APOLICES-APPRECIATION.

13

a document sometimes involves fraud, it is necessary for all who have the insertion of dates under their care, to see that there is nothing in their act which can be construed into a criminal offence. (See Post Date.)

Apolices. This name is applied to Brazilian Treasury Bills and Notes, and to several of the Internal Bonds circulating in Brazil. Appraiser. French, apprecier, to value, to estimate; Italian, apprezzare; Spanish, apreciar, to set a price; all from the Latin, ad, and pretium, a price. The equivalent in German is Schoetzer.

Every person is deemed an appraiser who makes it his business or part of his business to make a valuation chargeable with stamp duty. A penalty of £50 is imposed on any person who acts as an appraiser without a license: but the penalty is not imposed on any servant or employé who in a single instance makes a valuation for the guidance and information of his employer, even though such servant has not taken out a license.

Appreciation. Latin, ad, to; pretium, value, price. French, apprecier, to value, to estimate.

(a) In ordinary speech, to appreciate means to set a value upon anything, to prize, to esteem, as in the phrases "I appreciate his friendship," Wagner's style of music is too highly cultivated to be appreciated by the vulgar."

66

(b) In finance, this word has recently acquired a more strictly technical meaning, and is used in a sense as opposed to depreciation, especially in discussions relating to the "silver question." When one commodity exchanges for another in a pretty constant ratio, the value of each expressed in terms of the other is called its "normal value," and if from any cause one of these commodities is supplied in unusual abundance it becomes depreciated with respect to the other, that is, you have to give more of the superabundant commodity for the same quantity of that whose supply is unchanged. But when the converse takes place, and the supply of one of the two commodities is diminished, while the supply of the other remains unchanged, it then becomes appreciated. It should be observed also that when the rates of exchange between two commodities only is under consideration, the depreciation of the one always involves the appreciation of the other, as has been demonstrated very forcibly during the last few years by the fluctuations in the price of silver. In the days of Darius, we are told by Herodotus, gold was worth 13 times as much as an equal weight of silver; in modern days down to within the last ten years, it was worth about 15 times as much: but since the demonetization of silver by Germany, and partly also in consequence of the large supplies from the American mines, gold has been worth 20 times its weight in silver. Hence the value of gold as measured in silver is said to be appreciated that is, its value or price has been added to; and this marks the distinction between the technical and

14

ARBITRAGE-ARBITRATION.

conventional use of the word. In the latter, it implies in a vague way the setting a value on a thing. In the former, an adding to its value as measured in some other thing.

Arbitrage. Arbitration. From the Latin, arbitrari, to judge, decide, to pass sentence, to give judgment: arbiter, a judge, an umpire, and primarily an eye-witness. But the origin of this word lies much further back in the history of language, and appears to be connected with the practice of the soothsayers, diviners, and lotsmen of primitive times. There was in the languages of Eastern Europe a root, arp, arb, arv, which is found in several words referring to the arts of divination and soothsaying, and which is still seen in the Finnish language; a language much more widely spread in former times than the present geographical limits of the country would suggest. Thus we have arpa, a lot, a divining-rod, or instrument of divination; arpamies, a diviner, an arbiter; arpelen, to decide by lot, to divine; arwata, to prophesy, to judge; arwelo, opinion, judgment. We find also in the Latin, aruspex, and its derivations, used with the same signification, and the Greek equivalent derived from ἱερος oι ίαρος, sacred, and σκοπος, a seer, one who has an insight into divine things. We have only to recollect how natural it is in the infancy of human thought to seek for guidance in doubtful matters from persons supposed to possess supernatural powers or superior knowledge, to convince ourselves how familiar the words and names used with reference to this sacred class and their occult arts must become on the lips of those who have recourse to them. This familiarity has two marked effects. It fixes the word in the common language of the people, and gets engrafted in their forms of speech, and secondly, by being constantly used, it gets modified, degraded, and worn down till all but the most slender traces of the original word remain.

66

In its original acceptation, arbitration signified the giving of an opinion according to the best of one's judgment, according to equity, and not necessarily according to law. This meaning is retained in the modern use of the phrase Arbitration of Exchanges," not that there is much room for the play of the judgment in exchange operations, for when properly conducted both the data and the results are as intractable as those of a proposition in pure mathematics. Nevertheless as considerable experience and extended knowledge are required in the collection of the necessary data, the term arbitration or arbitrage, is by no means inappropriate. Arbitrage operations are applied not only to money and bullion, but perhaps even more largely to Foreign Bills of Exchange, and to merchandize bought in one country to be sold in another. These arbitrated rates are commonly called "Pars of Exchange." It is, therefore, important to note when this phrase is used, that an Arbitrated Par of Exchange, is a totally different thing from the Mint Par of Exchange. The Mint Par of Exchange expresses simply the sum of money in one country which contains an amount of fine metal equal to that in a given sum in another country. Thus the Mint Par of Exchange between England and France is £1=25-2215. (See Franc.)

Now take the following question. Suppose the 10 florin piece in Amsterdam to weigh 102 grains Troy, and gold in London to sell at 778. 10 d. per oz. What is the Arbitrated Par of Exchange? In other

ARBITRAGE-ARBITRATION.

15

words, what on the above conditions is the value of the pound sterling in Dutch florins? By Chain Rule.

Hence £1 = 12.08 florins is the arbitrated Par of Exchange. The following is an application of Arbitrage to the purchase and shipment of lead:

Öne Ton of lead @ £15 10/- less 2% discount. Freight 32/6 per ton. Primage 10% of freight. Insurance 20/-. Exchange 3/63 per dollar. What will it lay down at per picul in Hongkong? (1 picul = 1333 lbs.)

£ 8. d.

15 10 0

0 7 9

or $5 758, the price at which it will lay down in Hongkong. The foregoing are examples of what is called Simple Abitration, in which two countries only are taken into account. But when a merchant has correspondents in several commercial centres, it often occurs that an advantage may be gained, by making a remittance, not in a direct, but in a circuitous, manner: and the calculation

16

ARBITRAGEUR-ASPAR.

then becomes somewhat more complicated; the process being called Compound Arbitration. For fuller details, the reader may consult Tate's "Cambist," Ottomar Haupt's "London Arbitrageur," Seyd's "Bullion and Foreign Exchange."

The practice of Arbitration is also applied to the Weights and Measures of different countries; the object being to determine the relation between those of any two countries, either by direct comparison, or from their known relation to those of some third country.

Arbitrageur. This word, although French in form and sound, is not a recognised term in the French language, but has been introduced of late years as a convenient name for that class of persons who perform arbitrage operations or calculations of foreign exchange. There is no equivalent English term in use, the nearest being that of cambist, which is derived from the Italian. (See Cambist, Arbitration, &c.)

Articles of Association. A body of laws and rules drawn up for the government of Joint Stock Companies. The general principles on which Articles of Association are constructed are prescribed by the law of the land, and they form a rough model on which any given body of Articles may be drawn up; but the details are determined by the nature and objects of the Company itself. Every shareholder in a Joint Stock Company may demand a copy of its Articles of Association on payment of a nominal sum; or he may inspect a copy without charge at the offices of the company, any day within reasonable hours. (See Memorandum of Association.)

As. Greek, eus; in the Tarentine dialect, as; Latin, as, one or unity: from which it may be inferred that it was the unit of value among some of the Greeks, and most of the Romans.

A Roman coin made of brass. In the time of Tullus Hostilius it was called the As Libra, Libella, or Pondo, because it actually weighed a pound or 12 uncia or ozs. After the first Punic war it was reduced to 2 ounces. After the second Punic war, to one ounce, and finally to half an ounce, in which state it continued to the reign of Vespasian. Its original stamp was that of a sheep, or sow, thus forming a collecting link between those primitive times when cattle constituted the medium of exchange, and those more civilized times when metals formed the currency.

Ashereh. A modern Egyptian silver coin, value ten paras, about one halfpenny.

Ashrafi. A gold coin of Persia, value 9s. sterling. There is also the treble Ashrafi, called the " Muhr-Ashrafi."

Ashruffy. A gold coin of Hindoostan, value 12s. 6d.

Aspar, Aspre, or Mina. A silver coin used in Turkey; 120 to a piastre, value about

To Assay. Ex and agere; Latin, exigere, to examine, to prove by examination; "annulis ferreis ad certum pondus exactis, pro nummo utentur:" iron rings proved of a certain weight used as money.-Cæsar. Hence, exagium, a proof; exagium solidi, a proof shilling (literally, proof of a shilling). From exagium was formed the Italian saggio, a proof, trial, sample, taste of anything; assaggiare, to prove, try, taste; whence French, essayer, to try, and English, assay, essay, to try, to prove, to test. "I have two boyes

Seeke Percy and thy selfe about the field:
But, seeing thou fall'st on me so luckily,
I will assay thee: so defend thy selfe."

Shakespeare, "First Part of King Henry IV." act. v. sc. 4.

An assay is a process in metallurgy consisting of two parts. The first part of the operation is conducted with a view to determine the simple metals of which a compound consists, and thus corresponds to what in Chemistry is called a Qualitative Analysis. The second operation is directed to the finding out of the actual proportions in which any one or more of those metals enters the compound, and corresponds to the Chemical process called Quantitative Analysis.

Asset. Commonly derived from French, assez, enough, and this again from the Latin, ad, to; satis, enough. There is, however, good reason for regarding these forms as nothing more than the proximate origin of the word, inasmuch as we find in several other tongues but slightly related to the Latin, words almost identical in meaning, and very similar in sound, all indicating the existence of some other root which they may claim as their common ancestor: for examples-Gaelic, sioth, sith, peace, reconciliation, satisfaction; Polish, syt, sity, satisfied, full; Bohemian, sytiti, to satisfy; Icelandic, sætt, sætti, reconciliation, content; German, satt, full, satisfied; Old English, asseth, aseethe, enough, sufficient, satisfaction; assyth, sythe, to make compensation.

"And if it suffice not for asseth."-Piers Plowman.

"And Pilat willing to make aseeth to the people left to them Barabbas."-Wiclif, Mark xv.

"And though on heapes that lie him by,

Yet never shall make his richesse

Asseth unto his greediness."

Chaucer," Romaunt of the Rose."

Therefore I swore to the hows of Heli that the wickedness of his hows shall not be doon asceth before with slain sacrifices and giftis.Wiclif. (In Vulgate expietur.)

In Stephen's "Blackstone," the following account of the origin of this word is given: An heir is liable, out of an estate taken by descent in fee simple, to be charged with the debts of the ancestor from whom it descended, "but only so far as he has taken in his character of heir, an estate of his ancestor sufficient (to some extent at least) to satisfy the debt: which sufficient estate is called in law assets, from the French word assez enough," or sufficient. The use of the word is now greatly extended, and is employed in mercantile affairs to signify property of any kind when applied as a set-off against liabilities, or for the satisfaction of certain demands.

C