Coins of the pound sterling also became known as a "pound". (240 actual pennies, however, weighed only 5400 troy grains, known as tower pound, a unit used only by mints. The tower pound was abolished in the 16th century.) The silver penny remained the primary unit of coinage for about 500 years. The purity of 92.5% silver (i.e., sterling silver) was instituted by Henry II in 1158 with the "Tealby Penny" — a hammered coin. Over the years, the penny was gradually debased until by the 16th century it contained about a third the silver content of a proper troy 24 grain pennyweight. By 1915,
Five Grains categories of grains. The name is typically translated as the "Five Grains" or the "Five Portions of cereal", and less often as the "Five Sacred Grains" or "Crops". Some context is important to understanding the concept, however. First, this use of "five" predates modern botanical notions and is better understood as part of the symbolic use of numbers in Chinese culture. From a very early date, Han culture understood the world as composed of five elements and many corresponding pentads were enumerated, including the Five Directions (south, north, west, east, "and" center), the Five Colors (red, black, white, "qing", and