Penny Napoleonic Wars prompted the use of base metals in 1797. Despite the decimalization of currencies in the United States and, later, throughout the British Commonwealth, the name remains in informal use. No penny is currently formally subdivided, although farthings (¼ d.), halfpennies, and half cents have previously been minted and the mill (1/10¢) remains in use as a unit of account in some contexts. "Penny" is first attested in a 1394 Scots text, a variant of Old English ', a development of numerous variations including ', ', and '. The etymology of the term "penny" is uncertain, although cognates are
To Every Man a Penny To Every Man a Penny To Every Man a Penny is a 1949 novel by Scottish writer Bruce Marshall. Two major characters in the novel, Gaston and Bessier, like the author himself, had legs amputated due to wounds suffered in World War I. The story of a young French priest, Gaston, who goes off to World War I. In the trenches he is mutilated, modestly administers the sacraments, hears the confessions of dying men, aids the wounded, and becomes a good friend of a Communist, Louis Philippe Bessier. Both he and Bessier are wounded in the leg, which is amputated,