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EXCHANGE Italian cities, regular commercial gathering places existed at an early day. The modern institution of exchanges, however, dates more particularly from the 16th century. In conti- nental Europe the name Borse in German, bourse in French, and birzha in Russian, originated from the belief that the first gathering of the kind took place in the early part of the 16th cen- tury at Bruges, in Flanders, in the house of a family of the name of Van der Beurse. Accord- ing to another tradition, the first exchange was held at Amsterdam in a house which had three purses hewn in stone over the gates, thus ac- counting for the use of the word bourse. Pre- vious to the latter part of the 16th century the London merchants used to meet without shelter in Lombard street. Sir Richard Gresham, hav- ing seen the covered walks used for exchanges abroad, contemplated erecting a similar build- ing in London. The scheme was carried into effect by his son Sir Thomas Gresham, who offered to erect a building if the citizens would provide a plot of ground. The site north of Oornhill, in the city of London, was accordingly purchased in 1566 for about 3,600. On Jan. 23, 1570, Queen Elizabeth caused it to be pro- claimed the "Royal Exchange." This structure was destroyed in the great fire of 1666. The new exchange was commenced at the end of 1667, and publicly opened for business Sept. 28, 1669. This building, which was 210 ft. by 175, cost nearly 60,000, and was destroyed by fire Jan. 10, 1838. The corner stone of the present royal exchange was laid in 1842, and the building was opened Oct. 28, 1844, by Queen Victoria. It is an imposing edifice, em- bellished with many statues, and cost 180,000. The area appropriated to the meetings of the merchants is 170 ft. by 112, of which 111 ft. by 53 is uncovered. Here the English, Ger- man, Greek, Mediterranean, and 'other foreign merchants, all have their appropriate places and corners, and meet daily for the transaction of business. The busiest hour is from 3 to 4 P. M. The two great days on 'change are Tues- day and Friday, when an extra meeting for transactions in foreign bills of exchange takes place previous to the regular meeting, which is attended by the principal bankers and mer- chants of London, and which derives great im- portance from the immense business transacted within about half an hour. The whole foreign commerce which centres in London is here concentrated in a handful of bills of exchange. There is much less excitement than at the gen- eral exchange. A few brokers pass between the bankers and merchants, and the bills are bought and sold almost in a whisper. The most celebrated continental exchange is the bourse of Paris, which was inaugurated in 1824. The building has the shape of an ancient peripteral temple, and is calculated to hold more than 2,000 persons. The Paris exchange is a com- bination of a stock and bill exchange, and con- fines itself chiefly to these branches of business. The St. Petersburg exchange, built between EXCHANGE (BILL OF) 21 1804 and 1810, approaches the Paris bourse in splendor. The Hamburg exchange resembles it both in shape and grandeur. The exchange of Amsterdam was finished in 1613, and is an edifice of great magnitude. The bourse of Antwerp, one of the oldest and most remark- able of Europe, which was chosen by Sir Thomas Gresham as a model for the first royal exchange in London, was totally destroyed by fire, Aug. 2, 1858, and has since been rebuilt in the rue de la Bourse. A large portion of the commerce of the world was transacted in it for a considerable time. At Amsterdam, Ham- burg, Vienna, Constantinople, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Frankfort, &c., the exchanges are nu- merously attended, but the exchange of London stands unrivalled in Europe for the magnitude of its transactions. The merchants' exchange in New York was founded in 1817. Its first building, in Wall street, between William and Pearl streets, was built of Westchester marble, three stories in height, with the city post office in the basement, and insurance and other offices on the- third floor. It was opened in 1827, and was destroyed by the great fire of Dec. 16, 1835. The second exchange, on the same site, was built of Quincy granite, at a cost, including the value of the ground, of $1,800,000. It was subsequently sold to the general government to be used as a custom house. The present exchange has an imposing marble front in Broad street, near Wall street, with entrances also in Wall and New streets. Buildings for similar purposes, and generally of large size and great cost, exist in all the principal cities of the United States. EXCHANGE, Bill of, in commercial transactions, a written instrument designed to secure the payment of a distant debt without the trans- mission of money, being in effect a setting off or exchange of one debt against another. This important instrument is of modern origin. It was not because its use was not perceived that it was unemployed in ancient commerce, but because its basis is mercantile integrity, which never existed till a recent period in trading communities to a sufficient extent to warrant putting money or other valuable commodities at risk upon so frail a security. Thus we have evidence in the case of the Athenian banker, which is the subject of one of 'the dis- courses of Isocrates, that the convenience of such an exchange as is now usual among mer- chants was well enough understood then, but it was deemed necessary to take security for the payment of the bill. Transactions of the same kind have doubtless occurred at all pe- riods where parties have had sufficient con- fidence in each other ; but that they were un- frequent is manifest from the silence of the Roman law in respect thereto. It is said that the Jews of the middle ages first introduced bills of exchange into ordinary use, and this is entitled to credit, inasmuch as^the frequent migrations and spoliations to which they were subjected in those times of persecution made