Coins of Ancient Sicily #246214

It can hardly be denied that the popularization of archaeological studies is not from certain points of view a desirable undertaking. The disadvantages which every specialist must perceive in any but a rigidly scientific treatment of his subject are as patent in the case of coins as elsewhere; and I may therefore be expected to apologize for adding to the number of books which increase the bulk of the literature of numismatics without bringing grist to the mill of science. I have no apology which will not appear to halt in the eyes of the professional numismatist; but the archaeologist who is not specially trained in the study of coins will, I hope, be more merciful. The technicality of the study - a necessity if that study was ever to advance beyond the stage of dilettantism in which it once lingered - is rapidly increasing. The classification and arrangement of coins are being effected with extraordinary minuteness, made possible by recent progress in methods of mechanical reproduction.