In Russia they have, or had very lately, the _stchoti_, a kind of Abacus, a small wooden frame strung with horizontal wires, on which slide a series of ivory balls, each wire representing a certain value from the kopeck upwards. This piece of machinery is used in all commercial transactions, whether they take place in shop, market, counting-house, or bank; and familiarity and practice enable the parties concerned to calculate the amount payable or receivable with equal ease and rapidity. There is a similar machine in use among the natives of British India, and also for mercantile purposes, not as a vehicle for acquiring the science of numbers in the schools. III. It is said to have been John Rightwise, second head-master of St. Paul's, and son-in-law of Lily, who introduced into his predecessor's book the _Propria quæ Maribus_ and _As in Præsenti_, to which were subsequently joined the Rules of Heteroclites or Irregular Nouns, probably digested from Whittinton by Robertson of York. This last section, from the commencing words, combined perhaps with the Christian name of Rightwise, was the origin of _Johnny quæ Genus_. But an early authority[3] claims for Lily himself the honour of having written the _Propria quæ Maribus_ and _As in Præsenti_, and informs us that Rightwise merely published them with a glossary. In some of the schools the course seems to have been to commence with the A. B. C. and Catechism, and then proceed to the Primer. At the end of the A. B. C. of 1757 are these lines:-- "This little Catechism learned by heart (for so it ought), The PRIMER next commanded is for children to be taught." When I speak here of the _Primer_, I must take care to distinguish between the Service-book so styled and the Manual for the young. It is singular enough that the most ancient which has come under my eyes is of the age of Elizabeth, and includes not only the Catechism, but "the notable fairs in the Calendar," as matters "to be taught unto children." This type of Primer is very rare till we arrive at comparatively modern days. The mission which it was designed to fulfil was one precisely calculated to hinder its transmission to us. The practice of printing children's books on some more than usually substantial material is not so modern as may be supposed; for there is an A. B. C. published at Riga for the use of the German pupils, the German population preponderating there over the Russian or Polish, on paper closely resembling linen, and of a singularly durable texture; and this little volume belongs to the commencement of the last century, several generations before such a system was adopted in England.