The first item in the journal in the preceding section is a debit to Hiram Watson, amount $1.15. It is necessary to open an account in the ledger, which is done by writing Hiram Watson's name at the head of the page, above the date column on the left side of the page; in the date column we write the date, April 2; in the folio column we write the journal page, 1: and in the money column we write the amount, $1.15. The number of the ledger page is now written in the folio column in the journal, directly opposite the name of Hiram Watson. The second transaction recorded in the journal is a purchase which makes it necessary to open a purchase account in the ledger, to which is debited the amount of the purchase $18.75. The first transaction recorded in the journal is a sale, therefore the credit is to the sales account. Since we are placing all sales in a special column, the amount will not be posted until the end of the month, when the total sales will be posted to the credit of the sales account as one item. In the second transaction, the credit is to a personal account, and we open an account in the ledger with Eureka Milling Co., following the same routine in posting as with debit items, except that the item is posted to the credit side of the account. =Posting from Cash Book.= When posting from the cash book, it must be remembered that all items on the left-hand page (which debit cash) must be posted to the credit of some other account; and that all items on the right-hand page (which credit cash) must be posted to the debit of an account in the ledger. Why cash received is entered on the left-hand page of the cash book, and cash paid out on the right-hand page, is a point not always clear to the bookkeeper. To obtain a clear view of this point, it should be remembered that the cash book is nothing more or less than a ledger account with cash, and cash received is entered on the left-hand page (or debit side) for the reason that any account is debited for what is received or is added to it. We sell merchandise, for example, and the person is debited because he receives it. We buy real estate; the real estate account is debited because our real estate possessions are added to. Broadly speaking, we (the business) receive the real estate; but, instead of charging the amount to ourselves (the person), we charge it to _Real Estate_, that we may know the amount of our real estate investment. A customer pays us cash; cash is debited because our cash possessions are added to. We might charge the amount to our account; but we prefer to charge it to a cash account that we may know how much cash we have on hand. We pay out cash; cash is credited because cash has gone out of our possession. The main point of difference is that we post to other ledger accounts direct from the cash book, which is itself a ledger account, instead of journalizing cash transactions. If cash transactions were journalized-- Cash To Person Person To Cash