Originally written in 1905, this volume examines the coins of Japan, especially appealing because of a subtle and impersonal charm which pervades their inscriptions and the sentiments which they set forth. They are written in characters which are a manifest surviva of the picture writing of early man. He wrote, that is to say, scored or scratched, various outline sketches of his doings and the more intimate facts of his surroundings, on bone, clay or other material.