This word is formed from the ancient Latin _bancus_ a _bench_, or _table_, and _ruptus, broken_. Bank originally signified a bench, which the first bankers had in the public places, in markets, fairs, &c. on which they told their money, wrote their bills of exchange, &.c. Hence, when a banker failed, they broke his bank, to advertise the public that the person to whom the bank belonged was no longer in a condition to continue his business. As this practice was very frequent in Italy, it is said the term bankrupt is derived from the Italian _banco_ rotto, broken bench. Cowel (in his 4th Institute 227) rather chooses to deduce the word from the French _banque, table_, and _route, vestigium, trace_, by metaphor from the sign left in the ground, of a table once fastened to it and now gone. On this principle he traces the origin of bankrupts from the ancient Roman _mensarii_ or _argentarii_, who had their _tabernae_ or _mensae_ in certain public places; and who, when they fled, or made off with the money that had been entrusted to them, left only the sign or shadow of their former station behind them. P.T.W. * * * * * ORIGIN OF THE WORD _BROKER_, &c. (_For the Mirror._) The origin of this word is contested; some derive it from the French _broyer, "to grind_;" others from _brocader, to cavil or riggle_; others deduce broker from a trader _broken_, and that from the Saxon _broc_, "misfortune," which is often the true reason of a man's breaking. In which view, a broker is a broken trader, by misfortune; and it is said that none but such were formerly admitted to that employment. The Jews, Armenians, and Banians are the chief brokers throughout most parts of the Levant and the Indies. In Persia, all affairs are transacted by a sort of brokers, whom they call "_delal_" i.e. "_great talkers_." Their form of contract in buying and selling is remarkable, being done in the profoundest silence, only by touching each other's fingers:--The buyer, loosening his _pamerin_, or girdle, spreads it on his knee; and both he and the seller, having their hands underneath, by the intercourse of the fingers, mark the price of pounds, shillings, &c., demanded, offered, and at length agreed on. When the seller takes the buyer's whole hand, it denotes a thousand, and as many times as he squeezes it, as many thousand pagods or roupees, according to the species in question demanded; when he only takes the five fingers, it denotes five hundred; and when only one, one hundred; taking only half a finger, to the second joint, denotes fifty; the small end of the finger, to the first joint, stands for ten. This _legerdemain_, or _squeezing system_, would not do for the _latitude_ of London. P.T.W. * * * * * SELECT BIOGRAPHY * * * * * DR. GALL. (_For the Mirror._)