Dollars of what . . .

1 The United States Mint in Philadelphia began manufacturing silver coins in 1794 and gold coins in 1795.

2 If you had said you had five dollars in your pocket in the latter part of 1794, you would have meant that you had 1856.25 grains of pure silver in your pocket. (5 x 371.25 - 1856.25)

3 In late 1795, however, the same comment would have meant you had 123.75 grains of pure gold in your pocket (5 x 24.75 = 123.75) or some combination of the two substances in your pocket.

4 Unfortunately, however, by getting into the habit of just hearing and saying that “I have five dollars”, we began to lose sight of the precise meaning of our words.

5 And the concept of “weight = worth” was lost.

6 May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.