Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/195

 DOLLAR DOLLINGER 187 ing pure gold. By the act of Feb. 21, 1853, the three-dollar piece of gold was authorized, T 9 7 fine and weighing 77 '4 grains. The act of Feb. 12, 1873, known as the " coinage act of 1873," makes the gold dollar the unit of value, but effects no change in the weight or fineness of that coin or of the three-dollar piece, which continues to be a legal tender for all sums. By this act, however, a " trade dollar," weighing 420 grains, designed for the convenience of commerce with China and Japan, was substi- tuted for the old silver dollar, while the weight of the half dollar was fixed at 12 grams, or 192'9 grains, half the weight of the five-franc piece of France and other European countries, the quarter dollar being proportional. The fineness of these coins is unchanged, but the silver dollar is no longer a legal tender for sums exceeding $5. The number of coins of each kind produced at the mint and its branches, from their organization to June 30, 1872, is as fol- lows: Three-dollar pieces 390,971 One-dollar pieces (gold) 19,015,642 One-dollar pieces (silver) 8,045,833 Half-dollar pieces 199,630,871 Quarter-dollar pieces 87,586,274 Whole number of pieces 814,619,596 The value of the coinage is $149,933,897. The term dollar is of German origin. During the years 1517-'26 the counts Schlick, under a right of mintage conferred by the emperor Sigismund in 1437 upon their house, caused to be struck a series of silver coins of 1 oz. weight, and worth about 113 cents of our money. These pieces were coined at Joachirasthal (Joachim's dale), a mining town of Bohemia, and came to be known in circulation as Joachimsthaler, and then for shortness Thaler; and this name for coins and money of account has been widely used in the German states ever since. Some German scholars, however, derive the term Thaler from talent, which in the middle ages designated a pound of gold. In Norway and Sweden we find the daler, and in Spain the dalera, the Spanish dollar which for centuries figured so conspicuously in the commerce of the world. It was the Spanish pillar dollar (called also the milled dollar from its milled edge) that was taken as the basis of the United States coinage and money of account. By the act of April 2, 1792, 37lf grains of pure silver and 24| grains of pure gold were declared to be equivalent one to the other, and to the dol- lar of account. At that time, as now in Great Britain, 113 grains of pure gold were the equivalent of the pound sterling. The value ofl in federal money, therefore, was $4 56-5. Prior to this date, and during the confedera- tion, the dollar of account, as compared with sterling currency, had been rated at 4*. 6d., which was an exaggerated valuation of the Spanish dollar; and in accordance with this valuation the congress of the confederation had established $4 44-4 as the custom house value of the pound sterling. The effect of the act of 1792 was really to reduce the value of our dollar of account, but apparently to in- crease the value of the pound sterling about 2f per cent. By the act of June 28, 1834, the weight of fine gold to the dollar was reduced from 24*75 to 23'20 grains; and on Jan. 18, 1837, it was fixed at 23 - 22 grains. Comparing this latter weight with the pound sterling of 113 grains, we find an apparent increase in the value of 1 to $4 86'6, an advance of exactly 9 per cent, upon the old valuation of $4 44'4. We have here the explanation of the practice of quoting sterling exchange at 9^ per cent, premium when it is really at par. A much more intelligible method would be to state in dollars and cents the ruling rate per pound sterling for bills on London ; e. g. : $4 84, $4 87, $4 90, &c. Spanish dollars were chiefly coined in the Spanish American col- onies. The best known variety was the pillar dollar, so called from the two pillars on its re- verse, representing the "Pillars of Hercules," the ancient name of the opposite promontories at the straits of Gibraltar. The rude imita- tion of these pillars in writing, connecting them by a scroll, is said to have been the ori- gin of the dollar mark ($). Another explana- tion is that, as the dollar consisted of 8 reals (8 R. being stamped upon it), the mark was designed to stand for the "piece of eight," as the dollar was commonly called, the two verti- cal lines being employed to distinguish it from the figure 8. The Spanish American dollars ceased to be coined when the colonies became independent, and since 1822 their place in com- merce has been supplied by the dollars of Mexico, Bolivia, and Peru. (See COINS.) DOLLAR! BAY, or The Dollart, an arm of the German ocean, about 10 m. in length from N". to S., and 7 m. in breadth. It lies between the Prussian province of Hanover and the Nether- lands, at the mouth of the river Ems. It is supposed to have been formed by an inundation in 1277, and another in 1287, which destroyed 3 towns and nearly 40 villages, with thousands of human beings and cattle. The sea has since receded in some measure, and several thousand acres of land have been recovered. DOLLIER DE CASSON, Francois, a French priest and explorer, born about 1620, died in Mon- treal, Canada, Sept. 25, 1701. He entered the army and became a captain in Turenne's cav- alry. His courage was equal to his strength, which is said to have been so great that he could hold at arm's length a man seated on each hand. Having entered the congregation of St. Sulpice, he went to Canada about 1655. In 1670 he explored Lake Erie and drew up the first map of its whole basin. He was for many years superior of the Sulpicians at Montreal, and wrote a history of that settlement, which was published by the Montreal historical society in 1869. DOLLINGER. I. Ignaz, a German physiologist, born in Bamberg, May 24, 1770, died in Munich, Jan. 14, 1841. He studied medicine in the