a prior, and was originally, although by no means uniformly, at least in later times, subject to the jurisdiction of an abbey. Many priories possessed extensive territorial domains, and of these, not a few became entirely independent. The distinction of abbey and priory is found equally among the Benedictine nuns. In the military orders, the name of commandery and preceptory corresponded with those of abbey and priory in the monastic orders. The establishments of the mendicant, and, in general, of the modern orders, are sometimes, though less properly, called monasteries. Their more characteristic appellation is friary or convent, and they are commonly distinguished into professed houses (called also residences), novitiates, and colleges, or scholastic houses. The names of the superiors of such houses differ in the different orders. The common name is rector, but in some orders the superior is called guardian (as in the Franciscan), or master, major, father superior, etc. The houses of females-except in the Benedictine or Cistercian orders are called indifferently convent and nunnery, the head of which is styled mother superior, or reverend mother. The name cloister properly means the inclosure; but it is popularly used to designate, sometimes the arcaded ambulatory which runs around the inner court of the building, sometimes, in the more general sense, of the entire building, when it may be considered as synonymous with convent.

MONASTIR', TOLI-MONASTIR, or BITOLIA, a t. of European Turkey, capital of the vilayet named after it, is situated in a broad valley of the Niji mountains, 90 m. n.n.e. of Janina, and about the same distance w.n.w. of Šaloniki. It is an important place, is the residence of the governor-general, and commands the routes between Macedonia and northern Albania. The inhabitants are mostly Greeks and Bulgarians. Monastir has 11 mosques, and carries on a large trade with Constantinople, Saloniki, Vienna, and Trieste. From Constantinople alone it annually buys goods to the value of £1,500,000. Its bazaars, containing more than 2,200 shops, are well stocked with the products of western Europe and the colonies, as also with native manufactures. Yet it is one of the worst built and most tasteless towns in all Turkey. Pop. 34,000.

MONASTIR, a seaport t. of north Africa, in the dominion of Tunis, 80 m. s.s.e. of the city of that name, on the gulf of Sidra. Woolen and camlet fabrics are manufactured, and there is some maritime trade. Pop. 12,000.

MONBODDO, JAMES BURNET, Lord, a Scottish lawyer and author, was b. at Monboddo, in Kincardineshire, in 1714, educated at Marischal college, Aberdeen, where he displayed a great fondness for the Greek philosophers, and afterwards studied law for 3 years at Groningen, in Holland. In 1737 he became a member of the Scottish bar, and soon obtained considerable practice; but the first thing that brought him prominently into notice was his connection with the celebrated Douglas case, in which Mr. Burnet acted as counsel for Mr. Douglas. In 1767 he was raised to the bench by the title of lord Monboddo. He died May 26, 1799. Monboddo's first work, on the Origin and Progress of Language (1771-76), is a very learned, heretical, and eccentric production; yet in the midst of its grotesque crotchets there occasionally flashes out a wonderfully acute observation, that makes one regret the distorted and misapplied talent of the author. The notion that men have sprung from monkeys, is perhaps that which is most commonly associated with the name of Monboddo, who gravely asserted that the orang-outangs are members of the human species, and that in the bay of Bengal there exists a nation of human creatures with tails, and that we have only worn away ours by sitting on them, but that the stumps may still be felt. Monboddo wrote another work, entitled Ancient Metaphysics, which was published only a few weeks before his death.

MONBUTTOO, a country in central Africa, between 3° and 4° n. lat., and 28° and 29 e. long.; 4,000 sq.m.; estimated pop. '70, 1,000,000. It is an elevated table-land, 2,500 ft. above the sea. The Keebaly and Gadda rivers flow through it, uniting to form the Welle, which, after a westerly course through s. Nyam-Nyam, joins the Shary, the source of lake Tchad. The soil spontaneously produces so many fruits and edible roots that cultivation is small, restricted for the most part to tobacco, sugar cane, and sesame. There are few domestic animals. The inhabitants are lighter colored than the surrounding nations; they are cannibals, fond of the chase, and skillful in the working of copper, iron, and wood. Polygamy and circumcision are practiced. The art of weaving is unknown. There is a considerable trade in ivory.

MONCADA, Don FRANCISCO DE, CONDE DE OSONA, an historian and one of the Spanish classics, b. Dec. 29, 1586, at Valencia, where his grandfather was then viceroy. Descended from one of the greatest families of Catalonia, he rapidly rose to the highest offices in the state, was ambassador to Vienna, and latterly governor of the Netherlands, and commander-in-chief of the Spanish troops there. He distinguished himself both as a statesman and a soldier. He fell at the siege of Goch, a fortress in the duchy of Cleves, in 1635. His Historia de la Expedicion de Catalones y Aragoneses contra Turcos y Griegos (Barcelona, 1623, and frequently reprinted), is a masterpiece in liveliness and elegance of style.

MONCALIE'RI, a t. of Italy, in the province of Turin, situated finely on the slope of a hill, on the right bank of the Po, 5 m. above Turin. Pop. 3,030. Moncalieri is the first railway station between Turin and Genoa, and communicates daily with Turin by frequent omuibuses; it has fine buildings, including a palace lately embellished for the

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residence of king Victor Emmanuel. The annual cattle-fair held in October at Moncalieri is the most important of the north of Italy.

MONCK, a co. in s. Ontario, on lake Erie; 373 sq.m.; pop. 17,145. The Canada Southern, the Grand Trunk, and the Great Western railroads pass through it.

MONCK, CHARLES STANLEY, Viscount, b. Ireland, 1819; educated at Trinity college, Dublin, and called to the Irish bar in 1841. He was elected to parliament as a liberal member for Portsmouth in 1852, and re-elected in 1855, but was unsuccessful in 1857. He was a lord of the treasury from 1855 to 1858, and was appointed governor-general of Canada in 1861. He was reappointed in 1867, but resigned the next year. In 1871 he served on the Irish national education commission, and on the commission to carry out the act for the disestablishment of the Irish church. He succeeded his father as viscount in the Irish peerage in 1849, and was made a viscount in the peerage of Great Britain in 1866.

MONCREIFF-WELLWOOD, Sir HENRY, 1750-1827; b. Scotland; son of the rev. sir William Moncreiff, and assumed the additional name of Wellwood late in life. Having been educated at Glasgow and Edinburgh, he was ordained, 1771, as successor to his father at Blackford, and continued there until 1775, when he became minister of St. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh. Always a member of the evangelical party in the church, he became at length its leader. His published works are: Discourses on the Evidence of the Jewish and Christian Revelations; The Life and Writings of Dr. John Erskine; and Sermons, 3 vols.

MONCTON, a t. in Canada, province of New Brunswick, co. of Westmoreland, the terminus of the Moncton to St. John's division of the Intercolonial railway; pop. 5,032. It is a port of entry, with a convenient harbor, very pleasantly located at the head of navigation of the Petitcodiac river, which empties into Chignecto bay, the n. extremity of the bay of Fundy. It has several hotels, 4 churches, a variety of stores, and a telegraph office. It contains the offices of the Intercolonial railway and repair shops. It has 2 banks, and its leading industries are the manufacture of steam-engines, machinery, cigars, leather, hardware, and castings. It has a great trade in lumber.

MONDAY (Ger. Montag, Lat. Lung Dies, the day of the moon, Fr. Lundi), the second day of the week. The name descends from the Romans, who named the days of the week after the planets.

MONDOÑEDO, a t. in Galicia, Spain, n.n.e. of Lugo; pop. 2,452. It has a cathedral and a castle. There are tanneries, and manufactures of cotton cloth, and linen.

MONDO VI, an episcopal t. in Cuneo, one of the northern provinces of Italy, situated on the summit and shoulder of an Alpine hill, 50 m. s. of Turin. It is divided into four sections: the piazza-encircled by walls, and containing the chief buildings of the place, and the suburbs, Carassone, Breo, and Piano del Valle. In the neighborhood considerable activity exists in cloth, silk, and bonnet-straw manufactories; but in spite of vineyards and chestnut woods, the numerous remains of ruined buildings in its vicinity impart an air of desolation to the locality. The Piazza contains a fine cathedral, with rich paintings; an episcopal palace, with a noble gallery of portraits; and the various judicial and educational halls. Pop. 9,637. At the battle of Mondovi, on April 22, 1796, the Sardinians were totally defeated by Bonaparte, and the entrance into Piedmont secured to the French army. The province of Mondovi is intersected by spurs of the Alps, and contains rich marble quarries and valuable mineral products.

MONE'SIA BARK, the bark of a tree, chrysophyllum glycyphlæum, or C. Buranheim, of the same genus with the star apple (q. v.), a native of the s. of Brazil. The bark is lactescent; but when dried, it is thick, flat, compact, heavy, brown, and hard, with a taste at first sweet, afterwards astringent and bitter. A substance called monesia is extracted from it, which is almost black, at first sweet, then astringent, and finally acrid. It is used as a stomachic and alterative in leucorrhoea, chronic diarrhoea, etc. It contains, in small quantity, a principle called monesin.

MONETARY COMMISSION OF THE U. S. CONGRESS. The mistaken demonetization of silver by congress in the coinage act of Feb. 12, 1873, passing almost unnoticed during that year, soon afterwards attracted the attention of thoughtful men. Its possible consequences loomed portentously into view, as the subject was more and more studied. Within three years it became a theme of general discussion in the United States. It was a prolific source of debate in the 44th congress; and on Aug. 15, 1876, the senate initiated a joint resolution for the appointment of a joint commission of three senators, three members of the house, with experts, not exceeding three, to be selected by the former, whose duty was to inquire, "First, Into the change which has taken place in the relative value of gold and silver; the causes thereof, whether permanent or otherwise; the effects thereof upon trade, commerce, finance, and the productive interests of the country, and upon the standard of value in this and foreign countries: Second, Into the policy of the restoration of the double standard in this country; and, if restored, what the legal relation of the two coins, silver and gold, should be; Third, Into the policy of continuing legal-tender notes concurrently with the metallic standards, and the effect thereof

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upon the labor, industries, and wealth of the country; Fourth, Into the best means for providing for facilitating the resumption of specie payments."

The commission as organized consisted of Messrs. John P. Jones, Lewis V. Bogy, and George S. Boutwell, of the senate; Randall L. Gibson, George Willard, and Richard P. Bland, of the house of representatives; Wm. S. Groesbeck of Ohio, and Prof. Francis Bowen of Massachusetts. Geo. M. Weston of Maine was appointed secretary. The sessions of the committee were held in New York until December of that year, and afterwards in Washington. Circulars were immediately issued by the commission to men of eminence in monetary studies, to authors, bankers, and business men in the United States and Europe, to elicit the widest possible information on the topics of the resolution. The chambers of commerce in the cities were invited to furnish, and did furnish, lists of persons most competent to give information. The U. S. representatives in foreign countries were required to aid in the work. The commission entered upon its duties with energy. collected vast stores of information, and were aided by the most eminent political economists and financial writers of all schools, who were glad to have such an opportunity for the elucidation and comparison of their views. The main substance of the report was submitted and ordered to be printed Mar. 2, 1877. It is a masterly condensation of the philosophy and facts bearing on money questions; embracing clear statements of all schools of opinion. The conclusions of the commission were not unanimous. But the majority report not only exhibits such grasp of the whole subject, but has also been so far proved correct in its deductions by facts which have since become a part of monetary history, that the several dissents of individual members of the committee from certain parts of the majority report are not of much importance. On the whole, the report is the most valuable compendium of facts and monetary theories ever published. It takes rank in point of ability with the famous bullion report of England in 1810, but covers a far wider field, and introduces social science problems in connection with the money question not taken into consideration by the British committee. The latter sifted financial questions from bankers' points of view: the U. S. commission reviews the subject in the light of the public weal-the greatest good to the greatest number.

The conclusions of the majority of the committee on the first questions submitted are: That he recent production of silver relatively to gold has not been greater than formerly; that the (then) recent fall in the price of silver was not caused by any recent large production; but mainly by the concurrent demonetization of silver in Germany, the United States, and the Scandinavian states, the closure of the mints of Europe to its coinage, the temporary diminution of the Asiatic demand, the exaggeration of the actual and prospective yield of the Nevada silver mines, and a prevailing idea that the efforts of holders of government securities would bring about its demonetization: that gold is more fitful in production than silver; that the average production of both is more steady than of either one; "that to annihilate the money function of one must greatly increase the purchasing power of the other, and greatly reduce prices;" that "silver to the amount of $3,000,000,000 in coin, the accumulation of 50 centuries, is so worked into the web and woof of the world's commerce that it cannot be discarded without entailing the most serious consequences, social, industrial, political, and commercial;" that "the evil is enormously aggravated by selecting gold as the metal to be retained and silver as the metal to be rejected;" that "the exchanges of the world, and especially of this country, are continually and largely increasing, while the supplies of both the precious metals, taken together, if not diminishing are at least stationary, and the supply of gold, taken by itself, is falling off; and that to submit the vast and increasing exchanges of this country and the world to be measured by a metal never to be depended on in its supply, and now actually diminishing in its production, would make crisis chronic, and business paralysis perpetual." Covering the second question the commission recommend the restoration of the double standard and the unrestricted coinage of both metals. The report on the third question for solution refers to the answer to the fourth, viz.: "the best means for providing for facilitating the resumption of specie payments." To this question the report answers, that "the remonetization of silver is a measure essential to specie payments, and may make such payments practicable." The commission believe that the remonetization of silver in this country will have a powerful influence in preventing, and probably will prevent, the demonetization of silver in France and other European countries;" that remonetization by the United States, even without change in leg islation elsewhere, will draw to us silver from other countries while it is cheap, in exchange for what we have to export; and that this country will have the benefit of the rise which the committee believe will take place in its value when the temporary causes of its depression have passed. The report concludes with these words: "If the states of the Latin union, or other countries in Europe, abandon the double standard after we re-adopt it, or because we re-adopt it, it will be a policy on their part through which great advantages will inure to us, and great disasters will befall them. It would inaugu rate in the United States an era of prosperity, based upon solid money, obtained on profitable terms, and under circumstances necessarily stimulating to our industry and commerce."

"

"Finally, the commission believe that the facts that Germany and the Scandinavian states have adopted the single gold standard, and that some other European nations may possibly adopt it, instead of being reasons for perseverance in the attempt to establish it

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in the United States, are precisely the facts which make such an attempt entirely impracti cable and ruinous. If the nations on the continent of Europe had the double standard, a gold standard would be possible here, because, in that condition, they would freely exchange gold for silver. It was that condition which enabled England to resume specie payments in gold in 1821. The attainment of such a standard becomes difficult precisely in proportion to the number and importance of the countries engaged in striving after it, and it is precisely in the same proportion that the ruinous effects of striving after it are aggravated. To propose to this country a contest for a gold standard with the European nations is to propose to it a disastrous race, in reducing the price of labor and commodities, in aggravating the burdens of debt, and in the diminution and concentration of wealth, in which all the contestants will suffer immeasurably, and the victors even more than the vanquished."

Mr. Boutwell alone makes a minority report against remonetization of silver, except on a previously agreed basis, adopted in conjunction with European nations. Prof. Francis Bowen expresses his dissent from the conclusions of the majority of the commit tee at much length; and, while he argues for the gold basis alone, he finally reports in favor of the remonetization of silver, on adding to the quantity of pure silver in a dollar enough to make its bullion value equal to the then value of gold per dollar, and also recommends the reduction of the value of our gold coins, so that a five dollar piece shall be the equivalent of the English pound sterling. He also recommends that the paper money of the government should be gradually taken up by the treasury department and destroyed. In addition to the summary of the report, the first volume, as issued by the government, embraces papers prepared for the commission by Geo. M. Weston on Asiatic trade and flow of silver to the East;" Constitutional powers of Congress and the States with respect to metallic money;" "Legislation on subsidiary silver coins;" and "The trade dollar.' The appendix to the same volume contains a report on silver production in the United States; the world's production of gold and silver; relative value of gold and silver; population and specie in the western world; demonetization of silver in Germany; payment of French indemnity of 1871; movement of specie to India; standard of the United States; coinage of the United States; money standard for Great Britain; monetary system of Austria-Hungary and China: also, papers furnished by all the foreign ministers of the United States. The second volume contains written and oral answers by men of eminence in monetary science, and by those of great experience in business, both in the United States and Europe, in reply to a series of questions agreed upon by the commission. Among the citizens of this country from whom written answers were drawn were Henry C. Carey, John A. Dix, Henry S. Fitch, August Belmont, John J. Bennett, Barclay & Livingston, Royal Phelps, W. L. Fawcett, O. D. Ashley, R. M. Waters & Co., Samuel Hoard, W. G. Sumner, Wm. E. DuBois, Albert Miller, J. K. C. Forrest, B. F. Nourse, F. P. Knight, Robert Patterson. Among foreigners who responded were G. B. Airy, Francis Jourdan, Hector M. Hay, Ernest Seyd, E. de Parieu, and Henri Cernuschi. The oral testimony was from a large number of distinguished Americans, and is very interesting.

MONETARY CONFERENCE, INTERNATIONAL: Paris, Aug., 1878. The profound interest awakened in the United States and Europe from 1867 to 1878 by the legislation of various countries to demonetize and remonetize silver, and to restrict and to expand the coinage; the discussions on the subject of a single metal, or of two metals, as the wiser and safer basis of value of the world's money.-induced the United States congress, in the act which remonetized silver, Feb. 28, 1878, to insert the following: "Sec. 2. That immediately after the passage of this act, the president shall invite the governments of the countries composing the Latin union, so-called, and of such other European nations as he may deem advisable, to join the United States in a conference to adopt a common ratio between gold and silver, for the purpose of establishing, internationally, the use of bi-metallic money, and securing fixity of relative value between those metals; such conference to be held at such place in Europe or the United States, at such time within six months, as may be mutually agreed upon by the executives of the governments joining in the same, whenever the governments so invited, or any three of them, shall signify their willingness to unite in the same." The section further provides that the president shall appoint three commissioners to the conference. Ex-Governor Reuben E. Fenton of N. Y., Wm. S. Groesbeck of Ohio, and prof. Francis A. Walker of New Haven, were appointed. Subsequently the president was authorized to add to the list of delegates Mr. S. Dana Horton, of Ohio, an accomplished monetary student and author. Paris was chosen as the place of conference. Austria-Hungary, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Sweden-Norway, and Switzerland sent their ablest representatives. The German government alone declined to participate in the conference, though a second time invited.

The conference opened its session Aug. 10, 1878, at the office of the ministry of foreign affairs. Leon Say, minister of finance in France under the presidencies of Thiers and McMahon, son and grandson of the most eminent of French writers on political economy, was made president of the conference, and Mr. Fenton vice-president. In his opening address to the conference Mr. Say stated the reasons which had induced the five states composing the Latin union while preserving to silver its legal tender quality, to restrict its coinage within narrow limits, and, within the past year, to suspend

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ft entirely." These reasons were the adoption by Germany of the single standard of gold, and the great production of the American silver mines. While Germany continued to gather and sell her silver he thought it would be difficult to determine the value at which silver might be rated when that disturbing element in its present value was out of the way. The Latin union, therefore, while glad to join in the American efforts to fix a ratio of value between silver and gold, as a measure of prudence has remained in an expectant attitude." Mr. Fenton then presented the object of the call for the conference in the language of the act of congress. Count Rusconi of the Italian delegation suggested as more logical to first decide whether such a fixed ratio was possible. Mr. Say observed that as questions of fact should precede those of theory he would favor an avoidance of theoretical discussion at present, and first study facts and their relations. The first session closed with the understanding that the delegations should come to the next meeting prepared with full statistics of the monetary condition of their respective states. At the second session-Aug. 16-all the required documents were submitted. A brief summary of the position taken by the delegates at the subsequent sessions will best exhibit the animus of the conference. Mr. Broch, representative from Norway, observed that as Sweden and Norway had the gold standard they could participate in the conference only on the supposition that the United States desired to treat of more general questions; as of a coin for universal circulation. On that supposition only, and with the understanding that England was present on the same condition, his government had authorized participation in the conference. Mr. Groesbeck was called upon to state the position of the United States. It was, he said, simply "to restore silver to its former position; to equalize gold and silver upon a ratio to be fixed by agreement." The United States delegation could not commit their country to any agreement, but, like the delegates from Norway and Sweden, were interested to discuss the question of the establishment of coin for universal circulation. He corrected the supposition that the United States desired the full restoration of silver because it was the great silver producing coun try. He denied that in its legislation to preserve silver as money the United States had been influenced by the value of its present product of silver; the government having no direct interest, even by taxes, in the product; stating that the mines are owned indiscriminately by Americans and foreigners; and that London is so much the greater market for silver that the Unites States treasury had found itself compelled to buy as much silver in London as in America. He stated that within 25 years the yield of gold in the United States had been four times as great as that of silver, and that the falling off in production at the present time was more in silver than in gold. The remonetization of silver he showed to be on the part of the United States simply a return to a traditional policy with which the interests of the people are interwoven, and from which it was through careless legislation, rather than by design, that they had departed; and that therefore the United States could not be charged with a new motive of selfishness in its maintenance.

Mr. Groesbeck submitted the following propositions to the conference: "1. It is the opinion of this assembly that it is not to be desired that silver should be excluded from free coinage in Europe and the United States of America. On the contrary, the assem bly believe that it is desirable that the unrestricted coinage of silver and its use as money of unlimited legal tender should be retained where they exist, and, as far as practicable, restored where they have ceased to exist. 2. The use of both gold and silver as unlim ited legal tender money may be safely adopted. First, by equalizing them at a relation to be fixed by international agreement; and secondly, by granting to each metal at the relation fixed, equal terms of coinage, making no discrimination between them." Mr. Pirmez of Belgium rejected the American propositions on behalf of his delegation. Count Rusconi of Italy desired first to discuss and vote on the principle, Is it possible to establish a fixed relation between silver and gold? He desired to vote affirmatively on that proposition first, and then proceed with the practical examination of a ratio. Mr. Broch of Norway, which has the gold standard, maintained that the history of silver showed a constantly decreasing value relatively to gold, and that during the enormous influx of gold from California and Australia after 1849 gold had dropped but 2 per cent below the French silver standard. Mr. Herzog of Switzerland opposed the American proposition; not that he desired silver demonetized, but that he thought it better for one nation to have the gold, and another the silver unit as now; and did not believe in the practicability of an international unit.

At the opening of the third session Mr. Goschen of England, and Mr. Mees of the Netherlands, questioned the American delegates concerning the certainty of resumption of specie payments the coming January. The statements in reply drew from Mr. Goschen the remark that there was no doubt of the ability of the United States to resume, and that his question had been put to enable him to form a judgment of the extent to which the United States might become buyers of silver in the world's markets. The U. S. treasury statement, he said, showed an exceedingly small holding of silver compared with gold. Mr. Groesbeck stated that, were an international agreement concluded on the American basis, the United States would absorb for the benefit of Europe not merely its own production, but a part of the German silver. Mr. Goschen called attention to the fact that "the United States invited the delegates to adopt a proposition which some of them were precluded by their instructions from entertaining," as they