noted about 6000 different issues of spurious notes. Theoretically every man is liable to be defrauded by any one of these. At first view this would shake our confidence in the genuineness of any bank note. But the fact is, that in nineteen cases out of twenty a bad bill is detected almost as soon as its circulation is attempted. The number of "dangerous" counterfeits is very small. Not one person in a hundred has ever lost a dollar in this way. For this almost complete immunity from loss we are indebted to the artistic and mechanical skill which is lavished upon our bank notes. This perfection has been attained by slow degrees. Nothing can be more rude than the Massachusetts notes issued in 1690, the first American paper money. Hardly better are the Continental Bills, first issued in 1775. These were engraved by Paul Revere, the best of the four engravers then in the country. A comparison of these with a United States Treasury Note of 1861 will show the progress of the art during the interval. When our financial system began to assume its present form banks were multiplied, each of which demanded distinctive notes. Demand creates supply, and the best artistic talent in the country was attracted in this direction. At first a single artist engraved an entire plate, and not unfrequently printed it with his own hands. Afterward several combined to produce a plate, each doing that part of the work in which he excelled. Various machines were also invented, some of which, as Perkins's Transfer Press and Spencer's Geometric Lathe, contain the germs of the complicated instruments which, as we shall see, perform such an important part in producing a bank note of the present day. Subsequently private companies were organized, each containing artists excelling in some partic ular branch. Each of these companies produced excellent work, but as no one had all of the best talent, and as each had the exclusive control of some valuable mechanical invention, which the others could not use, no one note could combine all attainable perfection. Banks meanwhile demanded the most perfect notes that could be produced. In 1858 the leading Bank Note firms, nine in number, united themselves into an Association, which was incorporated under the title of the "American Bank Note Company." The plates prepared by them are decidedly superior to any ever before executed. More recently another Association for the same purpose has been organized under the name of the "National Bank Note Company." The generous rivalry for artistic perfection between these two companies affords a sure guarantee that bank notes executed in America will continue to be, as they now are, superior to any others in the world. No other country has yet any thing to compare with them. The notes of the Bank of England and of the Bank of France are rude in comparison. Russia will soon have notes equal to our own, for the necessary plates are now in process of execution by the American Bank Note Company. We propose to describe the various processes employed by this Company, and incidentally to give information which will aid in distinguishing a genuine from a spurious note. The operations of the Company are conducted in the noble "Merchants' Exchange" building in Wall Street, New York. Passing through the fine portico, with its three ranges of pillars, each shaft, composed of a single piece of granite, 50 feet in height, and so large that three men clasping hands can hardly embrace it, we turn to the right, and enter the CONTINENTA groined roof. The walls are covered with orig. inal drawings by Darley, Casilear, Edmonds, Herrick, and others. Port-folios filled with such drawings are opened for our inspection. A connoisseur in art could nowhere spend a more pleasant day than here. Some of the most curious of these drawings are those sent from Russia, which are to be reproduced on the Russian notes. These drawings have been used as designs for vignettes. They are made much larger than the engravings from them. A fa vorite size for the drawings for elaborate vig business office of the Company. This is by no means our first visit. Our present purpose is to revise our memoranda, so as to be sure that our entire account shall be strictly accurate. By a very necessary regulation no person can go through the establishment unless accompanied by some officer of the Company. On this visit we are, by appointment, to be guided by the President of the Company. We find him at the moment engaged in conversation with a couple of gentlemen. One of these we recognize, from published portraits, as Mr. Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury; the other is Mr. Cisco, the As-nettes is about twice that of a page of this Magasistant Treasurer in New York, whom we have met before in this series of papers. The Company, as we know, are performing a large amount of work for the Government, and the execution of the Demand and 73 per cent. Treasury Notes with the requisite speed has for months tasked to the uttermost all the facilities of their establishment. Awaiting the disengagement of our escort, we pass up to the "Modeling and Designing Rooms," a handsome suit of apartments with a lofty zine. When an engraving is to be made after one of these drawings, it is photographed in the exact size desired upon a plate of steel; the outlines are cut faintly upon the plate, which is then given to the engraver to fill up. There are three general methods of producing pictures by engraving. 1. Lithography.-This is based on the chemical law that oil and water will not mix; or, as it is sometimes expressed, that "you can not wet grease or grease water." A drawing is made, with pen or pencil, upon a kind of finegrained porous stone. The pencil or the ink is of an oily composition. To print this drawing the stone is rubbed over with a moistened sponge; the water will not adhere to the lines of the drawing, but will to the parts of the stone not covered. Then a roller charged with an oily ink is passed over the stone; the ink adheres to the lines of the picture, but is thrown off by the moist portions. A sheet of paper is then laid on the stone, and a heavy roller passed over it. The ink is taken off by the paper, and a facsimile of the drawing is produced. This process of wetting, inking, and rolling is repeated for every impression. This ner as from types. The essential point of difference between copperplates and woodcuts is, that in the former the parts which appear are cut by the engraver; in the latter the parts which do not appear are cut away. То 2. Copper-plate Engraving.-In this the lines form an idea of and dots which make up the picture are cut, one the relative diffiby one, upon a plate of metal. To print from culties of the this, the whole plate is covered with ink, which two processes, let also fills up the engraved lines and dots. any one, with a ink is carefully wiped off from the surface of black pencil and the plate, leaving only that which fills the en- white paper, try graved lines. Then the paper is laid on the to make a copy, plate, which is passed under a heavy roller, line for line, of which forces the surface of the sheet into the any of our enlines, taking up the ink. This process of ink-gravings. If he ing, wiping, and rolling must be repeated for succeeds, he will each impression.-Engraving on steel is precise- do just what the ly the same as on copper. Copper, being a soft copper-plate enmetal, wears out rapidly in printing, so that but graver might few perfect copies can be obtained from a copper- have done. Then plate; steel, being much harder, furnishes a let him try, upon greater number of copies. a black slate with a white pencil, to make a perfect fac-simile of his other drawing. He must mark around all lines which he wishes to appear, leaving them black, and covering the interspaces with white. If he succeeds, he will have done just what the wood engraver has accomplished.Wood engraving has within a few years been brought to a high degree of perfec 3. Engraving on Wood.-This, in most respects, is the precise opposite of copper-plate engraving. A piece of box-wood is cut off across the grain. The surface is polished, and upon this the artist, with an ordinary lead pencil, makes a drawing, precisely as though he were making it upon paper, giving every line, just as he wishes it to appear. This block is then given to the engraver, who cuts away every part of the wood not covered by the artist's lines; these are left standing in relief. The printing of a wood block is performed in the same man GALLERIES AND ELEVATOR. it no illustrated publication of large circulation could be produced, because it is the only means by which copies can be produced with the necessary rapidity. But there are certain effects within the reach of the copper-plate engraver quite beyond the reach of the engraver on wood or of the lithographer. These are just the things which are demanded in a bank note. Thus, the copies of the United States Treasury Notes, which will be found in this article, are engraved on wood in the best manner possible. Let any one com- | cessively employed upon it, one engraving the pare these with the notes themselves, and the difference will at once be apparent. Engraving upon copper or steel is the only style used for bank notes. We shall have occasion, in following up our subject, to visit the Modeling Room again. At present we will accompany the President, who has joined us, on a tour through the establishment. We follow a passage, and ascend a half flight of stairs, where we find ourselves confronted by the day watchman. We note, here as elsewhere, the massive construction of the building. The floors and stairs are composed of massive blocks of granite; the walls are of solid stone or brick; the railings are of iron. From this point passages and stairways diverge to the various working rooms, and no person unless an employé can pass without a special order from the heads of the Company. The employés even can only go to their own department, engravers taking one way and printers another. A man may have been for years employed in one department without ever having visited the others. We ascend first to the Pictorial Engraving Room. Here the steel-plate, with the drawing photographed upon it, is placed in the hands of the engraver, who proceeds to fill out the outline. The position, shape, and size of every line and point must be carefully considered; these are cut, one by one, in the hard metal. Sometimes a single person executes the whole of a vignette; but more frequently several are suc figures, another the landscape, another the animals, and so on, each performing the part in which he excels. From one to four months' constant work is required to produce a single portrait or vignette. This plate, which is called a die, is not used directly for printing, but as a mould, so to speak, from which perfect copies are made upon the note-plate, by a process which we shall presently see. First, however, we must pass to the Lathe Room, where certain parts of a note are executed by machinery, with a delicacy and precision altogether unattainable by the human eye or hand. These we may designate by the general name of "checks." A check, with large letters or figures denoting the denomination of the note, is usually placed in one or more corners of the note. These are technically called "counters." Some of this machine work is executed by the "Cycloidal Engine." The principle of its operation may be readily understood. A graver is arranged so as to cut a circle upon a plate fixed beneath it. Now while the graver is revolving, let a forward movement be given to the plate, and the line cut by the graver will assume a form like this, which is called a "cycloidal line," and may be described as that line produced by a point revolving about a moving centre. The particular curve will depend upon the relative velocities of 00000000 the two motions-the circular one of the graver, | lines will all describe a waved circle. By means and the forward one of the plate. Thus, if the of "cams" and "eccentrics," instead of a circular motion, an elliptic or any curved motion may be given to the plate. Here is a skeleton check, showing some of the forms which may be given to a single waved line. Any conceivable form-an oval or square, an oblong or shield, a rosette or shell, may in like instead of nearly touching. the plate is comparatively latter is compara- be given to the plate, in which case the line will follow the circumference of the circle. A suc cession of cycloidal lines, cutting each other, is sometimes printed over the whole, or a part of the face or back of a note. If, instead of a circular motion, an elliptical one is given to the graver, the figure will assume a quite different form, as in this example, which consists of engraved for us by the machine itself. They have been purposely made much more simple than the checks actually used on bank notes, in order that the general form may be more readily distinguished. Any one with a glass and a two irregular cy- sharp needle may follow the lines which comcloidal lines, cut-pose these figures. ting each other. The effect, however, is not pleasing, wanting that regularity of appearance which is the great security of machine work, as distinguished from that produced by hand. The Ruling Machine, which produces parallel lines far more accurately than can be done by hand, and the Medallion Machine, which, by a series of lines, gives the effect of a medal, are also used upon bank notes; but their work does not at present form a distinguishing feature. Machine work, especially on a small scale, of a far more intricate character is produced by the "Geometrical Lathe." We will endeavor to explain the theory of this machine. Let a graver be so fixed as to cut a single curve of a waved line upon a stationary plate. Then let the plate be moved forward, and a continuous waved line, like this, will be produced; this curve may be made of any size or shape which is desired. Now, parallel with this line, let another of different pattern be cut over it, and the two will cross and re-cross each other in this manner. A third, and fourth, or any number of additional waves may be added, each additional one varying and complicating the general pattern. If the waves bear a regular relation to each other, the interstices will present a regular succession of forms. Now, instead of a forward motion, let the plate have a circular one, and these One additional thing must be noted. We said in a former paragraph that in a steel-plate engraving the line cut by the graver is black when printed. In our diagrams, as well as on the notes themselves, the line is white, the enter spaces being black. The reverse would be the case if these checks were printed from the dies themselves, or from a copy taken in the ordinary manner by the transfer press. This reversalmaking that sunk on the plate which is raised on the original die, and vice versa-is effected by a process which we will not describe. Its effect, however, is evident. We may suppose, for instance, that a very careful engraver might possibly cut upon a plate a tolerable imitation of the white lines forming the figure in our last diagram. But what eye or hand could cut the black interspaces, and leave the white lines so regular and uniform? Yet this is just what the engraver must do who would reproduce on steel this figure; yet, we repeat, this is far less elaborate than those actually used on bank notes. The United States Five Dollar Demand Notes, which are now familiar to most persons, present some good examples of lathe-work, which may be profitably studied. The counter in the right upper corner presents an oval with a waved outline, inside of which are successive patterns. The green checks in the centre are oblong, filled up with a wholly different pattern. The two large counters on the back are still different; while the small ovals which cover the greater part of the back consist of a border of delicate white lines crossing each other, within which is a green oval line, then a white one, then a solid |