sacred Emblem Among Tho Ancient
Scandinayians, Tyrians, aud
Hebrews.
Derivation of tho Dollar md
Pound Marks Tllcrctroln.

aifllculty with which nun malos any permanent
Impression upon tlom. It Inns taken but q
thousand years or 30 to obltorato tho montl-
mental evidences Of Homo Of the greatest citlos
Of tho world. Il few manuacript-booAs
havo lasted litllo longer, but time Mt
lust tyrannizcs over all wallis crumblo, tho
snciont books 60 piecomeal to rags. languages
lio, tho moaning Of words and symbo)s changes.
and itrequirea the continuous attention Of man
10 resouo anything from tho sea Of oblivion tint
continually oncroachea upon tho shoros Of his
tory. A fow leadtng idoas uni words seem to
Inst forever, but, as rule, all humnn handiwork
TINT appeals to tho oyo disappears sooner or
Inter; and when wo moet with any artifical OBJ
lcct which prcsonts to our eyes Il form preserved
while cities have crumblcd and nations have
vanished, 1t seemB a now revelation OF tho past.
But 1t Is in the unexpected diacovory TINT famll-
iar words. ideas, and objects have pedigroo as
long as chronology itaelf, that we got perhaps,
The most vivid impression of contact with tho
pnst, md TINT Bhalowy hands aceM to roach out
suddenly from some mysterious storehouso Of
dead and dusty things to clnsp our own. Tor
she great minority Of oven educated people, Huph
IN exporicnco aB this may he found in the hiBto-
ryof
THE MODERN DoLLA1-a1AnK, s.
How lttlo docs tho clerk, shopkceper, or bunker
who malos hundred times day this familiar
figure, imagine 1ie ia making representations Of
tie oldest symbol known to tic hun1un race
the mythologics OF all the aucieuta, passing
through numberfeBs changes By tho outgrowth
Of fnnciful legends from tho original deas, hut
clearly tracoable to the earliest raccB. Of whom
We got only HhadoWy outlines in the dusk
Of nntiqnity,-a symbol known to- those
who built Tyre mud Carthage nB
"THE PILLARS or nERAoLEe,"
but rs ancient to them Oh to us. III compnrn-
this name on tito two mountains that Btnni At
tho entrance to the Mediterranean, on
the north, and Abyla OIL tho south side OF tho
straits. But for more than 2,oo0 years before
tho diversion Of the name, the form Of the mn-
tcrial symbol was two pillars Of wood or stone.
Eut how ca1no the two pillars to bo symbolized
in the dollar.mark, aud what was their original
meaning? .
Tho transfer of tho title Pillars Of Horoulca
to tho two mountains furnishes ut loast n local
beginning pUint In tho answer to the frat Of
these queries.
According to tradition, AIelcarthus, Tyrian
navigator and explorer, smiling in search Of tabled
Atlantis or dinly rumored Britain, had paused i'll
q bny ut the Western extremity of the land be-
yond tho straitH, aud Bet up there
TWO PILLARS
as memorial, building over thorn the temple
Of Hercules. 4 colony of Tyre was es-
tho anoient Gades, tho modorn catliz As
tho temple Increased in wealth through the
votive olferlngs Of passing yoyagors 1t become
moro splendid, and the iirst rudo pillars of stone
wcro replaced by others uado Of prcciousmot
AZ late ms tho second century this tomple e1iHt-
ed III its greatest splo,dor. Tlayius philostratns,
who visited it, tostiiies to it's magniAcence, and
in his lifo Of Apollonius Of Tynna gives the fol-
lowing description Of tho piilars
"Ihe pilars III the templa were composed Of
f1r11 md {ca min tfa1
metals aB to form but ono color. 4hoy wero
moro than cubit high,o @ quadrangular form,
like anvils whoso capitals were INSCRIBED with
characters no!thcr Indian nor Egyptian, nor such
chains 1chich bind together tie Garth aud sea- 1ae
inscriptions Oh them were executed by Hercnlcs
i'll the AouGo Of tho parcn, to prevent discorl
arising among the elements and that friendship
being disturbed which they had for each other,"
TheRo pillars wore tho Nucleus of tho ancient
Gat1cH, and naturally became the metropolitan
enlblenl Of tho modern city, as the horse's head
WIS of Carthage,
Leaving for the present tho explanation Of tho
o. orgnal Specification of tue two pillars, tho
THEIR DESCENT TO Cs
may DO briefly outlined as follows:
When Charlos Y. became Emperor Of Germany
he adopted q now cont OF imporinl arms, il, WHICH
Empire, the pillars Of tho arms OF Cadiz being
Mndo supporters in tile device.
At Seville was I'M imperial mint in which was
coined L standard dollar called in tho AIcditer-
raucan COASTS g 'colonnato, /" tho most prominent
figures in the doyico on thus coin being tho two
pillars aud the scroll twincd about them, tho
representation of which with pen camo to be
tho accepted symbol Of the coin.
Molcarthus was Tyrian, aud tho pillars must,
therefore, have been known and reVeSenced a8
SACRED SYMBOL IN TYRE
long before he set them up GU the shores e'e
may be found in tho fact that on tho col,,B
of, Tyre were prominently dopictcd, with sonlo
supporters. one on either side OF The general de-
vice, tho proportions corresponding nearly to
those daacripsd by philostratue. The Tyrians,
though not the first people to coin money, wero
coinage became tho currency of tho world, and
the two pillars with which it WIS stamped would
naturally become the symbol for money. NO that
the adoption Of the dolar-1narli to deRignate the
"'pillar-piecos " OF Charles Y. was problbly only
tho revival Of IN ancant custom which ut first
referrcd to tho pilla1-piecos Of Tyre.
THE PouND-stAnK,
in all probability, owes its Distinguishing feature,
tho two horizontal bara, to the satne symbol,
though in this connection they came into Eng
was the initial letter OF the Latiu Libra,
balance, mud was used to a!gnity stand-
ard by which 10 weigh the precious metals,
tho namo Of tho weight being do1iyod from
sAo AA11tlnA touisAs ASAt ~ %A40 LAa4V VI
Henry VIII. tho pound sterling which had been
1'scl Us standard for 1nouey WIS superseded by
another pound, which had boon brought from
Cairo In Egypt to Troycs in Franco during tho
Crnsades. In tho 900 years from the eleventh
to tho close Of tho thirteenth century. the zeal
to recapturo Jerusalem brought tho people OF
Europe more iu contact with oach other, produc-
ipg m interchange ot ideas and customs, though
tho joalousleB of the two or three most powerful
nations retaldod their general adoption. It was
probably owing to tho anciout hatred OF Briton
a1.d Gaul TINT this Troyos weight was not dotl-
nltely ndopted in England until It waB carried
thoYe by Venetian goldslntls, about thu year
l4oG. When It WIS 80 adoptetl il was probably
distinguished from the old sterling or ''easter-
ling" pound By adding to the poulitl-mar two
eetrolea Of the pen to represent tho pillars Of
Hercules,
THE COMMON M0NkY-ByMDoL
IN tho Mediterranean citieR. But AZ tho lowor
arm Of tue L wan tho nllorlest u symnotrcnl
written character could be matlo moro easily
hy changing The pillara from tbs perpendicular
to tho horizontal. In handwriting, it in natural
10 nlako OH straight marita aiauting and uot up
irr11 a frcn ulO tt@,rr 4n