gild it. In sprinkling, the edges of several books are laid on a level one with another, and a piece of sponge, dipped into liquid colour, is passed lightly over the edges, so as to impart the tint to them regularly; this is called colouring. A more general method is that of sprinkling. The books are in this case ranged side by side on a bench, and a brush dipped in the liquid colour (which is formed of some such pigments as Venetian red, umber, &c.) is held over the books, and lightly tapped against a stick, whereby a shower of spots falls on the edges of the books, producing an appearance depending on the colour employed, and the manner in which the shower of spots is brought about. Marbled edges are sometimes produced, by a peculiar admixture and management of different colours sprinkled on the edge of the book.

Gilt edges are more delicate in their preparation. The gold so applied is in the same state as for various ornamental purposes, namely, an extremely thin leaf. Before the case or cover of the book is quite finished, the volume is struck forcibly against the back, so as to make the fore-edge flat instead of concave. It is then placed in a press, with the exposed edge uppermost. The edge is scraped smooth with a piece of steel, and is coated with a mixture of red chalk and water. The gold is blown out from small books, and spread on a leather cushion, where it is cut to the proper size by a smooth-edged knife. A camelhair pencil is dipped into white of egg mixed with water, and with this the partially dry edge of the book is moistened; the gold is then taken up on a flat kind of brush, and applied to the moistened edge, to which it instantly adheres. When all the three edges have been gilt in this way, and allowed to remain a few minutes, the workman takes a burnisher formed of a very smooth piece of hard stone, and setting the end of the handle against his shoulder, rubs the gold forcibly-not (as might be supposed) endangering its permanence, but giving it a high degree of polish, by rubbing down the minute asperities which may be occasioned by the paper beneath. The gold employed has a greater or less degree of solidity according to the costliness of the book.

The covers have next to be noticed, beginning with those of leather. The leather so employed is roan or sheep, calf, Morocco, and Russia; at least, these are the principal kinds, to which alone we need make allusion here. These kinds of leather receive their colour at the dye-houses in Bermondsey, where they are prepared in vast quantities, not only for the London market, but for many other parts of England; but "roan-bound" books, such as school-books, are often sprinkled with colour by the book-binders after the leather has been attached to the boards. For this purpose, the books are opened, and hung over two bars in such a manner that the leaves may hang vertically downwards, while the boards lie horizontal. A brush is dipped into the liquid colour, and dashed or sprinkled on the cover so as to give a group of spots or wavy lines, at the taste of the workman. Calf and Russia leathers do not often receive any modification of surface from the bookbinder; but Morocco is sometimes treated in the following manner. The Morocco leather employed for chair-covers and such purposes is made either of kid-skin or sheep-skin according to its quality, and has a wrinkled appearance, arising from the surface having been rubbed very hard with a minutely grooved piece of wood. Now for many purposes of bookbinding these wrinkles are changed to a granulated appearance, by the following process: Two pieces of leather being well wetted, and laid face to face, the upper one is rubbed in different directions with a flat piece of cork, by which the wrinkles are removed, and a slightly granulated texture produced.

The decorations produced on a leather-bound book by heated stamps or dies are very diversified. The dies for producing any particular device are fixed to handles, and when about to be used are warmed in a gas-heated stove. Many such dies are often used for one book, and the process of producing a sunken ornamental device by using these tools by hand is called blind-tooling. But for many purposes it is more convenient to fasten a great number of small dies as partial devices to a metallic plate, by means of glue and cloth, and to stamp the device from this fixed plate by means of a press; this is called blocking.

All the devices so produced on a book are called "blind," if no gold be employed; but much of the beauty of the workmanship depends on the tasteful introduction of this metal in forming part or all of the pattern. The leather, as laid on the book, is not in a fit state for receiving the gold without some modification of surface. It first receives a coating of parchment-size; then two or three coatings of white of egg, whereby a slight glossiness is produced; and just before the gold is to be laid on, the surface is slightly moistened with oil. The gold, cut up into small pieces, to suit the kind of ornament, is laid on the book with a flat camel-hair brush; and the stamp or die, previously heated in the fire, is impressed on the gold; whereby two effects are produced at once-the production of the device, and the fixing of the gold to the leather. A piece of soft rag, lightly passed over the book, removes the small superfluous fragments of gold, and leaves the gilt device clearly marked.

But the decoration of volumes bound in cloth, although occupying a far lower level in respect of manual dexterity than the more costly binding in leather, has occupied much attention within the last few years, and has been one of the means for producing neat and even elegant volumes at a marvellously low price. Cloth-binding, in fact, has been the germ of one great advance in the art-the application of machinery to much that had previously been effected by manual labour.

The cloth with which books are covered is generally cotton of a particular kind, woven for the purpose. When the system of cloth-binding came up, about thirty years ago, the cloth was used in the unaltered state, with the warp and weft threads visibly crossing each other at right angles. But now the cloth is more generally so altered by an artificial embossment of surface, as to leave the threads barely visible, and to give to it a close resemblance to leather. The cloth covers for many books have now imparted to them, by embossing, a remarkably close resemblance to the appearance of leather; a resemblance which, though now becoming very common, would have deceived many an eye a few years ago. This embossing is produced by drawing the cloth, while yet uncut for the purposes of binding, between two steel rollers, of which the surfaces are engraved with the required device, and which have a row of gas-jets through their hollow centre, to keep up a constant temperature. There must be as many pairs of rollers as there are different devices for embossing cloth; so that the number in large factories is very considerable. Some of the rollers are intended for the production of a uniform device over the whole surface of the cloth; while others have particular devices for each particular book, and are consequently planned with especial reference to the size of the volume. The rapidity with which books can be now bound in this way, is one great cause of the surprising cheapness at which they are often sold. Paper-wrappers for stitched but unbound books can of course be applied much more quickly. One of the most notable examples of this kind ever known, was afforded by the Great Exhibition of 1851. At ten o'clock in the evening of the 30th of April, the first complete printed copy of the Official Catalogue left the printer's hands; in the following forenoon ten thousand such copies were ready at the Exhibition building in Hyde Park, including two superbly bound, for Her Majesty and Prince Albert.

Other kinds of cloth covers, especially those which are much decorated with gold, are stamped with the device after being pasted on the covers, instead of before; they are, in fact, cases, each one quite ready to affix to the book in a speedy manner after being stamped. Great pressure is required in this process, for the mill-board is required to yield to the force, as well as the cloth itself. The case is placed down flat on an iron bed heated with gas from beneath; above is a press, to the lower end of which is attached the stamping-die or device, face downwards. Great mechanical power is then brought to bear on it, and the press descends with force sufficient to impart the pattern to the cover, gilt or not, according to the circumstances of the case. India-rubber Binding.-The last few years have witnessed the introduction of a singular mode of binding, arising out of the use of a cement or glue of caoutchouc, instead of sewing, for fastening the sheets of books together. In this process, the sheets are not allowed to retain the folded form customary in other kinds of binding; but the edges are cut on all four sides on the back as well as the front, top, and bottom; the consequence of which is, that all the leaves are separated one from another. The group of leaves to form one volume is placed in a kind of gauge, by which convexity is given to the backedge and concavity to the front; and a cement of caoutchouc is carefully applied to the back-edge, whereby all the leaves become cemented together. The subsequent operations are much the same as in other binding. There is a certain kind of flexibility resulting from this method, advantageous when the volume is thick. This method was introduced by Mr. Hancock, and in reference to it the late Dr. Ure remarked:-" For engravings, atlases, and ledgers, this binding is admirably adapted, because it allows the pages to be displayed most freely, without the risk of dislocating the volume; but for security, three or four stitches should be made. The leaves of music-books bound with caoutchouc, when turned over lie flat in their whole extent as if in loose sheets, and do not torment the musician like the leaves of the ordinary books, which are so ready to spring back again. Manuscripts and collections of letters which happen to have little or no margin left at the back for stitching them by, may be bound by Mr. Hancock's plan without the least encroachment upon the writing. The thickest ledgers thus bound open as easily as paper in quire, and may be written up to the innermost margin of the book without the least inconvenience."

A method was patented, some years after the introduction of indiarubber binding, under the name of "Cement-binding." This consists in cementing the leaves or sheets together at the back, with a composition of isinglass, oil, sugar, and other ingredients; and in covering the cemented edges with a strip of calico similarly cemented. What advantages (if any) this possesses over the caoutchouc binding, does not appear: its principle is evidently the same.

Palmer's patent binding consists in applying small brass bars, linked together, to the back of the book, in such a manner that they make the different sections of the book, when open, parallel with each other, and thus admit of writing readily on the ruled lines near the back. It seems to be another mode of attaining some such result as that which is aimed at in india-rubber binding.

Williams's patent binding consists in the employment of a back, curved in form, turned a little at the edges, and made of metal, ivory, or wood. This back is adjusted to the book before it is bound, in such a manner that it may just cover but not press upon the edges, and is fastened on by enclosing it in vellum or ferret wrappers, which are pasted down upon the boards, or drawn through them. The object is

to make the book open freely and evenly, and to prevent it from spreading on either side.

There have been other recently-patented novelties in book-binding; but instead of dwelling upon them, we will make a few observations on the condition of the art generally.

The finest specimens of modern book-binding ever seen in this country were probably those in the Great Exhibition of 1851. The Report of the Jury on " Paper and Books," noticed the attempts which have been made to adapt the style of book-binding to the subjects of the books. Those attempts have in some cases been directed to particular colours of the leather or cloth; but more generally the style of ornament has borne relation, real or supposed, to the subject-matter treated in the volumes. For example: characteristic emblems or symbols have been adopted among the gilt or stamped adornments; and ornaments of Egyptian, Roman, Grecian, Gothic, or Saracenic character have been used in works relating to the history or geography of those countries. It is generally admitted, however, that our bookbinders do not attend much to this subject. The Jury gave the following interesting notice of some of the steps whereby the rapid book-binding of modern times has been rendered possible:-"Mr. Burn, of Hatton Garden, first introduced rolling-machines to supersede hammering. The iron printing presses of Hopkinson and others were altered to form arming-presses, by which block-gilding, blind-tooling, and embossing can be effected with accuracy and rapidity. Leather covers, embossed in elaborate and beautiful patterns by means of powerful fly-presses, were introduced by M. Thouvenin, of Paris, about twenty-five [now nearly thirty-five] years ago; and almost simultaneously in this country by Messrs. Remnant & Co., and by Mr. De la Rue, who were quickly followed by others. Embossed calico was also introduced about the same period by Mr. De la Rue. Hydraulic presses, instead of the old wooden screw presses; Wilson's cuttingmachines, which superseded the old plough; the cutting-tables with shears, invented by Mr. Warren de la Rue, and now applied to squaring and cutting millboards for book-covers,-all these means and contrivances, indispensable to large establishments, prove that machinery is one of the elements necessary to enable a binder on a large scale to carry on that business successfully.”

Before closing this article, it will be desirable to notice briefly some of the points treated in an interesting paper read before the Society of Arts, in February, 1859, by Mr. John Leighton :-On the Library, Books, and Binding, particularly with regard to their Restoration and Preservation.' Dust and dirt upon books in a library affect the binding in a way that may easily be understood, and needs no comment. Dampness occasions the frequent disfigurement of books, both in the paper and the binding, with spots like iron-moulds, which will ruin the volume if left unremedied. Dry heat is even worse than damp for the leather of binding. In the library of the Athenæum Club, the calf and Russia bindings were found some years ago to have suffered so severely, by the effect of a gas-lighted room, that in many cases they crumbled under the touch, the backs fell away, all the oily matter seemed as if dried out of the leather, and a general deterioration was visible. Mr. Faraday, to check the spread of the evil, introduced a gas-burner with a chimney for conveying the deleterious fumes to the outer air; but Mr. Leighton expresses an opinion that it is better in all cases to use oil-lamps in a library-so far as the books are concerned. In old libraries, the ravages of a peculiar kind of bookworm are well known to bookbinders and bibliopolists. An instance has been recorded where, in a range of books very seldom consulted, twenty-seven adjacent folio volumes were found perforated by a wormhole, so direct and thorough that a string could be passed through the whole thickness of all the volumes, paper and binding included. Some kinds of leather suffer more than others from insects and worms; and in hot countries, the paste and glue of ordinary bindings become unfortunate sources of destruction. Mr. Leighton thinks that modern ordinary mill-board, made of well-tarred rope, is as good a material as can be found for the groundwork of book covers; he makes some useful comments on the often-suggested use of corrosive sublimate, colocynth, starch, alum, vitriol, salts of ammonia, orpiment, and other substances, as preservatives of books against insect-visitations; and he hints that an occasional atmosphere of tobacco-smoke may be useful in this matter. Mr. Leighton made the following observations on the chief kinds of leather used in bookbinding :-" Many books of the medieval period are bound in vellum and leather, without millboards. Formerly a pasteboard was used, made of the rudest materials—paper, cloth, old vellum, or what not. The earliest leather covers were principally of a rich brown calf, undyed; and so they remained until the early part of the present century. All the stains then in vogue were imparted to the skin by the bookbinders; who, by the judicious application of them, produced very beautiful natural effects-tree marbles, sponge dabs, sprinkled and spotted patterns-innumerable, though not always without injury to the leather, the surface of which the stronger acids were apt to burn after some years' action. The plain dyes given to calf in the whole skins have tended to supersede the colouring of leather on the volume itself. The old, simple, undyed calf was exceedingly good and strong; being more durable than many of the fancy-hued hides of the present day, which seem to have the elements of decay therein before being put on the volume, and which are even afterwards washed by the binder with oxalic acid,

imparting a delicacy of surface most injurious to the skin. This is clearly evidenced in the binding of law-books, uncoloured calf being always used (which, in combination with the white edges, is, I believe, intended as typical of the purity of the profession); the leather being washed up with spirit to a fictitious whiteness, rendering it in a few years rotten, as many law libraries will sadly testify. Morocco, the earliest coloured old leather, is decidedly the strongest, richest, and best for the binder's art; it is surface-dyed goat's skin, and no doubt first came to England on Venetian books, when that Republic was in its glory. It is the prince of leathers; having received the greatest and choicest amount of decoration, the most delicate and boldest of hand-tooling. Hog-skin is a nice and durable material for bookbinding, though not much used; it takes blind-tooling admirably. Russia, unless used extremely thick, is a poor and rotten leather; being little stronger than paper if pared thin, and only to be prized on account of its odour, and pleasant tint of colour. In bookbindings of the present day, leathers are pared and shaved much too thin, especially where strength is most required-at the joints, near the head-bands; this is by no means necessary, if the leather be turned in the entire thickness, space being cut for its reception in the board—a plan I have always adopted for heavy books. Vellum is extremely strong and useful to the binder, though from its rigid nature hardly adapted to book-joints-at least, as books are bound or forwarded (as it is termed) at present; unless it be those of account-books, where all strong materials, from hard writing-paper to horny bands of leather, are most prized. Vellum bookbinding for bankers, &c., is a distinct branch of trade, apart from bookbinding proper; in the binding of printed books it is somewhat difficult to get a whole vellum cover to set well, it being a material better suited to immoveable parts, as edges, corners, linings, and inlayings." In a discussion which followed the reading of Mr. Leighton's paper, it was stated that the bound books of the London Institution, of the library of the Earl of Tyrconnel at Kilpin, of a room in the Times' office, of the Royal College of Surgeons, of the Literary and Philosophical Society at Newcastle on Tyne, of the Alfred Club, and of the libraries belonging to other individuals and corporate bodies, had all suffered in the same way as those at the Athenæum Club, by the use of gas-lights or gas-stoves.

BOOK-KEEPING. Book-keeping by double entry is the art of keeping accounts in a scientific manner.

So much obscurity surrounds the early history of the art that it is impossible to discover either by whom, or at what period, it was invented. Some are of opinion that it was known in Europe as early as the beginning of the first century, but the passages in the classical authors are inconclusive on which this opinion is based. Others assert that it has been practised by the Banians of India from time immemorial, and that it was by them communicated to the Venetians in the 15th century; while others again say that the Venetians learned it from the Arabians. However this may be, it is certainly to the Venetians that we are indebted for our knowledge of the art. The earliest known treatise on the subject is that of Lucas de Burgo, which was published in the Italian language in the year 1495, from which circumstance bookkeeping by double entry has acquired the designation of the Italian method.

Italy at this period the great centre of the world's commerceevidenced its appreciation of the art, by producing several works on the subject in quick succession. In the beginning of the 16th century the art was introduced into France; and in the year 1543 Hugh Oldcastle, a schoolmaster, published the first treatise in this country.

More than one hundred and fifty works on book-keeping have been published in the English language since that by Hugh Oldcastle, but the number of those which merit unqualified praise is not large. The earlier works, indeed, were extremely crude and unsatisfactory; and it was not till the year 1789, when Mr. Benjamin Booth, a merchant of intelligence and experience, published his 'Complete System of Book-keeping,' that we could be said to possess a thoroughly practical exposition of the principles of the science.

The theory of double entry has been repeatedly assailed both in this country and on the continent, and by none more ably than by Mr. Edward T. Jones, an accountant of Bristol, who first attacked it soon after the appearance of the work by Mr. Booth, to which we have just referred. Mr. Jones's object was two-fold-first, to overthrow the Italian system, which he contended was fallacious, and secondly to establish in its stead a system of his own invention, which he represented to be infallible. The method recommended by Mr. Jones is known as the English system of book-keeping.

Mr. Jones's announcement excited considerable attention in the commercial world, and resulted in a large subscription being raised for his encouragement. In the year 1796 a patent was granted to him for his invention.

The expectations raised by that invention, however, were not fulfilled; and although Mr. Jones has left us two greatly enlarged and improved editions of his original work, the Italian method has maintained its ground as the favourite method of book-keeping, and is still employed by the first merchants of Europe and America.

It is much to be regretted that in a country so renowned as this is for its wealth and commerce, book-keeping should not be more generally and intelligently studied. Unfortunately a notion prevails

that it is a complex and arbitrary system without any fixed principles or any intelligible rules. Nothing, however, could be more erroneous. Book-keeping is a system of as great perfection and beauty as anything human can be, and it is based upon principles which are simple, unalterable, and capable of universal application.

When its importance and true character shall come to be properly understood, book-keeping will undoubtedly be recognised as a necessary branch of general education; and to be ignorant of the science of accounts will be held to be scandalous, not only in the trader, who should be the guardian of his own interests, but also in directors of companies and guardians of charities, to whom are entrusted the interests of others. There are but few persons who have any adequate conception of the number of bankruptcies which have resulted from irregular accounts alone, or of the extent of the waste, peculation, and frauds which the absence of an intelligent scrutiny of accounts has first encouraged, and afterwards concealed. It is deserving of notice that of late years the executive government has done much to promote the study of book-keeping in this country. The Lords of Her Majesty's Treasury have made a competent knowledge of the art an indispensable qualification, in candidates for certain branches of the civil service; and the Poor Law Commissioners for England and Wales, in the year 1847, issued an able order prescribing the accounts to be kept in all the Poor Law Unions under their control.

Book-keeping by double entry is alike applicable to the accounts of merchants, manufacturers, traders, public companies and bodies, and private individuals; but for the sake of brevity, we shall confine our remarks to accounts of the first-mentioned class.

The first necessity is that the merchant should secure a record of every fact and transaction affecting his property.

Formerly this record was kept in a book known as the Waste-Book, but experience having shown the inconvenience of a register in which no regard was paid to the classification of the entries (purchases and sales, payments and receipts, being jumbled together), the Waste-Book is now subdivided by every merchant according to the nature of his business. A common division of that book is the following:I. THE DAY-BOOK, or INVOICE-BOOK OUTWARDS, in which the merchant records his sales on credit. Should he sell any of his goods for cash, he must enter those sales separately in a CASH SALES-BOOK.

II. THE INVOICE-BOOK INWARDS, in which he records his purchases on credit. A common mode of keeping this book is to paste into it the invoices in the order in which they are received.

III. THE CASH-BOOK, on the left-hand side of which he enters all cash received, and on the right-hand side all cash paid. Discount received and allowed is sometimes shown in inner columns of this book.

IV. THE BILL-BOOK, in one part of which he records all the bills receivable, and in another part all the bills payable.

V. THE STOCK-BOOK, or INVENTORY, in which he enters an account of his stock on hand at the time of the balancing of his books.

All the books of this class are perfectly simple in their character, and when properly kept contain all the necessary data for the correct statement of the accounts in the Ledger-a book of which we shall speak presently-hence they are called subsidiary books.

Too much care cannot be bestowed on the selection and preparation of the subsidiary books, so as to adapt them to the particular business in which the merchant is engaged. The subsidiary books of a trader will differ from those of a merchant, and these again will differ from the subsidiary books of a broker. The object, however, of the subsidiary books is in all cases the same, namely, to obtain a classified record of every fact affecting the property of the individual.

Now, double entry addresses itself to the collection into a book called the LEDGER, of all the facts scattered through the subsidiary books, and to the arrangement of those facts in that book with such accuracy and conciseness as to show at a glance the precise state of the merchant's affairs. The supreme importance of this book-in which the accounts take their ultimate and scientific character-will be readily perceived.

The accounts in the Ledger are divided into

I. Personal accounts. II. Real accounts.

III. Fictitious accounts.

I. The Personal accounts are those opened with the persons with whom the merchant has dealings on credit. These accounts show him whether those persons owe him anything, and if so how much, or whether he owes them anything, and if so how much.-See Ledger accounts, 9, 10, 11, and 12.

II. The Real accounts are the accounts of his property, and show how, where, and in what proportions it is invested. It is in the nature of a merchant's transactions that his property should be in a state of constant change. His cash of to-day may be merchandise

ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. II.

to-morrow, and the bills receivable of to-morrow may be cash on the third day. The Real accounts show these changes in his property.— See Ledger accounts, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8.

III. The Fictitious accounts are those showing his gains and losses; but why these accounts should be called fictitious it would puzzle any one-and we therefore will not attempt to say.-See Ledger accounts, 1, 13, 14, and 15.

Double entry takes its stand upon the scientific axiom, that "the whole is equal to the sum of all its parts; or, conversely, that "all the parts taken together are equal to the whole." An examination of the following Stock account will show that that account exhibits "the whole" of the merchant's property, taken collectively; and an examination of the remaining accounts will show that they exhibit "all the parts" of his property taken separately. It follows therefore that all the parts as represented by such remaining accounts must in all cases be equal to the whole, as represented by the Stock account. This is the distinguishing feature of double entry; it records all its facts, and arrives at all its conclusions by a double process, the one process operating as a check upon the other.

This brings us to the fundamental principle of double entry, which is that every fact carried to the Ledger must be entered twice, that is, on the Dr., or lefthand side of one account, and on the Cr., or righthand side of another account. The account giving out the item is always the Cr., and the account receiving it is always the Dr. By this means the aggregate amount of all the debtors in the Ledger is at all times equal to the aggregate amount of all the creditors. The accounts are thus kept in a state of constant equilibrium. An illustration of this truth is given in the Journal.

It is the practice of book-keepers, before closing their accounts at any given period, to ascertain by adding up both sides of their Ledger, whether an equilibrium of debtors and creditors has been duly preserved, and this is called making a trial balance. If an equilibrium has not been preserved at every stage of the posting of that book, the accounts cannot be correct.

We will now give a concise exemplification of the foregoing principles.

For this purpose let us suppose that we want to know the state of a merchant's affairs on a given day, say the 31st of January. We turn tained (say on the 1st of January), it was as follows:to his subsidiary books and find that when his position was last ascer

By his Day-Book we find that he has since sold 500l. worth of goods and 2000l. worth of wine to M. Moythan, and 1500l. worth of goods to J. Jenks; and that he has sent 2001. worth of goods o Hull on speculation, the charges on which amounted to 10%. By his Invoice-Book we find that he has purchased 2001. worth of goods from R. Lloyd, and 400l. worth from T. Nott.

By his Cash-Book we find that he has received 2600l. from M. Moythan; 12007. from J. Jenks; 1901. from his adventure to Hull; 50%. in payment of one of his bills receivable; and 350l. for the sugar in company; and that he has paid 100l. in discharge of one of his bills payable, and 801. for rent and wages. On turning to his Bill-Book we do not find that he has either issued or received any bill during the month.

To facilitate the posting of the Ledger from the subsidiary books, an intermediate book is used called the Journal, the object of which is to indicate to what accounts, and to which side of each account, the transactions recorded in the subsidiary books are to be carried. In the infancy of the art it was customary to post and journalise each transaction separately, but experience having shown the inconvenience of that practice, it has long been discontinued. The practice which now obtains is to journalise the transactions monthly instead of daily and to include in one entry all the transactions of the month belonging to the same class. Thus, instead of journalising each item appearing on the Dr. side of the Cash-Book separately, all the cash receipts of the month are entered together as Cash Dr. to Sundries, the word Sundries always meaning in book-keeping not sundry or several articles but sundry or several accounts. By this contrivance there never can be more entries in the Ledger account than twelve on each side, namely one for each month in the year.

T