Troy Weight is used in weighing gold, silver, and precious stones. NOTE 1. The pound, ounce, and grain, in Apothecaries' and Troy Weight are equal, but the ounce is differently subdivided. = NOTE 2. A pound Troy: 5760 grains, but a pound Avoirdupois grains Apothecaries' or Troy Weight. = 7000 COPPER. The farthing, half-penny, and penny. SILVER. The three-penny and six-penny pieces, shilling, florin, half-crown, and crown. GOLD. The half-sovereign and sovereign. BRONZE. The 1, 2, 5, 10-centime pieces. SILVER. The 25 and 50-centime pieces, and 1, 2, and 5-franc pieces. GOLD. The 5, 10, 40 and 100-franc pieces. NICKEL. The 5 and 10-penny, and smaller pieces. SILVER. The 20-penny, 1 and 2-mark pieces. 547. The estimate of values contained in the following Table has been made by the Director of the Mint, and proclaimed by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States; LEAP YEARS. 548. An astronomical or solar year— that is, the time it takes the earth to revolve round the sun - is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 50 seconds, nearly. A civil year closes with an even number of days, at 12 P. M., Dec. 31. Reckoning 365 days a year, we lose each year, and in 4 years we lose 5 h. 48 m. 50 sec. 4 × (5 h. 48 m. 50 sec.) = 23 h. 15 m. 20 sec. If, then, in the fourth year we add a day, or 24 hours, giving the year 366 days, we shall add too much by 24 h. (23 h. 15 m. 20 sec.) = 44 m. 40 sec. If we continue for 100 years, with 366 days every fourth 365 in the other years, we shall have added too much by 25 × (44 m. 40 sec.) = 18 h. 36 m. 40 sec. year, and If now we omit the leap day in the hundredth year we shall omit too much by 24 h. (18 h. 36 m. 40 sec.) - = 5 h. 23 m. 20 sec. If we continue in this way (having a leap year every 4 years except the hundredth years) we shall in 4 centuries omit too much by 4 × (5 h. 23 m. 20 sec.) = 21 h. 33 m. 20 sec. Adding a day in the 400th year, we shall add too much by 24 h. (21 h. 33 m. 20 sec.) = 2 h. 26 m. 40 sec. Continuing in this way for 40 centuries, or 4000 years, we shall have added too much by Therefore the 4000th year ought not to be a leap year. By the present method of having leap years (Art. 254), at the end of 4000 years the civil and solar years will coincide within about a day, and if the 4000th year is not made a leap year the civil and solar years will coincide within half an hour. The calendar, as arranged by Julius Cæsar, added a leap day every 4 years. This method of reckoning, in 1582, had caused an error of 10 days. What ought to have been, for example, called March 20, was called March 10. The spring months were moving forward into the summer, the summer into the fall, and so, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII. ordered that 10 days should be dropped from the calendar, and that the leap years should occur as stated in Art. 254. In 1752 the change was adopted in England by act of Parliament directing what otherwise would be Sept. 3 to be Sept. 14, the error having at that time increased to 11 days. INTEREST. 549. Legal Rates of Interest in the Several States. When no rate is specified in a note, or document, the rate in the left-hand column is the legal rate. Any rate up to that in the righthand column is legal if specified in writing. 1. When payments are made one year or more from the time from which the interest is reckoned, or when any payment is less than the interest then due, the work of computing the interest is performed according to THE UNITED STATES RULE. 2. When payments exceeding the interest then due, are made within a year from the time from which the interest is reckoned, the amount of the principal must be found for a full year, and the amount of the payment from the time of payment to the end of such full year, and this, deducted from the amount of the principal previously obtained, will form the new principal. 3. If the year extends beyond the time of settlement, the last computation is to the time of settlement. $875. (58.) HARTFORD, CONN., Dec. 18, 1891. On demand, I promise to pay Samuel Hopkins, or order, eight hundred seventy-five dollars, with interest. Value received. RICHARD JAMESON. INDORSEMENTS: Feb. 6, 1892, $250; July 12, 1892, $150; Nov. 9, 1893, $20; Jan. 21, 1894, $375; June 12, 1894, $25. What was due Sept. 5, 1894? Am't of $875 Dec. 18, 1891, to Dec. 18, 1892 $927.50 (Payment $20 Nov. 9, 1893, less than int. due.) Int. of $510.60 Dec. 18, 1892, to Jan. 21, 1894 Sum of 3d and 4th payments 33.44 66 66 $544.04 395.00 Int. of $149.04 Jan. 21, 1894, to Sept. 5, 1894 5.59 |