Item 83 - Letter from John Herschel

4 pp

32 Harley Street - JH does not think that WW's and Frederick Beechey's two forms of tide registry are inconsistent 'only that they are each a more condensed abstract of the other with some additional matter in the way of conclusions drawn'. Beechey provides two forms, of which, WW's form can be filled in from the second -''Registry of tides -...for the month''. WW thanks JH for his political economy concerning the question of exchanges and currency: 'I think you and Jacob [William Jacob] overestimate the 'wear and tear'. There is a distinction - Fair wear and tear is I apprehend very small and as for what is lost by unfair it is only lost to the coin but not to the stock of Bullion in the country as it goes forthwith...into the melting pot and thence into the market'. JH wants WW's notion of a decimal coinage.