Many

insurance companies sell annuities—that is, in coni sideration of a specified sum paid to them they will return (pay) to the person for whom the annuity is bought so much per year during his or her lifetime or for a specified time. The official title of what are commonly known as British consols is “consolidated annuities.” The word annuity means a promise to pay so much per annum, either for the life of the holder or for a fixed period or in perpetuity. Annuities, generally terminable at a fixed date, have been i ued in payment for several of the Indian railways that have been purchased by the Indian government. ‘ Anthracite coal. Commonly called hard coal; mineral coal, with a bright, sub-metallic, iron-black lustre, consisting of ‘ nearly pure carbon and burning almost without flame. It is graded into eight sizes: Buckwheat (the smallest size), pea, cherry, chestnut, stove, egg, broken and steamship (the largest size).. Anthracite coal contains a very small amount of volatile matter. Anthracite proper contains from 3 to Io per cent of such matter; graphitic anthracite contains from I to 3 per cent. Anthracite coal is found in commercial quantity in the United States only in the state of Pennsylvania. Anti-gold law. Just before the retirement of Secretary Salmon P. Chase from the Treasury Department he induced Congre to pa a bill to “prohibit certain sales of gold and foreign exchange.” Its object was to prevent speculation in gold in the Gold Room in New York. It prohibited the purchase or t sale of gold or foreign exchange except at the regular office of the purchaser or seller and also surrounded transactions in both with further restrictions. The idea behind the measure was that it would render the price of gold more stable. The effect was exactly the opposite. The law went into effect on June 17, 1864. The next day the price of gold had jumped to per cent; the following day 22 per cent was added to the price, and within two weeks; it had advanced 20 per cent more to 250. On July 2, 1864, the act was repealed without debate. A one. Written At; a designation signifying first cla or without a superior. APD. As printed on the tape by the stock ticker these letters mean a e ment paid. Appropriation. Money set apart for a special use; also the application of property of a debtor to one of several debts. Arbitrage. The buying and selling of the same thing in different markets, as New York and London, for the purpose of making a profit from the difference in quotations between such markets; said chiefly of dealings in stocks and bonds, but also of dealings in exchange. Arbitrage in stocks is based and conducted on temporary differences in prices between different markets for the same stocks. In ordinary circumstances every stock has the sam me value in every market in which it is dealt in. When a stock is selling at a higher price in one market than 1 in another it is sold in the market where the higher price prevails and is bought in the market where the lower price prevails. The operator relies on a return to the same price in both markets. When the equality in price is restored he closes his transaction by buying where he sold and selling ‘ where he bought. The difference in price that had existed represents his profit when the equality in price is restored and his transaction is closed. For example, if a stock is selling in one market at 1oo and in another at 98 it is sold in the first market at 100 and bought in the second market at 98. If the stock in the second market advances to 100 while it remains stationary in the first market it is sold in the second market and 2 per cent is made on the transaction there, and it is bought in the first market at 100 and neither profit nor lo results from the transaction there. Or, if the stock declines to 99 in the first market and advances to 99 in the second market the closing of the transaction results in a profit of 1 per cent in each market or 2 per cent in the two markets. 27