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Decimal Numeration and Decimal Coinage
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 August 2016
Extract
The Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the subject of “Decimal Coinage,” of 1st August 1853, sets entirely at rest any doubt or question as to the great advantages and facilities which would be afforded by the adoption of a system of decimal numeration and decimal coinage.
That the change will accordingly be made, I feel confident; and as the basis of the new arrangement, as well as the method of carrying it out, are of vast importance to the public at large, and in business generally, I have considered it a fit subject of deliberation for this Institute. It may be said that we should have taken an earlier and more prominent part in originating and promoting a change of system, of the importance of which we had individually, I may safely assume, been long convinced; but I am inclined to think that we have wisely reserved our opinions, and that they will be more valuable in the present stage of the discussion (now that the Report of the Select Committee, and the evidence taken before them, has been published), than they would have been earlier in the day.
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- Copyright © Institute and Faculty of Actuaries 1854
References
page 217 note * Leslie's Philosophy of Arithmetic.
page 217 note † We are told by Pliny, upon the authority of Timaeus, an ancient historian, that till the time of Servius Tullius the Romans had no coined money, but made use of unstamped bars of copper, to purchase whatever they had occasion for.
page 217 note ‡ This statement I have taken from the Report on the subject of Decimal Coinage, by the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, in consequence of its succinctness; but the articles ‘Denarius’ and ‘Sestertius,’ in any of the Encyclopaedias, will give more precise information on the subject to those who desire it.
page 218 note * The article ‘Arithmetic,’ in the supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, contains a very full analysis of these different scales.
page 219 note * It can scarcely be said that the principle of local value prevails throughout the Roman system; but it will be remarked that a smaller symbol before a larger one, in numbers less than 100, denotes a subtraction; after it, an addition—IV = 5—1 = 4. VI = 5 + 1 = 6. IX = 10—1 = 9. XI = 10 + 1 = 11.
page 220 note † See Leslie's Philosophy of Arithmetic—a book I cannot too strongly recommend to the student. It is now very scarce, and should be reprinted. The substance of it will be found in the article ‘Arithmetic,’ in the supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
page 224 note * It has been suggested that the 4s. 2d., or dollar, might be made a gold coin; but those persons who have seen, and still more, those who have used, the American gold dollar, will agree with me in considering it a most inconvenient coin.—See evidence.
page 225 note * A paper read before the Royal Society of Arts in Scotland, December, 1853, by Mr. James Alexander.
page 226 note * The florin has already been twice issued, having been recalled in consequence of the omission of the letters “D. F.” The two sets are of different sizes.
page 232 note *
Those who do not wish to introduce mills into their accounts, can reject them as at present, making 
of present money the lowest represented value, which assimilates very closely to present practice, and gives a practical advantage over the £1 unit.