It remains now to look at a few examples of our national coinage. The eagle of 1795 bears upon its obverse a head of Liberty, wearing a rather high Phrygian cap. This cap, and the wand upon which it is more commonly raised, are the symbols of this goddess. They are familiar enough in Roman art and literature, if not in our own. The reverse of the coin bears an eagle with expanded wings, holding in its beak a laurel-wreath, and grasping a palm-branch with both talons. From what has already been said in regard to the significance of these emblems to an earlier generation of men, this inscription, as a whole, may be construed somewhat like this: Liberty, through the power of Zeus, has secured victory, and through the same helping power she now offers worship to the genius of prophetic inspiration. With some such thought of his country would an old Greek have scanned this coin when he bartered his soul for its possession. In the coinage of 1838, this coin bears on its reverse an eagle with a shield--which, by the way, is Roman--on its breast, and having its wings uplifted. This eagle holds in its left talon three arrows, and in its right an olive-branch. The double eagle of 1850 bears on its obverse a head of Liberty. The face is shown in profile, and the features are of pure Greek type. The fillet about the head is such as was worn by the ancient priests. This circumstance serves to connect our coinage with the earliest issues made from the temples, under direction of the priests. The reverse of the coin has a small eagle, nearly hidden by the shield upon its breast. Its left talon holds three arrows, and its right an olive-branch. The distinctive mark of this reverse is the arc of diverging rays of the sun above the head of the eagle. This arc is found with peculiar appropriateness upon a gold coin, since it is a symbol of the old sun-worship, or of Apollo, under whose auspices gold coins were originally issued. Its occurrence here, moreover, emphasizes that total disregard for the fitness of things which appears on the reverse of the half-eagle of 1796, where clouds are seen above the eagle's head.