Abridge, Essex.

Mice as a Medicine (Vol. i., p. 397.).—­An old woman lately recommended an occasional roast mouse as a certain cure for a little boy who wetted his bed at night.  Her own son, she said, had got over this weakness by eating three roast mice.  I am told that the Faculty employ this remedy, and that it has been prescribed in the Oxford Infirmary.

J.W.H.

Omens from Birds.—­It is said that for a bird to fly into a room, and out again, by an open window, surely indicates the decease of some inmate.  Is this belief local?

J.W.H.

* * * * *

MODE OF COMPUTING INTEREST.

The mode of computing interest among the ancient Greeks appears to have been in many respects the same as that now prevailing in India, which has probably undergone no change from a very remote period.  Precisely the same term, too, is used to denote the rate of interest, namely, [Greek:  tokos] in Greek and taka or tuka in the languages of Western India. [Greek:  Tokoe epidekatoi] in Greek, and dus take in Hindostanee, respectively denote ten per cent.  At Athens, the rate of interest might be calculated either by the month or by the year—­each being expressed by different terms (Boeckh. Pub.  Econ. of Athens, i. 165.).  Precisely the same system prevails here. Pono taka, that is, three quarters of a taka, denotes 3/4 per cent. per month. Nau take, that is, nine take, denotes nine per cent. per annum.  For the Greek mode of reckoning interest by the month, see Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, p. 524.  At Athens, the year, in calculating interest, was reckoned at 360 days (Boeckh, i. 183.).  Here also, in all native accounts-current, the year is reckoned at 360 days.

The word [Greek:  tokos], as applied to interest, was understood by the Greeks themselves to be derived from [Greek:  tikto], “to produce,” i.e. money begetting money; the offspring or produce of money lent out.  Whether its identity may not be established with the word in current use for thousands of years in this country to express precisely the same meaning, is a question I should like to see discussed {436} by some of your correspondents.  The word taka signifies any thing pressed or stamped, anything on which an impression is made hence a coin; and is derived from the Sanscrit root tak, to press, to stamp, to coin:  whence, tank, a small coin; and tank-sala, a mint; and (query) the English word token, a piece of stamped metal given to communicants.  Many of your readers will remember that it used to be a common practice in England for copper coins, representing a half-penny, penny, &c., stamped with the name of the issuer, and denominated “tokens,” to be issued in large quantities by shopkeepers as a subsidiary currency, and received at their shop in payment of goods, &c.  May not ticket, defined by Johnson, “a token of any right or debt upon the delivery of which admission is granted, or a claim acknowledged,” and tick, score or trust, (to go on tick), proceed from the same root?