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diff --git a/old/56290-0.txt b/old/56290-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ff03270..0000000 --- a/old/56290-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10874 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Men and Measures, by Edward Nicholson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Men and Measures - -Author: Edward Nicholson - -Release Date: January 2, 2018 [EBook #56290] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEN AND MEASURES *** - - - - -Produced by deaurider and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - MEN AND MEASURES - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - MEN AND MEASURES - - A HISTORY OF - WEIGHTS AND MEASURES - ANCIENT AND MODERN - - - BY - EDWARD NICHOLSON, F.I.C., F.C.S. - - SURGEON LIEUT.-COLONEL ARMY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT - AUTHOR OF ‘A MANUAL OF INDIAN OPHIOLOGY’ - ‘THE STORY OF OUR WEIGHTS AND MEASURES’ ‘FLOURETO DE PROUVÈNÇO’ ETC. - - - LONDON - SMITH, ELDER & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE - 1912 - - [All rights reserved] - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - ERRATA. - - - _Page_ 36 _Line_ 21 _For_ “×1000” _Read_ “×7000.” - „ 136 „ 21 „ “grams” „ “grains.” - „ 148 „ 27 „ “7925” „ “7625.” - „ 154 _Lines_ 21, 22, 23 _delete_ “to.” - „ 155 _Line_ 4 _For_ “feet” _Read_ “ells.” - „ 195 „ 15 „ “17” „ “25.” - „ 198 „ 19 „ “double” „ “halve.” - „ 263 „ 13 „ “perches” „ “toises.” - „ 295 „ 16 „ “apposes” „ “opposes.” - „ 306 _Last line_ „ “our” „ “yours.” - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - PREFACE - - -This history is the development of a short story of the Imperial System -of Weights and Measures published eleven years ago, but withdrawn when -this fuller work took shape. To have made it at all complete would have -required a long lifetime of research; to give and discuss every -authority, to trace, even to acknowledge, every source of information -would have unduly swollen the volume and slackened the interest of the -narrative. I offer it with all its shortcomings as an attempt to show -the metric instincts of man everywhere and in all time, to trace the -origins and evolution of the main national systems, to explain the -apparently arbitrary changes which have affected them, to show how the -ancient system used by the English-speaking peoples of the world has -been able, not only to survive dangerous perturbations in the past, but -also to resist the modern revolutionary system which has destroyed so -many others less homogeneous, less capable of adaptation to -circumstances. - - E. N. - - _Feb. 1912._ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TABLE OF CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER I - PAGE - GENERAL VIEW OF THE EVOLUTION OF MEASURES 1 - - CHAPTER II - - THE STORY OF THE CUBITS - - 1. The Egyptian common or Olympic cubit 14 - The meridian mile 15 - Greek itinerary measures 16 - The Roman mile 17 - 2. The Egyptian royal cubit 18 - 3. The great Assyrian or Persian cubit 23 - 4. The Beládi cubit 26 - The Bereh or equatorial land-mile 27 - 5. The Black cubit 28 - Comparative lengths of the five ancient cubits 30 - - CHAPTER III - - THE STORY OF THE TALENTS - - 1. The Alexandrian talent 33 - The Medimnos 34 - 2. The lesser Alexandrian or Ptolemaïc talent 35 - 3. The Greek-Asiatic talent 36 - The Metretes 37 - 4. Roman weights and measures of capacity 38 - The new Roman pound 40 - 5. The Olympic talent 42 - 6. Greek coin-weights 43 - 7. The Arabic talent 44 - Measures of capacity derived from Arabic linear measures 47 - - CHAPTER IV - - THE INVOLUTION OF LINEAR MEASURES FROM WEIGHTS - THE ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH AND OF THE RHINELAND FOOT - - 1. The English foot 49 - 2. The Rhineland foot 52 - 3. The pán of Marseilles 53 - 4. The filiation of the English foot, of the Rhineland - foot, and of the pán of Marseilles 55 - - CHAPTER V - - ENGLISH LINEAR MEASURES - - 1. The yard, the foot, the inch 58 - 2. Standards of the linear measures 59 - 3. The hand 61 - 4. The ell 62 - 5. The rod, furlong, mile, and league 62 - - CHAPTER VI - - LAND-MEASURES - - 1. Introduction 65 - 2. Evolution of geometric land-measures 66 - 3. The story of English land-measures 71 - 4. Feudal land-measures 75 - 5. Terms used in old land-measures 77 - 6. The yard and the verge 82 - 7. How the rod came to be 5-1/2 yards 84 - 8. How the acre came to be 160 square rods 87 - 9. Customs of Lancaster 88 - 10. Seed-measures of land 90 - - CHAPTER VII - - ENGLISH COMMERCIAL WEIGHTS - - 1. The story of Averdepois 93 - 2. The Imperial pound 102 - 3. Scientific and medicinal divisions of the pound 104 - 4. The long hundredweight 105 - 5. Wool and lead weight 109 - 6. Trade-units of weight 112 - - CHAPTER VIII - - ENGLISH MEASURES OF CAPACITY - - 1. The old wine-measures 114 - 2. The ale-gallon 117 - 3. Corn-measure 118 - 4. The quarter and the chaldron 120 - 5. Coal-measure 122 - 6. The Imperial gallon 123 - 7. Medicinal fluid-measures 126 - - CHAPTER IX - - THE MINT-POUNDS - - 1. The Saxon or Tower pound 127 - 2. The Troy pound 129 - How the averdepois pound was of 7000 grains 133 - 3. The pride and fall of Troy 136 - The assize of bread 138 - The disappearance of the Troy pound 139 - - CHAPTER X - - THE CUBIC FOOT AND THE TON REGISTER - - Concordance of capacity, weight, and measurement 145 - Volume and weight of water at different temperatures 146 - - CHAPTER XI - - SCOTS, IRISH, AND WELSH MEASURES AND WEIGHTS - - 1. Scotland 147 - 2. Ireland 155 - 3. Wales 156 - - CHAPTER XII - - MEASURES AND WEIGHTS OF SOME BRITISH DOMINIONS - - 1. The Channel islands 157 - 2. South Africa (Cape Colony) 166 - 3. India 167 - 4. Burma and the Straits 172 - 5. Canada and Mauritius 173 - - CHAPTER XIII - - MEASURES OF VALUE - - 1. English money 174 - 2. Guernsey currency 183 - 3. Indian money 184 - 4. Decimal currency 188 - - CHAPTER XIV - - MEASURES OF TIME - - The lunar year 194 - The compass-card 195 - - CHAPTER XV - - MEASURES OF HEAT AND OF DENSITY 197 - - Compound industrial units 201 - - CHAPTER XVI - - THE ELLS 202 - - CHAPTER XVII - - FOREIGN LINEAR MEASURES - - 1. Teutonic countries 206 - 2. Latin countries 208 - 3. Russia and the East 212 - 4. The Hashimi cubit 214 - 5. The Halebi pík or arshīn 215 - - CHAPTER XVIII - - FOREIGN WEIGHTS - - 1. Teutonic systems 218 - 2. East-European systems 219 - 3. Mediterranean systems 220 - Summary 224 - Original weights of the dirhems 226 - - CHAPTER XIX - - FOREIGN MEASURES OF CAPACITY - - 1. The Teutonic system 227 - 2. The Mediterranean system 232 - 3. Hebrew weights and measures of capacity 237 - - CHAPTER XX - - THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEANING IN THE NAMES OF - WEIGHTS AND MEASURES - - 1. General remarks 240 - 2. The nail and the clove; the inch and the ounce 242 - 3. The carat and the grain 245 - 4. The tun and the fother 252 - - CHAPTER XXI - - THE OLD MEASURES AND WEIGHTS OF FRANCE - - 1. The Southern system 253 - 2. The Northern system 259 - - CHAPTER XXII - - THE METRIC SYSTEM 271 - - CHAPTER XXIII - - HOW THE METRIC SYSTEM WORKS IN FRANCE 284 - - CHAPTER XXIV - - THE CONFLICT OF THE IMPERIAL AND METRIC SYSTEMS - - 1. General view of the Imperial system 295 - 2. The propaganda of the Metric system 300 - 3. The reform of the Metric system 306 - - CONVERSION-TABLES OF METRIC AND IMPERIAL MEASURES 310 - - INDEX 311 - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - MEN AND MEASURES - - - - - CHAPTER I - - GENERAL VIEW - - -The earliest measures were those of length, and they were derived from -the rough-and-ready standard afforded by the limbs of man. - -The readiest of these measures were those offered by the length of the -forearm, and by parts of the hand; these formed a natural series of -far-reaching importance. - -These arm-measures were— - -1. The Cubit, the length of the bent forearm from elbow-point to -finger-tip, about 18 to 19 inches. - -2. The Span, the length that can be spanned between the thumb-tip and -little finger-tip of the outstretched hand. It is nearly half of the -cubit, about 9 inches. - -3. The Palm, the breadth of the four fingers, one-third of the span, -one-sixth of the cubit, about 3 inches. - -4. The Digit or finger-breadth at about the middle of the middle finger, -one-twelfth of the span, one-twenty-fourth of the cubit = 3/4 inch. - -From this division of the cubit into 6 palms and 24 digits, and of its -half, the span, into 12 digits, came the division of the day into -watches and hours, of the year into months; came also the consecration -of the number 12 in legend, history, and social institutions—came in -short duodecimalism wherever we find it. - -Add to the above measures the outstretch of the arms, the fathom, we -have the five primitive limb-lengths. - -A time came when civilisation required the fixing of a standard cubit. -It was perhaps at first an arbitrary standard, but it became fixed by -law in the most ancient Eastern Kingdoms and, about the fortieth century -before the Christian era, perhaps much earlier, certainly by the time of -the Egyptian fourth dynasty, it had been fixed at a length known for -certain to be equal to 18·24 English inches. - -This was no arbitrary standard, any more than that of the English yard -or the French metre. I may say that, apart from parochial varieties and -convenient trade-units, always referable to some recognised standard, -there are no arbitrary standards in any country; all have a directly -scientific basis or a lineage reaching, perhaps far back, to a -scientific basis. They may have deviated, by carelessness, or even by -petty fraud, from some accepted standard, but wholesale trade has always -been a conservator of standards. - -There is not the slightest doubt that the common cubit of ancient Egypt, -brought probably from Chaldæa, was deduced from the measurement of the -earth, from the quarter-meridian distance between the pole and the -equator. There are no written records of this measurement; but an -imperishable monument remained to record it, and other ancient monuments -still remain to corroborate this testimony. The base of the Great -Pyramid was, from ancient times, always known to be 500 cubits long on -each side, and it is found to be exactly half a meridian mile, or 500 -Egyptian fathoms, in perimeter. - -There is no doubt that the wise men of the ancient Eastern Kingdoms had -great astronomical knowledge and were capable of making the necessary -meridian measurement. - -Bailly (author of ‘Histoire de l’Astronomie,’ 1775-1787) wrote: - - The measurement of the earth was undertaken a vast number of - ages ago in the times of primitive astronomy.... We pass - contemptuously by the results of ancient astronomical - observations; we substitute others and, as we perfect these, we - find the same results that we had despised. - -It will be seen that these ancient observations were of great accuracy, -and that modern science cannot improve much on the measurements of the -meridian that were made on the plains of Chaldæa, or along the Nile, at -least sixty centuries ago. - -The unit of distance used at the present day by seamen of all nations, -the meridian mile, one-sixtieth of a degree, is exactly 1000 Egyptian -fathoms, or 4000 Egyptian meridian cubits, and the Great Pyramid was -built with a base measuring exactly 500 of these cubits along each side -and 500 of these fathoms in perimeter. - -It had probably been found convenient before that time to take a shorter -unit than the cubit for use in many everyday measurements. It was -two-thirds of the cubit, one-sixth of the fathom, and was called a Foot -from its being roughly about the length of a long human foot. Apparently -one of the primitive limb-measures, it is really an outcome of the -cubit, ‘foot’ being merely a convenient name for it. The foot of the -meridian cubit was of 4 palms or 16 digits and was = 12·16 English -inches. - -The Egyptian standards of linear measure, thus adjusted to the meridian -mile, passed to Greece, and under the name of ‘Olympic’ became the Greek -standards of length. - -The use of the cubit and foot series of measures is seen in Hesiod -(ninth century B.C.): - - Hew a mortar three feet (_tripodīn_) in diameter, and a - pestle three cubits (_tripichtēn_), and an axletree seven - feet (_heptapodīn_) ... and hew a wheel of three spans - (_trispithamon_) for the plough-carriage of ten palms - (_dekadōro_) length. - -Besides the original division of the foot into 16 finger-breadths or -digits, there arose an alternative division into 12 thumb-breadths or -inches. So for the Roman foot, of shorter standard than the Egyptian or -Olympic foot from which it was derived— - - Pes habet palmos iv, uncias xij, digitos xvi, - Palmus habet digitos iv, uncias iij. - -It may be said that with the foot originated the sexdecimal system, as -with the span the duodecimal system. But the foot had as many inches, -twelve, as the span had of digits; and this division was the same in -other feet or spans not differing much from the Olympic standard. - -The popularity of the foot, its general adoption for the common purposes -of life, are due to its being divided into either 12 inches or 16 -digits, the familiar thumb-breadths and finger-breadths. Every popular -system meeting the convenience and the ways of thought of men and women, -must have its measures of length approximately coinciding with the -familiar units of limb-lengths, and it must be divided sexdecimally or -duodecimally to enable people, men, women and children, to calculate -mentally in the everyday business of life. - -The octonary or semi-sexdecimal mode of division seen in our -Pint-Gallon-Bushel series is also very convenient, especially for -measures of capacity and for land-measures, admitting extensive halving -and quartering with subordinate units at each division. Duodecimal -division having the convenience of thirding is convenient for the -coinage series. A combination of the score and dozen series, as in our -money-pound of 20 × 12 pence, combines the advantages of extensive -halving and thirding. - -But never has man taken to a decimal series of weights and measures; he -may use them on compulsion, and then will evade them whenever he can. He -has ten fingers, whence decimal numeration from the earliest times; but -he has always rejected decimal measures.[1] - -Footnote 1: - - Even in numeration he often prefers to count by the score. The - Welshman says _dega-dugain_ (10 and 2-score), the Breton _quarante et - dix_, other Frenchmen _quatre-vingt-dix_ (4 score and 10) - -If to the inconvenience of not being able to halve a unit more than once -(and that only as a concession to unscientific weakness of mind), so -that there is an interval of ten units between each named unit of the -series, be added that the familiar units of common life, the -thumb-breadth, the span, the foot, the pound, the pint, have no -representatives in a decimal system, then no cajolery of science or -patriotism will persuade men and women to use the system, except under -police compulsion, and every trick will be used to evade it. Such are -the ways of the human mind. Systems that are suited to popular -convenience, both in wholesale and retail trade; systems that admit of -modification and improvement—these will live. Systems imposed by -police-force in which the people must fit themselves to the system—these -are bound to fail. - -The convenient foot being taken as subsidiary to the cubit, it afforded, -for long measurements, larger units which harmonised with the cubit, and -with its half, the span. The most usual long unit has been the Fathom -and its double— - - The Fathom 4 cubits or 6 feet or 8 spans - The Reed or Rod 8 „ „ 12 „ „ 16 „ - -This Rod, varying according to the local standard of the foot or the -span, is that nearly always used in countries round the Mediterranean. -In northern countries where the foot has superseded the span for -measures of any length, 16 feet instead of 16 spans is a usual length -for the rod-measure. - -It is a curious fact in the history of human nature that neither ancient -Egypt nor the other Eastern monarchies kept to the meridian cubit and -the measures based on it. While it survived in Greece, it was abandoned, -officially at least, in Egypt, Assyria, and Persia. Influences in which -science was mixed with astrolatry caused a second cubit to arise, even -at the time of the building of the Great Pyramid, and this cubit -superseded the meridian cubit as the official standard of the Eastern -Kingdoms. Centuries passed and other cubits, not many, five or six at -the most, arose through analogous influences. From these Eastern cubits, -and from the Roman linear measures based on a mile eight-tenths of the -meridian mile, all the various systems of the civilised world have been -evolved. - -From linear measures, the fathom and the rod, came measures of surface -which, quickly in some countries, slowly in others, superseded more -primitive estimates of cultivated area. A very usual unit of land-length -and of road-distance was the customary length of the furrow. In all -times and countries the peasant has found that a certain length of -furrow, often about 100 fathoms or 50 rods, was convenient for himself -and his plough-cattle. A strip of land of this length, and of one or -more rods in breadth, would become a unit of field-measurement, and in -time this superficial extent, in some shape or other, would become a -geometrical standard. - -Commerce, even of the most primitive kind, led to two other forms of -measure—to Weight and Capacity. The capacity of the two hands, that of a -customary basket or pot, that of the bottomed cylinder obtained from a -segment of well-grown bamboo, would be superseded by that of a vessel -containing a certain weight of corn, oil or wine, as soon as the -goldsmith had devised the balance. Seeds of generally constant weight -such as those of the locust-tree, used for weighing the precious metals, -would soon be supplemented by a larger standard for heavier weighing; -and the weight of a cubic span or a cubic foot of water would afford a -suitable unit. A vessel containing a cubic foot of water thus afforded a -standard, the Eastern Talent, both for weight and for capacity. The -cubic foot would become a standard for the measure of oil or wine, while -this measure increased, usually by 22 or 25 per cent., so as to contain -a talent-weight of corn, generally of wheat, would become the Bushel or -otherwise-named standard of capacity, for the peasant and for -corn-dealers. - -The peasant would use his bushel not only to measure his corn, but also -to estimate his land according to the measure of seed-corn it required. -He would also take a day’s ploughing on a customary length of furrow, as -a rough measure of surface, and the landlord would estimate the extent -of his property by the number of yoke of plough-cattle required to work -it. These seed-units and plough-units would in time be fixed, and thus -become the basis of agrarian measures. - -In the meantime coinage would have arisen. A subdivision of the talent -would become the pound or common unit of weight in the retail market, -and a subdivision of the pound would be fixed as the weight of silver -which, impressed with signs guaranteeing its fineness, if not its actual -weight, would be the currency of the merchants. - -Then arose, by involution, another system of weights in which the pound -was usually of 12 or 16 ounces, and the ounce was the weight of so many -standard coins. Every modern pound was based on this system. But again, -the pound of silver would yield a certain number of coins, giving rise -to a new monetary system under which the coin-origin of the pound would -in time be forgotten. - -The necessary state-privilege of coining money sometimes led to -differences between mint-weight and commercial weight. Just as there -arose in the ancient East a royal or sacred cubit different from that in -vulgar use, so there arose in many countries a royal pound used in the -mint and different from the vulgar commercial weight. In many countries, -ancient and modern, the mint has kept up systems of weight consecrated -by tradition but obsolete for all other uses, and out of harmony with -commercial weight. - -The scientific measurement of time had early been established by the -astronomers who had measured the meridian. - -The skilled artisans who constructed astronomical instruments and the -standard measures of capacity and weight must have observed that the -water contained in the standard measure of capacity weighed more when it -was as cold as possible than when at the temperature of an Eastern -summer; they could not fail to develop the idea of thermometry thus made -evident to them. Nor could anyone fail to see that oil was lighter than -water, strong wine than unfermented, and spring-water than brine or -sweet juices. Some means of aræometry, by an immersed rod or bead, would -be devised to avoid the trouble of finding their density by the balance. - -It may thus be said that the scientists and skilled artisans of very -ancient Eastern lands were fully as capable of constructing a scientific -system of weights and measures as Western Europeans in our eighteenth -century. - -Good systems were carried by commerce to less advanced countries; if -convenient they took root, partially or entirely, and, with such -modifications as circumstances caused or required, they spread and were -in due time given legal sanction. - -Such is the usual course of evolution in the formation of a system of -weights and measures from a linear measure. - -A modification of the original linear standard may lead to the evolution -of a new system. Thus, when the Romans took as their foot 1/5000 of a -short mile of 8 Olympic stadia instead of 1/6000 of the meridian mile of -10 stadia, this new foot was the starting point of a new system. - -Another process of evolution, or rather of involution, may occur from an -imported standard of capacity. Supposing that trade has carried a -certain measure to a country which it supplies with corn, and that this -measure has been adopted, with divisions convenient to the people: from -this corn-measure another measure, about 4/5 of it, may be constructed, -containing the same weight of wine or water that the former contains of -corn; here will be a standard fluid measure, and perhaps some fraction -of it filled with water may be taken as a standard of weight. Let now -some cubical vessel be constructed to hold exactly the standard measure -of water; the length or breadth of each side will give a linear unit -which, if it approximate sufficiently with a foot or span to which the -people are accustomed, will offer a fixed linear standard in harmony -with the other standards. Thus, from a convenient foreign unit of -capacity or of weight, a new and complete system of national measures -may be constructed by involution. - -It will be seen that several cases of such involution have happened. -There is indeed no documentary evidence for them, and often very little -for the more usual processes of evolution. But the evidence for the -origin of most weights and measures is entirely circumstantial; it is by -the study of metrology, founded on research into the systems of -different countries, that the student is able to weigh circumstantial -evidence, to use it prudently, to guard himself against mere -coincidence, to clear away legend, to examine documentary evidence -carefully, to read between the lines of records, often very deceptive if -he come to them unprepared. - -The various systems which have developed by these processes, generally -of evolution, but sometimes of involution, lose the appearance of -Babel-confusion they had before their development could be explained -otherwise than by fanciful legend or despotic caprice. But once the -right point of view is found, unity is seen in the hitherto bewildering -variety, and the trend of the human mind is seen to be regular in the -systems that it evolves, in its way of meeting difficulties, in its -acceptance of changes which are real improvements, in its aversion to -arbitrary changes, in its devices for evading despotic interference with -what it has found convenient. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER II - - THE STORY OF THE CUBITS - - -The story of the cubits and of the talents, the great units of weight -evolved from the cubits, is part of the history of the ancient and -medieval Eastern Kingdoms, so intimately is it connected with their -mutual relations, with their astrolatric ideas, and with the influence -of those ideas on their science and art. This story, extending over more -than fifty centuries, from long before the building of the Great Pyramid -to near the tenth century of our era, explains the evolution of all -weights and measures, ancient and modern. - -The standard of the cubits has come down to us in great monuments, the -measurements of which show undoubted unity of standard, and ancient -histories and records often state the dimensions in the original cubits -or in other cubits. Sometimes the actual wooden measures used by -architects or masons are still extant; sometimes weights known to have -been derived from these cubits either survive or can be ascertained. -Thus in various ways the original length of the ancient cubits is known -more accurately than that of many modern standards of length. - - - 1. THE EGYPTIAN COMMON, OR OLYMPIC CUBIT - -A certain record of this cubit remains in the Great Pyramid. It is known -to have measured 500 cubits along each side of the base, 2000 cubits or -500 fathoms being the perimeter of the base. The measurement made by our -Ordnance Surveyors gave 760 feet for the side. The latest measurement, -by Mr. Flinders Petrie, is not quite 6 inches longer. Taking the -Ordnance Survey figure we have (760 × 12)/500 = 18·24 inches as the -length of the common cubit, and two-thirds of this gives 12·16 inches -for the common foot, or the Olympic foot as it is called from the -adoption of this standard by the Greeks. - -This length, supported by measurements of other ancient monuments, may -be regarded as certain. Four cubits or six Olympic feet were contained -in the Egypto-Greek orgyia or fathom, and this measure = 72·96 inches or -6·08 feet, is exactly one-thousandth of the 6080 feet length of the -Meridian or Nautical Mile. - -This cubit, common to the three great ancient kingdoms, Babylonia, -Egypt, and afterwards Assyria, originated probably in Chaldæa, passing -to Egypt with the earliest civilisation of that country, and thence to -Greece. The name of Olympic thence attached to this standard must not -make us forget its origin. The saying of Sir Henry Maine, ‘Except the -blind forces of nature, nothing moves in the world which was not Greek -in its origin,’ is not exact unless we include as Greek the great -kingdoms conquered by Alexander, and which, under the Roman empire and -afterwards under the Saracen caliphates, continued to have great -influence over the civilisation of the West. - - - _The Meridian Mile_ - -At least sixty centuries ago the Chaldæan astronomers had divided the -circumference of the earth, and of circles generally, into 360 degrees -(that is 6 × 60) each of 60 parts. There is good reason to believe that -they, before the Egyptians, who had the same scientific ideas, had -already measured the terrestrial meridian and determined the length of -the mean degree and of its sixtieth part, the meridian mile. - -Owing to the flattening of the globe towards its poles, meridian degrees -are not of equal lengths; they increase in length from the equator, so -that their sixtieth parts are— - - At degrees 1 to 3 = 68·704 statute miles; 1/60 = 6046 ft. - „ 88 to 90 = 69·409 „ „ ; 1/60 = 6108 ft. - -The mean length is at about 49° N. where the degree and mile are— - - 69·091 statute miles; 1/60 = 6080 feet. - -The perimeter of the base of the Great Pyramid is exactly half of that -length, i.e. 3040 feet. - -The length of the meridian mile, 1000 Olympic fathoms = 4000 Olympic -feet, was divided by the Greek geometers (and probably by the Egyptians -and Chaldæans long before them) into 10 stadia, each of 100 fathoms = -600 Olympic feet = 608 feet, which is about our present cable length. -And the meridian or nautical mile, used by seamen of all nations, is -this same Egypto-Greek mile of 6080 feet = 2026-2/3 yards = 1013-1/3 -fathoms = 1·1515 statute miles. It is sometimes put at 6082-2/3 feet. -French geometers estimate it at 1852·227 metres = 6076-3/4 feet, one -ten-millionth of the quarter-meridian being = 1·0002 metre. The nautical -mile is sometimes called a knot, in the sense of a ship going so many -nautical miles in an hour, as ascertained by the number of knots of the -log-line, each 1/120 of a nautical mile or 50-2/3 feet, run out in half -a minute, 1/120 of an hour. - -The meridian mile must not be confounded with the geographical or -equatorial mile, 1/60 degree along the equatorial circumference = -6087-1/3 feet. - - - _Greek Itinerary Measures_ - -Though a length of 10 stadia is a meridian mile, neither the Egyptians -nor the Greeks appear to have used this mile as an itinerary measure. -Herodotus says: - - All men who are short of land measure it by Fathoms; but those - who are less short of it, by Stadia; and those who have much, by - Parasangs; and such as have a very great extent, by Schoinoi. - Now a Parasang is equal to 30 stadia, and each Schoinos, which - is an Egyptian measure, is equal to 60 stadia. - -The Parasang of 30 stadia was then 3 meridian miles, the modern marine -league, 1/20 of a degree. - -The Schoinos was probably common to Egypt and to Chaldæa. The Chaldæans -venerated the numbers 6, 60, 600, &c., and their sexagesimal scale, -making the year 6 × 60 + 5 days and the circle 6 × 60 degrees each of 60 -minutes, has prevailed. The Olympic or Egyptian-Greek measures of -distance were on this scale, though land-measures were, officially at -least, on a decimal scale. - - 6 Olympic feet = 1 fathom (orgyia) - 60 „ „ = 1 rod (kalamos) - 60 rods or 600 feet = 1 stadion - 60 stadia (6 meridian miles) = 1 schoinos - 60 schoinoi = 6 meridian degrees - 60 × 6 degrees = circumference of the globe. - -Between the Stadion and the Schoinos there is a long gap, but the -Greeks, for whose small country the Stadion was a convenient unit, used, -when abroad, the Persian Parasang of 3 meridian miles, = 1/7200 of the -meridian circumference. - -The rise of other cubits obscured the Olympic series of measures. The -Schoinos became absorbed in the Parasang, and under the Roman domination -it became a measure of 32 stadia or 4 Roman miles. The Stadion also came -to vary; it was nearly always of 100 fathoms, but these might be fathoms -of systems varying from the Olympic. The slightly different term -Schoinion, meaning a rope or chain, was applied to a measure of 10 -fathoms. - - - _The Roman Mile_ - -The Romans took for their itinerary unit a length of 8 Olympic stadia -and, dividing it into 1000 paces or double steps, called it a mille -(mille passus) or mile. The Roman mile and pace are therefore -respectively four-fifths of the meridian mile and the Olympic fathom— - - 8/10 of 6080 ft. = 4864 ft. = 1621-1/3 yards. - -The pace was divided into 5 feet. - - 1/5 of 4·864 ft. (or 58·368 inches) = 11·673 inches. - -There was in course of time some slight variation in the length of the -Roman foot. It has been calculated at between 11·65 and 11·67 inches. -The best value appears to be that of Greaves at 11·664 inches, but 11·67 -seems to me sufficiently accurate, and corresponding better to other -Roman measures. - -The pace was also divided into quarters (palmipes) of a foot and a palm. - -The foot was divided into 16 digits or into 12 inches (pollices). Roman -dominion over Greece and Egypt led to some modifications, probably -local, in measures of distance. There was a Roman schœnus of 4 miles, -and the mile was divided, sometimes into 10 Olympic stadia, sometimes -into 8 Pythic stadia of 500 feet or 100 paces. - -It will be seen that the English mile was originally 5000 Roman feet, -and then 5000 English feet, before being fixed at its present length of -5280 feet or 1760 yards. - - - 2. THE EGYPTIAN ROYAL CUBIT (_c._ 4000 B.C.) - -The possession of a geodesic cubit, 1/4 of the fathom which was 1/1000 -of the meridian mile, did not satisfy the astrolatric priesthood of -Egypt. Under their influence another cubit, of 7 palms = 20·64 inches, -became the official measure of Egypt, and it was used in the planning of -the monuments, always excepting the outside plan of the Great Pyramid. - -What could have been the reason for this change, from the scientifically -excellent and fairly convenient common cubit to this less convenient -length, and for bringing the inconvenient number seven into the -divisions and making both palms and digits different in length from -those of the common cubit? - -No valid reason can be found other than the desire to institute, by the -side of the common cubit in which the 6 palms and 24 digits corresponded -to the watches and hours of the day, a sacred cubit in which the 7 palms -would correspond to the seven planets or to the week of seven days, and -the 28 digits to the vulgar lunar month of four weeks of seven days.[2] -Among us, at the present day, astrology is far from being dead; the days -still bear the names of the seven planets ruling successively the first -hour of the days named respectively after them; we call, however -unconsciously, men’s temperaments or characters according to the -mercurial, jovial, saturnine and other influences of the planets which -rule the hour of birth. It is not for us then to criticise severely the -pious desire of a learned priesthood or of a theocratic king to -institute a sacred standard of linear measure with divisions -corresponding in number to the seven planets which ruled the destinies -of man, whose influence ruled them through the Christian middle ages, -which at the present day still rule the world in the minds of the great -majority of mankind. The royal or sacred cubit became the official cubit -of the Eastern great kingdoms, the common or meridian cubit being also -used, not only for ordinary purposes, but sometimes along with it. Thus, -the external dimensions of the Great Pyramid are in common cubits, while -the unit of its internal dimensions is the royal cubit, perhaps recently -established at the time of the building.[3] And centuries after the -institution of the royal cubit, the meridian cubit became the standard -of the Greeks. - -Footnote 2: - - Plutarch speaks of the mystic connexion assumed by the Egyptians - between the 28 cubits maximum rise of the Nile and the same number of - days in the lunar month. - -Footnote 3: - - The royal cubit is sometimes called the Philiterian cubit; this name - (apparently meaning ‘royal’) is used by the later Hero of Alexandria, - who wrote about 430. But Herodotus says, ‘They call the pyramids after - a herdsman Philition who at that time grazed his herds about that - place’; so it is probable that the name came from some legend. - -The question naturally arises—Why was the royal cubit not formed by -simply adding a seventh palm to the common cubit, a palm of the same -length, = 3·04 inches, as the six others? This would have given a new -cubit of 18·24 × 7/6 = 21·28 inches, instead of 20·64 inches in 7 palms -of 2·95 inches. And it will be seen that this was actually done, fifty -centuries later, by the caliph Al-Mamūn. - -The answer I venture to give is, that the royal cubit was intended to -be, not only by its division a homage to the seven planets, but also, by -its increase of length, a symbol of the proportion of latitude to -longitude at some Egyptian observatory. - -Possibly it was a practical commemoration of the art of determining -longitude. On this hypothesis the new cubit was made as much longer than -the old cubit as the mean degree of latitude is longer than the degree -of longitude in 29° N., at an observatory about 50 meridian miles south -of the Pyramids. In that parallel, the proportion of the degree of -longitude to the degree of latitude is 1 : 1·13, or as 18·24 to 20·64. - -Measurements of monuments, both in Egypt and in the Babylonian and -Assyrian Kingdoms, show that 20·64 inches was the length of the royal -cubit, and actual cubit measures now extant do not vary from it more -than one-or two-hundredths of an inch. There are at least ten of these -cubits in museums and in other collections. One, a double cubit, is in -the British Museum; another, very perfect, is in the Louvre; another, of -rough graduation, but accurate length, is in the Liverpool Museum. There -may be others, generally unknown. I found one, apparently unrecorded, in -the museum of Avignon. - -As the Pyramids are very nearly in the same parallel of latitude as the -southern limits of Babylonia, near Ur of the Chaldees, it is possible -that the length of the royal or sacred cubit may have been as acceptable -to the priesthood of Babylonia as that of Egypt. This would account for -the prevalence of the seven-palm cubit throughout the Eastern great -monarchies. Perhaps the new cubit may have been instituted -internationally between the Bureau des Longitudes of Egypt and that of -Babylonia. - -As in the case of the common cubit, two-thirds of the royal cubit were -taken for the royal foot = 13·76 inches, a measure which when cubed will -be seen to be the source of our Imperial system of weights and measures. - -The inconvenience of a cubit of 7 palms is increased when two-thirds of -it are taken for the foot; this foot, being 4-2/3 palms or 18-2/3 -digits, was possibly divided for popular use into 16 digits, if it were -ever in popular use. For scientific and probably for popular use it -appears to have been divided into 2 feet = 10·32 inches. This may be -inferred from the division of the degrees, attributed to Eratosthenes -(third century B.C.), into 700 stadia, each 600 of these feet. Probably -700 is a round number, for, on the basis of this foot, the degree would -be 706·8 stadia. - -Three centuries later Pliny gave the base of the Great Pyramid a length -of 883 feet. The modern measurement being 760 feet = 9120 inches, we -have 9120/883 = 10·328 as the length of the foot in Pliny’s account, a -length differing by less than 1/100 inch from that of the half-cubit. - -The investigations of Fréret, Jomard, Letronne and other mathematicians -led them to the conclusion that the ancient Egyptians had surveyed their -land so exactly as to know its dimensions to a cubit near, and that -certainly at some unknown time they had measured an arc of the meridian -and established their measures on the basis of the meridian degree with -no less exactness than has been done in modern times. - -I have put aside all attempts, often connected with theology, to show -that the base of the Great Pyramid was 220 double cubits (of 2 × 20·61 -inches), the same number as the yards in an Elizabethan furlong, or that -its other dimensions were intended to hand down the English inch, or the -gallon, or the squaring of the circle, or the laws of harmonic -progression. - - - 3. THE GREAT ASSYRIAN OR PERSIAN CUBIT - (_c._ 700 B.C.) - -The Egyptian idea of increasing the cubit appears to have also seized -the Assyrian monarchy many centuries later. It was increased to 8 palms, -as different from those of the Egyptian royal cubit as these were from -those of the meridian cubit. - - 18·24 Egyptian common cubit 6 palms of 3·08 in. 24 digits - 20·64 „ royal „ 7 „ of 2·95 in. 28 „ - 25·26 Assyrian „ 8 „ of 3·16 in. 32 „ - -This new measure is the cubit of Ezekiel, the ‘great cubit,’ the ‘cubit -and a handbreadth,’ = 25·26 inches. - -The same question as that presented by the increased cubit of Egypt -arises in the case of the Assyrian cubit. What reason can be suggested -for an increase such as to again disturb the palm and the digit? The -advantage of having a standard of 8 palms divisible into 2 feet of 4 -palms, could have been obtained far more simply and conveniently by -adding an eighth palm equal to the others, making it 23·6 inches, with a -half giving a foot = 11·8 inches. Or two palms might have been added to -the common cubit, making a new cubit = 24·32 inches, with the Olympic -foot as its half. - -I again venture a similar explanation. The increase from the length of -the Egyptian royal cubit corresponds to the ratio of the degree of -longitude to the degree of latitude in 35·5° N., i.e. 1 : 1·224— - - 1 : 1·224 :: 20·64 : 25·26. - -This position was only 30 meridian miles from the parallel of 36° N., a -line which, passing through Rhodes and Malta to the Straits of -Gibraltar, was considered by the ancient geographers as the first -parallel and was the base-line of their maps. It was called by the Greek -geographers the ‘diaphragm of the world.’[4] - -Footnote 4: - - Διάφραγμα τῆς ὀικουμένης. Instituted by Dicæarchus 310 B.C., corrected - by Eratosthenes 276-196. - -This line passing also a few miles south of Nineveh, it is possible that -some observatory near that capital city, a few miles south of 36°, may -have been the point at which the difference in the lengths of the -degrees of longitude and of latitude was determined for the standard -length of the new cubit. - -There is an alternate hypothesis. The Egyptian royal cubit was increased -by 1·224 to make the Great Assyrian cubit. Now this is about the -proportion in which a measure containing a certain weight of water must -be increased in height to contain the same weight of wheat. This -proportion, the water-wheat ratio, is something between 1·22 and 1·25, -the former being the usual ratio with the heavier wheat of Southern -countries. Supposing a cubical vessel measuring a royal cubit of 20·64 -inches in each side, therefore containing 8792 cubic inches = 317 lb. of -water (which was the Great Artaba) to be increased in height so as to -hold the same weight of wheat, its height would now be 1·224 × 20·64 = -25·26 inches. This might have been taken for a new cubit. - -This would not prevent the new cubit, the Great Assyrian cubit, being -itself in course of time cubed to form the Den measure, as its half, the -foot, was cubed for its weight of water to make the Greek-Asiatic -talent. - -However this be, the great Assyrian cubit, which continued to be used in -the Persian empire, had the advantage of being divided into 8 palms and -of making a good two-foot rule, though its half, the foot, was rather -too long for popular use. This cubit exists to this day in Egypt, being -the basis of the Reed or Qasáb. This is the ‘full reed of six great -cubits’ (Ezek. xli.), the ‘measuring rod of six cubits by the cubit and -a handbreadth,’ that is the old seven-palm cubit with a palm added. The -Qasáb = 151·16 inches is = 12 Assyrian feet. - -Yet, for the common purposes of life, a foot = 12·63 inches was too long -to be popular; everywhere the people like a short foot, especially in -the South and the East. Moreover the cubit was a departure from the -simple geodesic standard of the meridian cubit. Accordingly there was -devised in Persia a cubit satisfactory both to the scientific class and -to the people, with a simple geodesic standard for scientific purposes -and a convenient short foot for the common purposes of life. This was -the Beládi cubit. It is perhaps the best of the cubits. - - - 4. THE BELÁDI CUBIT (_c._ 300 B.C.) - -The new Persian cubit, known as the Beládi (from _belád_, country), had -the advantage, first, of a simple relation to the Parasang or meridian -league of 30 stadia = 1/20 degree; secondly, of it being divisible into -two feet of convenient length. - -The meridian mile being = 6080 feet or 72,960 inches the parasang is -therefore 3 × 72,960 = 218,880 inches; and the Beládi cubit, 1/10000 of -the parasang, was therefore = 21·880 inches. This is the length that -John Greaves gave in 1645 as his measurement of what he called the Cairo -cubit, one of the different standards that have accumulated in Egypt -during sixty centuries. - -The Beládi cubit is still to be found in the East. A half Beládi cubit = -10·944 inches, a convenient foot for Eastern use, passed to Spain with -the Moors and became the Burgos foot, the standard of which was allowed -to go astray after the fall of the Moorish dominion. But the Spanish -shore-cubit (_Covado di ribera_) still exists at the standard of 21·9157 -inches. - -The Beládi cubit is that used by Posidonius (131-53 B.C.). He gave the -circumference of the globe as 240,000 stadia, which = 666·66 to the -degree, or 11·111 to the meridian mile of 6080 feet or 72,960 inches, -72,960/11.111 = 6566 inches or 10 fathoms of 65·66465 inches, exactly 3 -Beládi cubits or 6 half-cubits. - -It is interesting to find this Greek philosopher, settled in Rome, -reckoning the circumference of the globe accurately on the basis of the -Beládi cubit of Persia. Coupling this with the use by the Hebrews of the -Bereh equatorial cubit brought back from the Captivity, the date of the -Beládi meridional cubit is evidently at some centuries before the -Christian era. - - - _The Bereh or Equatorial Land-mile._ - -The Jews brought back from the Captivity a measure known as the Cubit of -the Talmud. It was 1/3000 of a mile, called the Bereh, which was said to -be 1/24000 the circumference of the earth. Now this latter fraction -corresponds to one-thousandth of an hour of longitude, or of 15 degrees -on the equator, and thus points to the Bereh being an equatorial, not a -meridian mile. It is still extant in the Turkish dominions in Asia. -While the modern, as the ancient, Persian Parasang is 1/7200 of the -meridian, the Turkish Farsang of 3 Bereh should be 3/24000 = 1/8000 of -the equatorial circumference— - - 1/8000 of 2029·11 yards × 60 × 360 = 5478·6 yards. - -This corresponds very closely to the length of the farsang, which is -5483·9 yards. The Bereh, by calculation, is 1826 yards and the Talmudic -cubit, 1/3000 of it, = 21·914 inches. - -Each then was one 72-millionth of the terrestrial circumference, but the -Talmudic cubit was measured on the equator, the Beládi cubit on the -meridian. - - Talmudic cubit 1/10000 of a league 1/7200 of the equator. - Beládi „ 1/9000 „ „ 1/8000 „ meridian. - - - 5. THE BLACK CUBIT (NINTH CENTURY) - -Many centuries after the institution of the Assyrian great cubit and of -the Persian Beládi cubit, another important cubit became a standard of -measure in the Moslem caliphate which reigned over the lands of the -Eastern great kingdoms. - -Under Al-Mamūn, son of Harūn al-Rashid, science was flourishing in the -East, while the West was in the dark ages, at least in all the countries -unenlightened by the civilisation of the Moors of Spain. Of Christian -Europe, Provence and the other Occitanian countries alone had that -light, a light that shone over other countries until extinguished by the -Albigensian crusade. - -‘Mahmd Ibn Mesoud says that in the time of Almamon (the learned Calife -of Babylon) by the elevation of the pole of the equator, they measured -the quantity of the degree upon the globe of the earth, and found it to -be 56-2/3 miles, every mile containing 4000 cubits, and each cubit 24 -digits, and every digit 6 barleycorns, and every barleycorn 6 hairs of a -camel’ (‘A Discourse of the Romane Foot and Denarius,’ by John Greaves, -Professor of Astronomy in the University of Oxford, 1647). - -From this determination of 56-2/3 meridian miles to the degree of -longitude it would appear, (1) that the measurement was made at about -20·1°; south of Mecca, (2) that the meridian mile was still of 4000 -Egyptian common cubits or 1000 Egyptian fathoms. - -It was then probably after this measurement that Al-Mamūn instituted his -new Cubit, sometimes known as the Black cubit, so named from the black -banner and dress adopted by the Abbaside caliphs. - -This new cubit was not, directly at least, of geodesic basis. The caliph -was probably inspired by the idea of making in a reasonable manner the -alteration which the ancient Egyptians had done badly in making their -seven-palm cubit out of simple proportion to the common cubit. So the -new cubit had palms and digits of the same length as the common cubit. -But it had all the inconveniences of the factor seven. Perhaps Al-Mamūn -may have thought that the addition of a seventh palm was not only a -homage to the seven planets but that it was satisfactory to lengthen the -common cubit in the ratio of the degree of latitude to that of longitude -in a part of his dominions where the ratio was exactly 7 to 6. This is -the ratio at Alexandria, in 31° N. - - The Common cubit being = 18·24 inches = 6 × 3·04 in. - The Black cubit was = 21·28 „ = 7 × 3·04 in. - - Two-thirds of this cubit were taken for - - The Black foot = 14·186 inches, divided into 16 digits of - the 24 digits or qiráts of the cubit. - -This cubit and foot are still in use. The old nilometer on the island of -Al-Rauzah (Rode) near Cairo has its scale in cubits of this standard, -and measurement of the worn scale gives 21·29 inches for the cubit. - -The cubit and foot of Al-Mamūn are the basis of measures and of weights -which spread from Egypt to every country in Europe. - -The story of the five cubits, ancient and medieval, has shown that they -were all derived, directly or indirectly, from the meridian measurement -of the earth, some of them being probably instituted with the desire to -make them representative of the relation of latitude and longitude. - -I venture to say that every measure and weight used throughout the world -has been developed from one of these cubits and thus, more or less -directly, from the Egyptian meridian cubit. The Republican system of -France is but a decimal imitation of the system based on the common -Egyptian meridian cubit; its basis being the kilometre, 1/10000 of the -quarter-meridian, instead of the Egyptian meridian mile, 1/(90 × 60) of -the quarter-meridian. - -There were some other cubits of minor importance; one of them is the -Hashími cubit described in Chapter XVII. - - - COMPARATIVE LENGTHS OF THE FIVE ANCIENT CUBITS - - Egyptian common cubit = 18·24 in.; its foot 2/3 = 12·16 in. - „ royal „ = 20·64 „ „ 2/3 = 13·76 „ - Great Assyrian „ = 25·26 „ „ 1/2 = 12·63 „ - Beládi „ = 21·888 „ „ 1/2 = 10·944 „ - Black „ = 20·28 „ „ 2/3 = 14·186 „ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER III - - THE STORY OF THE TALENTS - - -It has been seen that throughout the ancient Eastern Kingdoms, from soon -after 5000 B.C. to some centuries after our era, there was general unity -in the system of linear measures. It will now be seen that there was -similar unity in the system of weights and measures, all derived from -some well-known linear standard cubed. In modern times this unity is -much less apparent, but yet it can be traced, and it survives with -little change in the great part of the world where the English system of -weights and measures remains as an inheritance from the most ancient -epochs of civilisation. - -The 400 shekels of silver, currency of the merchants, that Abraham -weighed to Ephron about 1900 years B.C. were probably of about the same -weight as 400 half-crowns of the present day. - -When Moses levied 100 talents and 1775 shekels, at the rate of half a -shekel on each of the 603,550 men who were numbered (Exod. xxxviii.), -the weight of the silver shekels can be precisely ascertained. - -603550/2 = 301,775 shekels = 100 talents and 1775 shekels. - -The Talent was the weight of an Egyptian royal cubic foot of water and -was divided into 3000 shekels. - -The royal foot, 2/3 of the cubit, = 13·76 inches. - -The foot cubed = 2605 cubic inches; 2605/27·73 = 93·9 lb. as the -calculated weight of the standard afterwards known as the Alexandrian -talent.[5] - -Footnote 5: - - The Imperial pound = 27·727 cubic inches of water, 7000 grains: the - gallon 10 lb. or 277·274 c.i. - -The actual weight was 93·65 lb. = 655·550 grains; 655550/3000 = 218·5 -grains was the weight of the shekel, nearly our half-ounce—exactly the -half-ounce of Plantagenet times, and very near to the weight of our -half-crown, which weighs 218·18 grains. - -The difference between calculated weight and the actual weight -determined from coin or other standards, from trustworthy historical -statements and other sources of information or of evidence, is generally -due to the great difficulty in constructing accurately the cubical -vessel used to ascertain the weight of a cubed measure of water. A -difference of 2/100 of an inch in the sides of the vessel made to hold a -royal cubic foot of water would make a difference of about 3 parts in -1000, of 4-1/2 of the 1500 ounces or double-shekels of water it -contained. And we do not know the temperature of the water used. - -From the ancient and medieval cubits were derived all the weights and -measures of medieval and modern civilisation, largely through the medium -of the talents derived from these standards. - - From the Egyptian common foot came the Olympic Talent - „ „ „ royal „ „ „ Alexandrian „ - „ „ Great Assyrian „ „ „ Greek-Asiatic „ - „ „ Arabic „ „ „ Arabic „ - - - 1. THE ALEXANDRIAN TALENT - -The standard of this talent has been already given as 93·65 lb., which × -7000 = 655,550 grains. - -It was divided on different systems: - - 1. By the Chaldæans and Egyptians into 60 minás, divided— - - (_a_) On the Chaldæan system into 60 shekels of 182 - grains, with a quarter-shekel = 45-1/2 grains. - - (_b_) On the Phœnician, and Hebrew, system into 50 - shekels of 218-1/2 grains, with a quarter-shekel = - 54·6 grains. - - 2. By the Greek-Egyptians into 120 minás (or the half or lesser - talent into 60 minás) of 100 drachmæ = 54·6 grains. - - 3. By the Romans into 125 libræ of 12 unciæ (1500 ounces) - further divided by the Greeks into 8 drachmæ = 54·6 grains. - -Three of these modes of division give a drachma of 54·6 grains. So a -Phœnician or Hebrew shekel, a Ptolemaïc tetradrachm and a Roman -half-ounce, are of the same weight, differing by only 1/4 grain from our -half-ounce, and by only 1/2 grain from our half-crown. - -The Alexandrian talent was the Hebrew Kikkar or talent of the sanctuary. -In the Chaldæan kingdom the standard measure was the Egyptian royal -cubit, and the standard weight was the talent derived from its foot; but -the miná appears to have been divided into 60 instead 50 shekels. - -The words which Belshazzar saw written on the wall referred to the miná -and shekel, or tekel, of this talent. Their meaning may be thus -rendered: - - Mene, a miná—the great King Nabupalasur, founder of the new - Chaldæan Kingdom. - - Mene, a miná—the great King Nabukudurusur, son of the preceding. - - Tekel, a shekel (of 4 quarters)—Nabunahid (Belshazzar) and his - three predecessors, all of small account. - - Upharsin, a division, perhaps 2 half-shekels, the Medes and - Persians. Or it may simply be the Parsīs or Persians, the - enemies at the gate. - -This talent is still extant at Bássora (in Chaldæa) as the _mánd sofi_ = -93·22 lb. - - - _The Medimnos._ - -This was the measure made to hold an Alexandrian talent of wheat. The -cubed Egyptian royal foot (probably used as a fluid measure) was -increased in the Southern water-wheat ratio of 1 : 1·22. Thus 2605 c.i. -× 1·22 = 3176 c.i. and 3176/277·4 = 11·45 gallons as the contents of the -Medimnos. - -This measure was adopted by the Romans, as well as by the Greeks, as the -basis of their corn-measures, doubtless in consequence of the corn-trade -from Egypt. A sixth part of it was the Roman Modius. - -The Medimnos was divided by the Greeks into 48 Choinix, or into 96 -Xestes (L. _sextarius_) = 0·95 Imperial pint or 19 fluid ounces. - - - 2. THE LESSER ALEXANDRIAN OR PTOLEMAÏC TALENT - -This was half of the ordinary or greater talent. - -Half the calculated weight of the greater talent gives 46·956 lb. for -the lesser. But the actual weight was somewhat less, 46·82 lb. - -It was divided into 60 Ptolemaïc miná = 5462 grains, and the miná into -100 drachms. The drachm = 54·62 grains and the tetradrachm = 218·5 -grains coincide as coin-weights with the quarter-shekel and shekel of -the greater talent. - -The miná was divided also on the Roman uncial system: - - 1/12 = an ounce = 455·28 grs.; of this - 1/12 = a double-scruple = 37·94 grs.; of this - 1/12 = a carat of 3·1616 grs. - -The carat 1/144 ounce, is exactly, to 1/100 grain, the jeweller’s carat -of to-day in European countries. - -What could be the reason for this talent? - -Its miná was half an Alexandrian miná; its drachm was a quarter-shekel. - -Don V. V. Queipo[6] considered that the half Beládi cubit had been -produced from it by involution, taking the side of a cubical vessel -containing half an Alexandrian talent of water and then doubling this -new foot to make a new cubit. Its water-volume = 1302·5 c.i. gives as -cube root 10·9207 inches, almost exactly half the Beládi cubit = 21·888 -inches. But the Beládi cubit being 1/7200 of a Parasang is sufficient -evidence of its origin. I consider that the close coincidence of the -half-cubit with the side of a cubic vessel containing an Alexandrian -half-talent of water led the Ptolemies to institute this smaller talent, -as if it had been evolved from the Beládi foot in the same way that the -Greek-Asiatic talent had been evolved from the Persian foot or -half-cubit. - -Footnote 6: - - _Essai sur les Systèmes Métriques_ (1859). - - - 3. THE GREEK-ASIATIC TALENT - -After the institution of the great Assyrian or Persian cubit a new -talent was necessarily evolved from it. - -The Persian foot, half of the cubit, was cubed, and the weight of this -cubic foot of water was the Persian or Greek-Asiatic talent— - - 25·26/2 = 12·63 inches; 12·63^3 = 2014 c.i. = 72·61 lb. - -The actual weight of this talent (as in the case of the Alexandrian -talent) was somewhat less. It corresponded to a cubic foot of 2000 c.i., -giving 72·13 lb. = 504,910 grains. This was divided into 60 minás— - - (72·13 lb. × 1000)/60 = 8415 grams = 1·2 lb. - -The miná was divided by the Persians into 100 darics = 84·15 grains. The -actual weight of silver darics found, 83·73 grains, corresponds almost -exactly to this weight. - -This is the talent Herodotus used when estimating the revenue of the -Persian empire. Its miná has survived as the Attári or Assyrian rotl = -8426 grains, extant in Algeria. Another Attári pound = 8320 grains is -still used at Bássora, near the Persian gulf. The ounce of this rotl, -8426/16 = 526·6 grains, is exactly the Russian ounce. - -The Persian coins weighing 129-130 grains usually called darics are -staters or Greek didrachms. - - - _The Metretes_ - -The second Greek standard of capacity was the Metretes. - -While the Medimnos contained an Alexandrian talent of wheat, the -Metretes contained a Greek-Asiatic talent of it. - -The capacity of the Persian cubic foot was 2000 c.i. = 72·13 lb. = 7·213 -gallons. - -This cubic foot, increased in water-wheat ratio, gives 7·213 × 1·22 = -8·8 gallons or 70·4 pints, as the capacity of the Amphoreus metretes.[7] - -Footnote 7: - - The Metretes was one-tenth more than our firkin. In the story of the - Marriage at Cana (John ii.) the Greek has ‘two or three metretes.’ - This term is kept in Wycliff’s version (1388) and in the modern Dutch - version. - -Some archæologists have given it as = 8·68 gallons, a very slight -difference. - -The Metretes was divided into 36 Choinix or 72 Xestes, which contained -O·977 pint as against the O·955 pint of the Xestes, which was 1/96 -Medimnos. A mean figure, 0·96 pint, is usually taken as the common -capacity of the two Xestes. - -The Greeks had thus two standards of capacity, the Metretes and the -Medimnos, both cubic feet increased in water-wheat ratio to make them -corn-measures. It is very likely that, having these two measures from -different sources, the one of 72 Xestes, the other of 96, they would use -the smaller as a fluid measure. In modern measures there are several -instances of corn-measures having become wine-measures. Our Imperial -gallon used for fluids is a slightly altered corn-gallon; at present the -multiples above the gallon are used for corn, the gallon and its -divisions for fluids. - - - 4. ROMAN WEIGHTS AND MEASURES OF CAPACITY - -Used by the Greek colonies in Asia, the Greek-Asiatic talent passed to -the Greek or Trojan colonies in South Italy, and became the source of -the old Roman pound, the _As libralis_ = 5049 grains, 1/100 of the -talent; (72·13 × 7000)/100 = 5049 grains.[8] - -Footnote 8: - - 5050 grs.—Smith’s _Dict. of Antiquities_. 5047 grs.—Daremberg and - Scaglio’s _Dict. of Antiquities_. - -The Aes or As, the bronze or copper pound of the Roman republic in its -earlier times, was divided into 12 ounces, each = 420·75 grains. - -It remained the mint-pound of both Republic and Empire. - -The Aurei of Julius Caesar, 1/40 As, weigh 127 grains, those of Augustus -125 grains. The mean weight appears to be about 126 grains, which gives -5040 grains for the As. - -The Aurei of the later Empire were struck at 1/72 As, and weigh 70 -grains, giving the same weight, 5040 grains, for the As. At 70·1 grains -they would give 5049 grains, the calculated weight of the As. - -The evolution of the As from the Greek-Asiatic talent leads to -consideration of the measures connected with it, and with the -Alexandrian talent. - -It has been seen that the Roman foot, 1/5000 of the Roman mile, 8 -Olympic stadia, was 11·67 inches. This foot being cubed, the weight of -the cubic foot of water was made the basis of the Roman measures of -capacity— - - 11·67^3 inches = 1589 c.i. = 57·32 lb. water - = 401,240 grains. - -This calculated measure, 57·32 lb. = 5·732 gallons = 45·8 pints, was the -Amphora Quadrantal, supposed to weigh, of wine, 80 As or primitive -pounds. _Quadrantal vinei octoginta pondo sit._ The correspondence was -only approximate. The Quadrantal should have been = 57·7 lb. for its -1/80 part (= 5049 grains) to correspond with the As. Its capacity was -probably adjusted so as to make it half a Medimnos and = 3 Modii. - -There are specimens extant of the Quadrantal, of cubical shape, showing -that it was named from its being a cubic foot in measure. - -The Quadrantal, being equal to 45·8 pints, was almost exactly half the -Greek Medimnos, equal to 91·5 pints; so that, divided into 8 congii, -each of 6 sextarii, the Sextarius, 1/48 Quadrantal, was practically the -same as the Xestes, 1/96 of the Medimnos. - -And the Quadrantal being also very nearly two-thirds of the Greek -Metretes, equal to 70·4 pints, the Sextarius was also nearly the same as -the other Xestes, 1/72 of the Metretes. - -So the Sextarius was 1/48 Quadrantal, 1/72 Metretes, and 1/96 Medimnos. - -The relation of the Roman Modius to the Alexandrian-Greek medimnos -appears to be only a coincidence, as the former is one-third of a Roman -cubic foot, and the latter an Alexandrian cubic foot increased in -water-wheat ratio. - - - _The New Roman Pound_ - -Trade with Egypt led the Romans, not only to use the Alexandrian -medimnos, but also to put aside the As for commercial purposes and adopt -a standard taken from the Alexandrian talent. Its 1500 double-shekels -made 125 libræ each of 12 unciæ = 437 grains. The libra was thus = 5244 -grains as compared with the As = 5049 grains. - -A further uncial division of the libra made the Uncia either of 6 -sextulæ, 24 scrupuli, 48 oboli, 144 siliquæ, or of 12 semi-sextulæ, 144 -siliquæ. - -The siliqua was a little less than the Eastern qirát, being 3·03 grains -instead of the 3·1616 grain carat of the Ptolemaïc series of weights. - - - TABLE OF ROMAN WEIGHTS AND MEASURES OF CAPACITY - - WEIGHTS - - OLD WEIGHTS (MINT SERIES) - - As = 5040 grs. 12 unciæ - Deunx 11 „ - Dextans 10 „ - Dodrans 9 „ - Bessis 8 „ - Septunx 7 „ - Semissis 6 „ - Quincunx 5 „ - Triens 4 „ - Quadrans 3 „ - Sextans 2 „ - Uncia = 420 grs. 1 „ - - NEW WEIGHTS (MEDICINAL SERIES) - - Libra = 5244 grs. - Uncia = 437 „ - Sextula = 72·8 „ = 1/6 uncia - Denarius = 62·45 „ = 1/7 uncia - Drachma = 54·6 „ = 1/8 uncia - Scrupulus = 18·2 „ = 1/3 drachma - Obolus = 9·1 „ - Siliqua = 3·03 „ - Chalcus = 1 „ = 1/3 siliqua - Lens (Sitarion) = 3/4 „ = 1/4 siliqua - - MEASURES - - WINE - - Metretes (Gr.) = 8·8 gall. - Quadrantal 80 As = 5·77 „ - Urna 40 „ - Congius 10 „ = 5·77 pints - Sextarius 20 unciæ = 0·96 „ - Hemina 8 „ - Acetabulum 2 „ - Cyathus 1 „ - Ligula 1/4 „ - - CORN - - Medimnos = 11·45 gall. = 2 quadrantal - Modius = 1·92 gall. = 1/3 quadrantal - - - 5. THE OLYMPIC TALENT - -From the Olympic foot, two-thirds of that most ancient linear standard -the common cubit of Egypt and the other Eastern monarchies, a talent was -also constructed— - - 12·16^3 in. = 1798 c.i. = 64·81 lb. water = 453,670 grs. - -and in practice its actual weight was the same as that calculated. - -It was divided in two ways: - -1. On the Bosphoric system, which prevailed in Asia Minor, in the -Phœnician colonies, and in some parts of Greece, it was divided into 80 -miná, each = 5670 grains, and these into 100 drachms of 56·7 grains. Or -the Bosphoric miná was divided uncially into 12 ounces of 472·5 grains. - -2. On the Euboic system, frequently used in Greek commerce, this talent -was divided into 50 minás of 100 drachms. - -The drachm = 90·73 grains. - -There was also a Euboic talent which coincided with the weight of the -Roman Quadrantal, nominally of 80 As weight = 57·7 lb., and in -transactions with the East the Romans appear to have called their -Quadrantal-weight of water a Euboic talent. But it will presently be -seen that this was the Attic monetary talent. - -The volume of an Olympic talent of water was 8 times the Hebrew Bath or, -for dry goods, Epha. - - - COMPARISON OF OLYMPIC AND IMPERIAL MEASURES - - OLYMPIC IMPERIAL - Foot = 12·16 in. 12 in. - Cubic foot = 1798 c. in. 1728 c. in. - Talent = 64·81 lb. 62·3 lb. - 1/1000 of talent = 453·6 grs. 437·5 grs. - - │ Orig. Wine gallon 7·83 lb. - 1/8 = Bath = 8·1 lb. water │ Modern „ „ 8·33 „ - │ Imperial „ „ 10 „ - - - 6. GREEK COIN-WEIGHTS - -In ancient Greece as in medieval Europe, financial difficulties led -rulers to lower the weight of the coinage. But while in Europe, in -England for instance, more pennies were coined from the mint-pound of -silver, this remaining fixed, although nominally based on the weight of -the sterling, the weights of Greece were actually based on that of the -drachma. - -When the drachma was diminished in weight, the miná and the talent both -dropped proportionately. Thus the standard of the Alexandrian talent, -carefully preserved in Egypt, dropped in Greece. - - Miná Talent - Drachma of of - 100 drachmæ 60 miná - - Egypt 109-1/4 grs. 10,926 grs. 93·65 lb. - Ægina, early 105 „ 10,560 „ 90·5 „ - „ before 700 103·7 „ 10,370 „ 88·9 „ - „ after 700 95·68 „ 9,568 „ 81·76 „ - Athens, 600 B.C. 93·08 „ 9,308 „ 79·78 „ - -So in Athens, where the Ægina standard was in use, the drachma stood at -93·08 grains when, in 594 B.C., Solon’s Seisachthia law ‘unburdened’ the -State and other debtors by decreeing that 73 (or more accurately 72-1/2) -drachmæ should now be equal to 100 drachmæ, and altering the coinage -accordingly. - -This reduced the coin-weights of Athens to— - - Drachma Didrachma Miná Talent - 67·37 grs. 125·74 grs. 6737 grs. 57·75 lb. - -But commercial weight remained the same. The miná emporikí, the trade -miná, was fixed at 138 of the new drachmæ, so that it continued to be -100 of the old drachmæ: 138 × 67·37 = 100 × 93·08 grains. - -The commercial miná thus remained at the 600 B.C. standard of 9308 -grains = 1·33 lb. and the talent at 79·78 lb.[9] - -Footnote 9: - - There was a custom of _rhōpi_, turn of the scale, or long weight, - which increased the legal commercial weight to a customary weight - tending towards that of the Alexandrian talent series. - -In settling the reduction of the Attic money-weight at 100 new drachmæ = -73 old drachmæ, Solon probably fixed on the latter figure in order to -make the new talent, = 57·74 lb., have approximately the simple ratio of -4 : 5 with the Greek-Asiatic talent— - - 4/5 × 72·13 lb. = 57·704 lb. - -Thus the Roman As being = 5049 grains, 1/100 of the Greek-Asiatic -talent, 80 As, = 403,920 grains = 57·7 lb., came to coincide with the -Attic monetary talent. - - - 7. THE ARABIC TALENT - -To the talents and measures of capacity evolved from the feet of the -three principal cubits of antiquity, must be added the talent and other -measures evolved from the Black foot of Al-Mamūn’s cubit. They have had -great influence on the weights and measures of Europe. - -Al-Mamūn’s cubit was = 21·28 inches, the foot = 14·186 inches. - -The foot cubed gave a measure of water, the weight of which was the -Egyptian Cantar or Cental— - - 14·1868^3 = 2855 c.i. = 102·92 lb. water = 720,441 grs. - -This talent was divided in two ways: - -1. As the Romans had divided the Alexandrian talent into 125 pounds of -12 ounces, so the new talent was divided into 125 parts each = 5763 -grains. This was the Arabic lesser Rotl, its ounce = 480·25 grains. The -rotl was also divided in the Greek way into 100 drachms or dirhems = -57·63 grains. - -2. Another mode of division was into 100 greater Rotl, thus becoming a -Cental of 100 lb. each = 7204·4 grains. - -This greater rotl was divided, commercially into 16 ounces (Ar. _ukyé_, -Gr. _oggia_, L. _uncia_) of 450,275 grains, and uncially for coin-weight -into 12 × 12 dirhems of 50·03 grains. - -Both these dirhems became, like the drachma coin-weights of Greece, the -bases of other systems of weight, either at their original weight or at -the lower weights to which coins might fall. - -The Lesser Rotl— - -1. With its ounce of 480-1/4 grains would seem to have given rise to the -Troy pounds, but it is much more probable that their variable ounces -were 10 dirhems of about 48 grains. - -2. From 8 of its drachms came the Venetian pound and the German -apothecaries’ pound with an ounce of 8 × 57·63 = 461 grains. - -From the Greater Rotl came— - -1. Eight of its ounces of 450-1/4 grains = the Marc of Cologne, its -double being the German Imperial pound = 7218 grains; our royal -Tower-pound of Plantagenet times being 12 ounces = 5400 grains. - -The 100 lb. centner of North Germany = 103·1 lb. was almost exactly the -same weight as Al-Mamūn’s Cantar. - - 2. WEIGHTS OF EASTERN EUROPE (see Chap. XV) - - The Polish pound 16 × 8 dirhems of 48·9 grains - „ Russian „ „ „ 49·37 „ - „ Austrian „ „ „ 50·6 „ - -From 8 dirhems of 50 to 47 grains came the ounces of the pounds of -Southern France. - -From 10 dirhems of 48 grains, more or less, came the ounces of the Troy -pounds. - -The weight of the dirhem is now: Turkey 49·6 grains, Greece 49·4 grains, -Morocco 49 grains, Egypt 47·6 grains, Tripoli 47·07 grains. In Tripoli -there is a small weight = 12·55 grains called a dirhem, which seems to -be 1/4 of an original weight dirhem = 50·1 grains. - -The fall of the dirhem weight, and consequently of the weights which are -multiples of it, accounts for the Egyptian Cantar having fallen from its -original weight to somewhat over 98 lb. - -The quarter-Cantar gave its Arabic name to other quarter-hundredweights, -the Arroba of Spain, the Rubbio of Italy, the Rub of Southern France -(from Ar. _rouba_, four; cf. Rubaiyát, quatrain). - - - _Measures of Capacity derived from Arabic Linear - Measures_ - -Al-Mamūn’s cubit cubed became the medieval standard of grain measure on -the Mediterranean coasts— - - 21·28 in. cubed = 9639 c.i. = 347·314 lb. water, - -which is equal to 34·73 gallons or 4·34 bushels. - -This measure subsists in Egypt as the Rebekeh = 4·32 bushels. It passed -to Marseilles as the Cargo, and to Paris as the Setier. - -These developments of the Arabic cubit and foot will be more fully -explained in the chapters on foreign systems. They are sketched in order -to show how the Eastern caliphate took up the system begun by the great -monarchies of many centuries before, and elaborated by Greece and Rome. -Thus, from Moslem Egypt as from Pharaonic Egypt have come virtually all -the weights and measures of the Western world. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - THE INVOLUTION OF LINEAR MEASURES FROM - WEIGHTS - - - THE SOURCES OF THE ENGLISH AND OF THE RHINELAND - FOOT - -Commerce is the great conservator of standards. These may become altered -by the ill-advised action of rulers, by municipal or parochial -carelessness, even by the desire of profit on short measure, or -occasionally, as seen to a slight extent in our old Bushel, by the -faulty dimensions of a standard; but wholesale trade, supported, in -weights at least, by the goldsmith and the apothecary, preserved the -integrity of many standards during the Middle Ages and up to modern -times. Commerce conveyed to the West the standards that had developed in -the great Oriental Kingdoms, sometimes with the modifications due to -Roman influence. Masons and architects also preserved the standards of -length and, allowing for variations inevitable under the feudal system, -the principal linear measures can generally be traced to their sources -as surely as weights. But there are two, yea three, striking exceptions -among the linear standards of the West: the English foot, and the -Rhineland foot, and also the Pán of Marseilles. These are quite -unconnected with any ancient measures, and there is no record of their -origin. The only clue to it is found in the simple relation of each to -the corresponding weights and measures of capacity, the origin of which -can be satisfactorily traced. This leads to the hypothesis that these -linear measures were ‘involved,’ that is produced by a method of -involution the inverse of that which had evolved the measures of weight -and capacity. - - - 1. THE ENGLISH FOOT - -There seem three hypotheses for the origin of the English foot. - -1. That it was the Olympic foot = 12·16 inches, its standard diminished -by the accidents of time. - -But we know that the Romans established their measures in Britain, and -our mile of 8 stadia and of 5000 feet (first Roman, then English) up to -Tudor times, shows that it was originally 1000 Roman paces of 5 feet; -and our early wine-bushel, of which the wine-gallon was 1/8, is -referable to the cube of the English foot, not to that of the Olympic -foot. - -There is no trace of the Olympic foot in Northern Europe except the -possibility (mentioned under Foreign Linear Measures) of the Amsterdam -local foot, = 11·146 inches, being 11 inches of the Olympic foot. - -2. It happens that the mean of the Roman foot = 11·67 inches, and of the -Rhineland foot = 12·356 inches, gives 12·013 inches. But there is no -instance of a new standard being formed from the mean of two older ones; -moreover this hypothesis begs the question of the Rhineland foot. - -3. The hypothesis which I consider the most likely is that the foot is -the measure of the side of a cubical vessel containing 1000 Roman ounces -of water. It seems likely that in early times, possibly under King -Alfred by the advice of Italian moneyers or Jewish merchants, this -measurement was effected in order to establish a foot and a cubic foot -measure of capacity corresponding to a new talent of 1000 Roman ounces. -There is no record of this, any more than there is a record of the -standard taken for the Tower pound of the Norman and Plantagenet kings. -All we know is that, during the times of these kings, the relation of -Averdepois or Roman weight to our measures of capacity was utterly -ignored until at last, in 1685, ‘some Gentlemen at Oxford determined the -weight of a cubic foot of spring water, or 1728 solid inches, to be 1000 -ounces averdepois.’ That the correct weight is not 1000 but about 998 -ounces at 62° does not militate against the connexion of the weight and -measure any more than the fact that a cubic decimetre of water, supposed -to weigh 1000 grammes, only weighs about 998-1/2 grammes would disprove -a connexion between the cubic decimetre and the gramme. - -The difficulty of making a ‘quadrantal,’[10] a vessel of exactly cubical -form inside, is so great that the wardens of the Metric System abandoned -the cubic decimetre of water as giving the standard, either of the litre -for capacity, or of the kilogramme for weight. Even approximate accuracy -was unattainable, and they were obliged to make the kilogramme an -arbitrary standard of mass and the litre a vessel containing a -kilogramme of water. - -Footnote 10: - - Quadrantal, the Roman standard of capacity, a cubic vessel measuring - one foot on each of its inside panels. - -When it is seen that a difference of 1 in 2500 in the length of the foot -taken as the inside measure of a quadrantal makes a difference of 3 -cubic inches out of 1728 in its capacity, the material difficulties of -constructing a vessel exactly cubical will be understood. However, a -quadrantal being constructed, perhaps after many trials of sides as -exactly equal as possible, and holding 1000 ounces of Roman ounces (= -437 grains) of water, the mean measure of its panels was taken as a -foot, and the quadrantal as a cubic foot—the wine-bushel. - -Let us take 1000 Roman ounces and divide the total number of grains -weight by the statute number of grains in a cubic inch of water as -determined by Captain Kater in 1824. - -The dividend will be the number of cubic inches, and its cube root will -be the foot— - - 437,000/252,458 = 1729·8 cubic inches, - -of which the cube root is 12·0042 inches, a length differing by only -1/2400 from the actual Imperial foot. - -I took the idea of this hypothesis from that by which Don V. V. Queipo -inferred the Beládi cubit to be the double measure of the side of a -cubical vessel containing a Ptolemaïc talent of water. Certainly it -solves the question of the origin of our foot, and it happens that, -applied to the equally obscure origin of the Rhineland foot, the results -are equally satisfactory. - - - 2. THE RHINELAND FOOT - -Let the same process of involution be applied to the side of a cubical -vessel containing 1000 Troy ounces of water. - -The standard of Troy weight varied very much, from the Danish value of a -little over 481 grains in the ounce, to the French Troy value of 472·13 -grains. - -The Scots Troy weight, = 476·09 grains to the ounce, is nearly the same -as the Amsterdam weight, = 476·68 grains. - -These Troy weights may be taken at three main standards, high, medium, -and low, represented by: - - English Troy, its ounce = 480 grains - Amsterdam „ „ „ = 476·68 „ - French „ „ „ = 472·13 „ - -Let us apply to 1000 ounces of water, at the medium Amsterdam standard, -= 10 Egyptian dirhems of 47·6 grains, the same measurement of a -quadrantal made to contain them as exactly as possible. - - 476·687/252·458 = 1886·9 cubic inches - -and the cube root of the dividend gives 12·357 inches, exactly, to 1 in -20,000, the Rhineland foot as established in Prussia = 12·3564 inches. -The Prussian standard of the Cologne pound (its ounce = 451·1 grains) -was 1/66 of a Rhineland cubic foot of water at 65·75 F., and was fixed -at 7217·9 grains. This was exactly 1/66 of 1000 Troy ounces of water at -the standard of 476·38 grains. So 66 Prussian pounds were equal to 1000 -Troy ounces, or to 62·5 Troy pounds at that standard. - -The Rhineland cubic foot had, like the English cubic foot, long been the -bushel standard of North Germany. The Himt, now, or until quite -recently, the unit of corn-measure in Hanover and Brunswick, contained -6·852 gallons, or 68·52 lb. of water. It is probable that the Himt, -which passed to Scotland in the fifteenth century as the firlot of that -time, had risen slightly, and that it was originally = 68·05 lb., the -true Rhineland cubic foot of water. - - - 3. THE PÁN OF MARSEILLES - -Marseilles, a city of Greek origin, always in extensive commercial -relations with the Mediterranean countries using the Arabic system of -weights and measures, had an almost perfect system of its own, entirely -sexdecimal, and dating from about the tenth century. This system is -still extant, so far as the French law can be evaded (see Chap. XXI: Old -Weights and Measures of France). Wine and corn measures were in the -usual Southern water-wheat ratio of 1 to 1·22, and the principal of -these was the Escandau for wine and oil, and the Panau for corn. Now -Escandau means ‘standard’; and this measure was 1/4 of the Mieirolo, the -half wine-load or ‘wey’ which corresponded in water-wheat ratio to the -half-load or wey of wheat. The load of wheat, the _cargo_, was the cubic -cubit of Al-Mamūn, brought from Egypt by the corn-trade. The unit of -length was the Pan (pronounced páng), a word apparently similar to the -palmo of Italy and Spain, but really different. Palmo becomes _paume_ in -Provençal, while Pan is from L. _pannus_, a side, pane or panel;[11] and -the Marseilles Pan = 9·9 inches is exactly the measure of the side or -pan of an Escandau of cubical form. The filiation of the Escandau is -evident, while the Pan is not derived from any antecedent measure. That -the Pan was the measure of the pan or panel of a cubical Escandau is -supported by the name of the corn-standard, the Panau, corresponding to -the fluid standard of the Escandau, and of the land-measure, L. -_Panalata_, the peck-land, originally the extent usually sown with a -Panau of wheat. - -Footnote 11: - - The French word _pan_ has the same meaning, while Fr. _empan_, a span, - is a corruption of _espan_. - - Escandau = 16·096 litres = 3·54 gallons. - ∛16096 = 25·24 centimetres, the Pan = 9·9 inches. - -The evidence of the Pan seems to me to remove any doubt as to the -medieval evolution of linear measures from imported standards of weight -or capacity. The meaning of Pan as ‘side, panel’ is conclusive, -especially when supported by the Panau measure and by other Provençal -derivatives: - -_Panard_, a limping man, leaning to one side as he walks. - -_Lou Panard_, the star Antares which, rising late and setting early, not -appearing much above the horizon, is visible only on one side of it. - - - 4. THE FILIATION OF THE ENGLISH FOOT, OF THE - RHINELAND FOOT, AND OF THE MARSEILLES PAN - -In the description of the ancient cubits and talents and of the Roman -system derived from them, the filiation of the English system of weights -and measures, and of the Scots and other cognate systems, is clearly -seen. There was no taking of a King’s heel-to-toe as a foot, no pound -imported from some unknown country at an unknown period, no -wheat-quarter preserved in the dimensions of an Egyptian sarcophagus, -not even a pint from the Roman sextarius; legend disappears, the course -of evolution, and, at one point, of involution, is clear, and as -thoroughly scientific as in any system invented by an Academy of -Sciences. Here are the links of filiation of the English foot: - - 1. The Egyptian meridian cubit. - - 2. The royal cubit, increased from the meridian cubit. - - 3. The royal foot, two-thirds of the royal cubit. - - 4. The cubic royal foot. - - 5. The Alexandrian talent, the weight of a royal cubic foot of - water. - - 6. The Roman ounce, 1/1500 of the Alexandrian talent. - - 7. The English talent, 1000 Roman ounces. - - 8. The volume of 1000 Roman ounces of water, the original - wine-bushel. - - 9. The 1000-ounce Quadrantal becomes the cubic foot, its side - giving the English foot. - -For the Rhineland and Scots system we have: - - 1. The Egyptian meridian cubit. - - 2. The Arabic or Black cubit, 7 palms of the meridian cubit’s 6 - palms. - - 3. The Arabic foot, two-thirds of the Arabic cubit. - - 4. The Arabic talent or Cantar, the weight of an Arabic cubic - foot of water. - - 5. The Troy ounce, 1/1500 of the Cantar, and coinciding with 10 - lesser dirhems of about 48 grains. - - 6. The Rhineland talent of 1000 Troy ounces Amsterdam standard. - - 7. The Quadrantal containing 1000 Troy ounces of water becomes - the cubic Rhineland foot, its side giving the measure of the - Rhineland foot. - -For the Provençal system we have: - - 1. The Egyptian meridian cubit. - - 2. The Arabic cubit, 7 palms of the meridian cubit’s 6 palms. - - 3. The Arabic cubit cubed, in the corn-measure of medieval - Egypt, the Cargo of Marseilles, the Setier of Paris. - - 4. The half-cargo reduced to wine-measure in wheat-water ratio - becomes the Mieirolo; of which one-fourth is the Escandau or - Standard measure. - - 5. The Quadrantal containing an Escandau gives, as the measure - of its side or panel, the Pán of Marseilles. - -The evolution of the English foot, of the Rhineland or Scots foot, of -the Pán of Marseilles, being now made clear, we can proceed to English -and other linear measures. The origin of the Ounce, the foot, the cubic -foot or wine-bushel is explained. That of Troy weight has been seen, and -its predecessor, Tower weight, came from another ounce of the Arabic -cantar. The origin of every measure and weight used in the civilised -world will be found in the stories of the ancient cubits and talents. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER V - - ENGLISH LINEAR MEASURES - - - 1. THE YARD, THE FOOT, THE INCH - -The term Yard, the Old English ‘gerde’ or ‘yerde,’ a wand or rod, became -specially applied to a wand of 3 feet, or 4 spans; from this double mode -of division and from its convenient length the cloth-yard of 3 feet -became generally used. It has the convenience of being a half-fathom, -and of being divisible not only into feet and inches, but also -sexdecimally into units which are familiar as limb-lengths of the cubit -and span system. - -The half-yard corresponds to the Cubit. - -The quarter-yard is a Span.[12] - -Footnote 12: - - The usual dimensions of bricks are a span by a half-span, by a nail. - -The eighth is a Finger; women constantly measure linen approximately by -the length of the bent middle finger. - -The sixteenth is a Nail; this is the length of the half-finger, the last -two joints of the middle finger.[13] - -Footnote 13: - - The story of the Nail will be found in Chap. XX. - -While the yard is lawfully divided into halves, quarters, eighths, and -nails, it may also, as a measure of 3 feet, be divided into 36 inches. -Yard-measures are usually divided in both ways, on one side into 16 -nails, on the other into inches. - -It is customary to say either a yard and a quarter, or 45 inches, or 3 -feet 9 inches. Or to say either 58 inches or 4 feet 10 inches; but it is -not customary to say a yard and 22 inches. We cease to use the yard as -unit when we cannot express its fractions sexdecimally. - -The Foot is lawfully divided into 12 inches; but there is nothing to -prevent it being divided decimally, or otherwise, as convenient. - -The Inch is divided according to convenience, either - - Sexdecimally, into halves, quarters, &c., down to sixty-fourths. - This is the usual division. - - Duodecimally, into 12 lines. - - Decimally, into tenths and hundredths. - -Steel foot-rules usually show all three of these scales. - -Some trades may have special scales. Thus type-founders divide the Inch -into 6 ‘picas’ each = 2 lines, and the ‘pica’ into 12 points each = 1/6 -line or 1/72 inch. Nonpareil type is 6 points; Brevier is 8 points. - - - 2. STANDARDS OF THE LINEAR MEASURES - -Tables of measures, from the earliest, about 1500, down to quite recent -times, usually began by stating that ‘Three barley-corns make an inch’ -or that ‘Geographical measures begin at a barley-corn and increase -upward to a league,’ &c. - -King David I of Scotland (_c._ 1150) is credited with the pronouncement -that the Scots inch was to be the mean measure of ‘the thowmys of iij -men, that is to say an mekill man and a man of messurabil statur and of -a lytell man. The thoums are to be messurit at the rut of the nayll.’ -But no more in Scotland than in England, or elsewhere, has the inch ever -been anything but a division of the foot. - -A standard of the English foot was fixed in Old St. Paul’s Church, -London, and was known as Paul’s foot, all measures being referred to the -standard ‘qui insculpitur super basim columpnæ in ecclesia Sancti -Pauli.’ In 1273 a deed gave the measurement of land ‘according to the -iron ell [yard] of the King’s palace.’ - -The present standard yard is a bronze bar kept in London, the length of -which agrees exactly with the yard, still extant, of Tudor times. A set -of standard measures of length is fixed along the base of the northern -wall of Trafalgar Square,[14] and another set is in the flooring of the -Guildhall. Sets are also fixed to public buildings in several chief -towns of the United Kingdom. - -Footnote 14: - - The Standards Commission in 1870 advised that the public standards of - length should be placed so as to be readily accessible to the public - without their use ‘being disturbed by passers or idle gazers.’ Anyone - who has tried to get access to those in Trafalgar Square may regret - that there seems to be no provision made against their site being made - the usual lounge of often very objectionable persons. - -As metal rods vary in length according to temperature, comparisons with -a standard measure should be made at the normal temperature of 62°. But -there is an alloy of steel and nickel (42 per cent.), named Invar, which -is not perceptibly affected by temperature. - -A pendulum beating seconds at sea-level and at normal temperature -measures 39·1393 inches at Greenwich (Act of Parliament, 1824). This -length varies in different places from the variations of gravity due to -the ellipticity of the earth and local causes of deviation. - - - 3. THE HAND - -The popular ‘hand’ was the ‘palm’ of ancient times, four digits or -finger-breadths. - -_Pes habet palmos iv, palmus habet digitos iv_ (Frontinus). - -‘Foure graines of barlye make a finger; foure fingers a hande; foure -handes a foote’ (Eden, 1566). - -But the present Hand for horse-measurement is ‘the measure called a -Handful used in measuring the height of horses, by 27 Hen. 8, Chap. 6, -ordained to be 4 inches’ (Sam. Leake, 1701). This is part of an old -popular duodecimal division of the foot into 3 hands of 4 inches, then -of the inch into 3 barleycorns (lengthwise) each of 4 poppy-seeds, and -of these again into 12 hairbreadths. - -In Austria this horse-measure is the Faust or fist. - -Another very widely spread limb-measure is that of the fist with the -thumb projecting, roughly = 6 inches. It is the Shaftment of some parts -of England, _scæft-mund_ (shaft-hand) in Old English, _bawd_ in Wales; -the _somesso_ of Italy, the _kubdeh_ of Egypt, the _taim_ of Burma. - -In the Laws of Æthelstan (1000) a measurement is given as 9 feet, 9 -shaftments, and 9 barleycorns, i.e. 9 feet + 9 half-feet + 3 inches. - - - 4. THE ELL - -The yard, being 4 spans, was formerly one of the Ells, measures of 3, 4, -5 or more spans, related to the cubit of 2 spans. The Scots yard, of 37 -inches, was always known as an Ell, and it was only gradually that our -yard took the place, for cloth measure, of the Ell of 5 spans = 45 -inches, which was long maintained by statute. The yard and the ell were -usually distinguished as _virga_ and _ulna_ in statutes, but sometimes -_ulna_ meant a yard. - -Both yard and ell were divided into halves, quarters, and nails -(sixteenths). - -See Chap. XVI (The Ells), and Chap. XX (section on the Nail and the -Clove). - - - 5. THE ROD, FURLONG, MILE, AND LEAGUE - -The earliest table of English linear measures is probably that in -Arnold’s ‘Customs of London,’ _c._ 1500. - - The lengith of a barly corne iij tymes make an ynche - and xij ynches make a fote - and iij fote make a yerde - and v quatirs of the yarde make an elle - v fote make a pace - cxxv pace make a furlong - and viij furlong make an English myle. - -Thus, in 1500, the furlong was 125 × 5 = 625 feet, and the mile = 5000 -feet = 1666·6 yards. - -The mile was originally the Roman mile, 1000 paces or 5000 Roman feet, -and = (5000 × 11·67)/(3 × 12) in. = 1621-1/3 yards. So in course of time -our mile had become 5000 English feet. - -But the linear unit for land measurement was not, as in the Roman -system, a _pertica_ or rod of 10 or 12 feet; it became very early, on -the Teutonic system, a rod of 16 feet, with varieties, under French -influence later on, of 18, of 21 and 24 feet. - -In early Plantagenet times, not later than Edward I, the statute rod was -fixed at 5-1/2 yards or 16-1/2 feet. Thus, while the rood, that is the -field-furlong, was 40 rods or perches of 16-1/2 feet = 660 feet, the -itinerary furlong, 1/8 mile, remained 625 feet, ‘xxxviij perchis sauf ij -fote’ (Arnold’s ‘Chronicle’). This clashing of the new statute rod, and -its multiple the rood or field-furlong of 40 rods, with the ancient -itinerary furlong now only = 37·87 rods, was rectified in Tudor times, -probably temp. Henry VII, but definitely by a statute of Elizabeth which -raised the furlong to coincide with the rood. The mile thus became of -its present length, 8 furlongs of 40 rods of 5-1/2 yards = 1760 yards = -5280 feet. The mile has then successively been: - - 1.—Roman mile of 5000 Roman feet = 1621·3 yards. - 2.—Old English mile „ 5000 English „ = 1666·6 „ - 3.—New „ „ „ 5280 „ „ = 1760 „ - -For long measurements chains came into use, and shortly after 1600 -Edward Gunter introduced, for surveying purposes, measurement by a chain -of 4 rods, i.e. a ‘brede’ or ‘acre-brede,’ the breadth of an acre of 40 -× 4 rods, divided into 100 links. - -So the multiples of the yard are now: - - 5-1/2 yards = 1 rod - 22 „ or 4 rods, or 100 links = 1 chain - 220 „ „ 40 „ „ 10 chains = 1 furlong (rood) - 1760 „ „ 320 „ „ 80 „ or 8 furlongs = 1 mile - -The Scots mile and the Irish mile were equally 8 furlongs of 40 rods, -but Scots and Irish rods (see Chap. XIV). - - Scots mile 320 rods of 6 ells (6·1766 yards) = 1976 yards - Irish „ „ „ 7 yards = 2240 „ - -The term Yard has been used for certain large land-measures. These, with -the evolution of the Rod, will be given in the next chapter. - - - _The League_ - -It has been seen that the Persian Parasang was three meridian miles, or -3000 Olympic fathoms. France retains this as the _lieue marine_ of 20 to -the degree, and Southern France long retained a league of 3 miles each -of 1000 toises or cannes. But in Roman times the Leuca or Leuga of Gaul -was 1-1/2 Roman miles. It passed to medieval England at about the same -length, being defined as _duodecim quaranteinis_, 12 furlongs or roods -of 40 rods. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - LAND-MEASURES - - - 1. INTRODUCTION - -The first measures of land were seed-measures. They are found in every -country; they become fixed in course of time as the idea of geometric -measurement arises; they survive in name giving the peasant a concrete -idea of the extent of his fields. - -Then came the estimation of land by the amount of ploughing, or -sometimes of hand-digging, that could be done in a day, and by the -extent that could be cultivated with a pair of oxen. Then came a system -of geometric measurement, fixing the former seed-units or labour-units -by measures of length and breadth, and finally the abstract idea of -superficial area. These different systems have succeeded one another -everywhere and in all time. - -1. Seed-units.—The land that could be sown with a certain measure of -seed-corn, wheat being the usual standard: Fr. _seterée_, _estrée_, -_boisselée_, &c.; It. _moggio_; Sp. _fanega_; G. _scheffel_; Nor. -_tunn-land_. These names correspond to corn-measures. - -2. Day’s hand-labour units.—The land that could be tilled with spade or -hoe in a day: the ‘Daieswork,’ about 10 square rods; Fr. _hommée_, -_ouvrée_—20 square rods of vineyard. - -3. Day’s ploughing units.—L. _jugerum_; It. _giornata_; Fr. _journal_, -_arpent_; G. _morgen_, _joch_, _acker_; Du. _bouw_; Hind. _bigha_; Ar. -_feddan_; Ir. _ardagh_. All about an English acre more or less. - -4. Oxgang units.—The land that a boor with a yoke of oxen could keep in -husbandry; about 7 acres of arable, about 30 acres including wood and -pasture: - -Yard-land; Du. _hoeve_. A group of oxgangs, generally of four yoke, made -a Ploughland; Prov. _un mas de quatre couble_, a four-yoke farm. - -5. Geometric units.—First, units of a certain shape based on the -customary length of the furrow: Rood, 40 rods by 1 rod broad; Fr. -_vergée_, _seillon_. Then small units of a square rod, the rod being of -customary length; with large units, usually groups of roods, vergées, -&c. Four roods side by side make the English or the Norman acre. A rood -square or square furlong is the ‘acreme’ or 10-acre field. - -Legal units of land were usually abstract, of so many square rods or -fathoms, independently of any customary shape. - - - 2. EVOLUTION OF GEOMETRIC LAND-MEASURES - -While smaller units, such as the superficial rod, can easily be -conceived as square, the larger arable units have, or have had, a -peculiar form which still attaches to them. The peasant, whose mind’s -eye can perceive the square rod or toise or verge, refers the rood or -the acre, the vergée or the arpent, to the familiar length of the furrow -and to the breadth of the rod or of the four-rod acre-breadth equal to a -cricket-pitch. These lengths and breadths will long be his essentially -concrete standards of field-measurement. - -While some legal units of surface have recognised the customary -furrow-length as an element of this form, others have always been -undefined as to form. - -In ancient Egypt the land was surveyed by the state, not only for -revenue purposes, but because of the Nile overflow effacing the -land-marks usual in other countries. - -‘Hence land-measuring appears to me to have had its beginning, and to -have passed over to Greece’ (Herodotus). The agrarian unit of Egypt, -called by the Greeks _aroura_, a plough-land, was a square, each side -being a Khet or cord, of 100 royal cubits = 172 feet or 57-1/3 yards. -The square khet is represented by the present Egyptian feddan al risach -of 20 lesser qasáb (each 20 × 4 Hashími cubits) = 170·4 feet square = -2/3 acre. - -Ten square khet made the usual land-holding. This unit, = 6·79 acres, -corresponds closely to 10 modern feddan, to the véli or oxgang unit of -Southern India, and to the 7 acres of arable in the medieval English -boor’s yard-land. That the ancient Egyptian oxgang was 10 khets in a -line, giving if required a furrow of 573 yards easy in muddy alluvial -soil, seems certain, for its hieroglyphic is a line of ten small -squares. This is exactly the primitive form of the English acre, 10 × 1 -chains. - -In ancient Greece the unit of land-measure was the plethron of 10 rods -(kalamoi) each of 10 Olympic feet, = 101·33 English feet. Had it a -concrete agrarian form? Evidently the square plethron (= 0·235 acre or -nearly a rood) was much too short for a plough-unit; but the larger unit -was the tetragyon, i.e. a four-rood field, and with the four square -plethra end-on-end, this Greek acre afforded a furrow-length of 135 -yards. So it is probable that the tetragyon, 135 × 33-3/4 yards, = 0·94 -acre, was the usual concrete agrarian unit. - -A common size of land-holding was 12 × 12 = 144 plethra, = about 34 -acres, a size corresponding to our medieval oxgang. - -In ancient Italy land was measured by the Roman decempeda or pertica, -the 10-foot perch or rod, = 9·725 feet. - -A strip of land 120 × 4 Roman feet made an Actus, probably the breadth -of a double furrow, up and down. The square actus, actus quadratus, = 30 -acti = 120 × 120 feet, about 50 square rods. - -Two square acti made a Jugerum, the day’s work for a yoke of oxen, = -0·623 acre. - -Four square acti, bina jugera, made the Heredium, = 1·246 acre. - -How were the four square acti arranged? Were they in a square 240 × 240 -feet? No doubt that would be the official form of the heredium; but it -is probable that, as I have assumed for the Greek tetragyon of 4 square -plethra, the 4 Roman acti would be, when convenient, practically -arranged in a line, thus giving an agrarian unit of 480 × 120 feet and a -furrow of about 160 yards, which is nearly one-tenth of the 5000 feet -Roman mile.[15] - -Footnote 15: - - For evidence on the form of agrarian units see Notes in section 5 of - this chapter. - -The official division of the field was based on the jugerum; this being -divided, on the duodecimal or uncial system, into 12 unciæ, each of 24 -square perticæ, the latter being the scruples, the qiráts, of the Roman -land-ounce. Here we see the uncial system overshadowing the decempeda; -for if the jugerum could be divided into 12 ounces of 240 × 10 feet and -these into 24 scruples of 10 feet square, each of its two acti might -also be divided into 100 sections of 12 feet square, or the double -jugerum into 100 sections of 24 feet square. It is probable that this -would be a more popular division than that based on the decempeda; for -it is certain that a rod of 16 spans = 12 feet was used; it was the -Græco-Roman _akena_ (from _akis_, goad), a gad or rod. - -The Heredium passed to Gaul, where it established itself in the north, -becoming the French arpent, 100 square perches, each of 6 aunes (= 24 -Roman feet) square, so that the arpent is identical with the heredium, -and was divided on the plan I have suggested as that of the Roman -land-measure. But the arpent rarely coincided with the standard of the -Paris government, and both seed-measures and work-measures, of fixed -area, were often preferred. Where the _coutumes de Normandie_ are still -in almost full force and are cherished by the people, the principal unit -of land-measure was, and is still, the Acre de Normandie, containing 160 -perches of 24 feet square. The standard of the foot varies; sometimes it -is the royal foot, sometimes the Roman foot, retained by the device of -taking 11 royal inches for a foot. The ancient standard of this acre is -thus expressed in law-Latin: Pertica terræ fecit 24 passus seu soleas -pedis; 40 perticæ faciunt virgatam; duæ virgatæ faciunt arpentum; 4 -virgatæ faciunt acram. ‘Passus’ is here a foot; but sometimes it meant a -pace, half of the Roman pace which is here represented by the brasse of -5 royal feet = 1·624 metre. So in Normandy land-measure the _pas_ = 32 -inches and the Caux peasant reckons his vergée as 100 × 20 paces = 88·8 -× 17·76 yards. These concrete forms of land-unit are dying out, yet -everywhere traces of it can be found in conversation with old peasants. - -From the South of France to England and Scotland there is a concrete -shape recognisable in the large unit of land-measure. The Provençal -Saumado of 1600 square cano or toises, the Normandy acre of 160 square -rods of 4 toises, the English acre of 160 square rods of 5-1/2 yards, -the Scots acre of 160 square rods of 6 ells = 18·53 feet, are all -connected by a common tradition of concrete form, and are all made up of -four minor units: sesteirado, vergées, roods, &c. Looking back to the -land-measures of Greece and Rome we find this same group of four lesser -units in the tetragyon and heredium. The law may only recognise abstract -superficial standards, but the peasant holds to the concrete units of -form convenient for cultivation. - - - 3. ENGLISH LAND-MEASURES - -Notwithstanding Homer’s recommendation of mules as ‘better far than kine -to drag the jointed plough,’ oxen are still used in the greater part of -the world. In light soils one yoke of oxen is sufficient, but in heavy -fallows, with deep-working ploughs, two, three or more yoke were used; -and in feudal times it would appear that the four tenants of a hide or -ploughland co-operated with their oxen. A furrow of 40 rods could thus -be made easily in one breath, and as this length of a rood coincided -approximately with the eighth of a mile, that division of the mile was -also called a furrow-long or furlong. When ploughing up fallow-land the -oxen, on getting to the end of the ‘shot,’ turned and took breath. The -ploughman measured a rod-breadth from the first furrow by means of his -goad, Scottice by the ‘fall’ of it, and this rod-breadth down which the -oxen turned, the _tornatura_ of Italy, was a rood. - -Sometimes between the roods a narrow unploughed strip, a balk of land, -was left, marking the roods or ‘selions,’ four of which, side by side, -made an acre, and forty of which made the square furlong, the ten-acre -field. - -Ploughing in roods, selions, square furlongs, is still far from extinct. -In Brittany land is still reckoned by _seillons_ of so many furrows -wide, or of so many _gaules_ or 12-foot rods. In Southern France fields -are estimated in breadths of a _destre_, of the 12-foot rod -corresponding roughly to the width cleared by a couple of mowers. In our -Isle of Axholme, in North Lincolnshire, land is reckoned in selions of a -rod wide and usually of a furlong in length; these selions or roods -being grouped into furlongs, that is, actually or originally, into -greater units of a square furlong = 40 roods or 10 acres. - -Simple country-folk, whose only ideas of land-measure were taken from -the length of the ox-goad and of the furrow, and from the breadth of the -long acre-strip of land, came slowly to understand that the surface of a -field of irregular shape might be reckoned in acres and rods. A statute -of Edward II gave a table of the different breadths of the acre when it -was less than forty rods or perches in length: - -‘When an acre of land containeth ten perches in length, then it shall be -in breadth sixteen perches; when it containeth eleven perches in length, -then it shall be in breadth fourteen and a half and three-quarters of a -foot’—and so on through the different lengths an acre might be. - -So people came gradually to abstract the idea of superficial measure -from shape and to apply it to land of any figure, however different from -a square or a rectangle. Thus measures, always _concrete_ at first and -taken from some known object of comparison, became _abstract_ in men’s -minds for purposes of calculation. Then came the land-surveyor -introducing arithmetic and geometry into the art of measurement, and -using the cord or chain instead of the measuring rod; and it was also -found that decimal calculation would be an improvement in this art. - -For purposes of accurate measurement and calculation, Edward Gunter -introduced, nearly three centuries ago, measurement by a chain of a -hundred links and twenty-two yards or four rods in length. Its adoption -decimalised the land-measures without disturbing them. Ten chains go to -a furlong and ten square chains to an acre. - -Norden (‘Surveior’s Dialogue,’ 1610) mentions the ‘standard chaine, that -is by the chaine of 16-1/2 foote.’ It was soon after this that the chain -was increased to 66 feet or 4 rods, which length was a current unit, the -‘brede’ or acre-brede, the breadth of an acre. - - - MEASURES OF LENGTH AND OF SURFACE - -In the following table each superficial unit is placed opposite the -lineal unit of which it is the square: - - ─────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────── - LINEAL MEASURES │ SUPERFICIAL MEASURES - ─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────── - 12 inches 1 foot │ 144 square inches 1 sq. foot. - 3 feet 1 yard │ 9 square feet 1 sq. yard. - 5-1/2 yards 1 rod │ 30-1/4 square yards 1 sq. rod. - │⎧ 40 square rods 1 rood - 40 rods 1 furlong │⎨ (4 roods or 160 square rods 1 acre). - │⎩ 40 roods (10 acres) 1 sq. furlong. - 8 furlongs 1 mile │ 64 square furlongs (640 acres) 1 sq. mile. - ─────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────── - - SURVEYOR’S MEASURE - ─────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────── - 1 link (7·8 inches) ·22 yards.│1 square link ·048 sq. yds. - 10 links 2·2 „ │100 square links 4·84 „ - 100 links (1 chain) 22 „ │10,000 sq links (1 sq. chain) 484 „ - 10 chains (1 furlong) 220 „ │10 sq. chains (1 acre) 4840 „ - ─────────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────── - -It must be remembered that _the length of the rod determined the length -of the mile and the area of the acre_. This is shown in the table on the -following page. - - - BRITISH MILES AND ACRES DERIVED FROM DIFFERENT RODS IN LOCAL USAGE - - ────────────────────────┬─────────────────────┬───────────────────── - LENGTH │ STATUTE │ SCOTTISH - ────────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼───────────────────── - 1 rod │ 5-1/2 yards │ 6·1766 yards - 40 rods = 1 furlong │ 220 „ │ 247 „ - 8 furlongs = 1 mile │ 1760 „ │ 1976 „ - │ │= 1·123 statute miles - │ │ - SURFACE │ │ - 1 square rod │ 30-1/4 square yards│ 38·15 square yards - 40 square rods = 1 rood │ 1210 „ „ │ 1526 „ „ - 4 roods = 1 acre │ 4840 „ „ │ 6104 „ „ - │ │ = 1·26 statute acre - ────────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼───────────────────── - LENGTH │ IRISH │ CHESHIRE - ────────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼───────────────────── - 1 rod │ 7 yards │ 8 yards - 40 rods = 1 furlong │ 280 „ │ - 8 furlongs = 1 mile │ 2240 „ │ - │= 1·278 statute miles│ - │ │ - SURFACE │ │ - 1 square rod │ 49 square yards│ 64 square yards - 40 square rods = 1 rood │ 1960 „ „ │ 2560 „ „ - 4 roods = 1 acre │ 7840 „ „ │ 10240 „ „ - │ = 1·62 statute acre │= 2·116 statute acre - ────────────────────────┴─────────────────────┴───────────────────── - -_Note._—The Scottish rod or ‘fall’ is six Scottish ells or yards. The -Scottish and Irish miles have long been practically obsolete. The -Lancashire rod and acre, also the Guernsey perch and acre, are the same -as the Irish. The Guernsey land-measures are statute locally; the rood -or vergée is the customary unit.[16] - -Footnote 16: - - It is worth remark that the 160 square rods of the Irish, Lancashire - or Guernsey acre being equal to 1·62 statute acres, 100 of these - square rods would make almost exactly a statute acre. A rod of 6·957 - yards would give a decimal square rod of 48·4 square yards equal - 1-10th square chain, or 1-100th acre, or 1-1000th square furlong. A - square-shape acre is 69·57 yards square. - - - A SQUARE FURLONG OR TEN-ACRE FIELD - - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - ┌┬┬┬┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├────┤ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├────┤ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├────┤ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├────┤ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├────┤ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├────┤ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├────┤ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├────┤ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├────┤ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │││││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - └┴┴┴┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ - - Acre No. 1 is divided, according to the ancient custom, into 4 - roods, each 40 rods long and 1 rod broad. - - Acre No. 10 is divided, according to Gunter’s decimal system, - into 10 square chains, each 4 rods square. - - - 4. FEUDAL LAND-MEASURES - -In ancient Egypt land was surveyed by a State department, but other -Eastern Kingdoms, even of the present time, are less advanced. There is -a simple system of taxing each plough. This was approximately the -medieval system, as we see in the Domesday revenue-survey, the great -record of the plough-lands and rental of England. Estates are thus -described: - - 2-1/2 hides; land for 1-1/2 ploughs. There is 1 plough with 4 - bordars and 4 serfs. Worth 30_s._ - - 2 hides, land for 2 ploughs, 30 acres meadow. Worth 60_s._ - - 4 hides, 1-1/2 virgates; land for 10 ploughs. Now worth 14 li., - formerly at 17 li. - -In some parts the ‘knight’s fee’ was reckoned at 480 acres (4 hides) -worth 40 shillings a year. On this valuation— - - The pound-land, librata terræ, was 240 acres. - The shilling-land, solidata terræ, was 12 acres. - The penny-land, denariata terræ, was 1 acre. - The farthing-land, 1/2 obolata terræ, was 1 rood. - -_Cent livrées de terre à l’esterlin_ (Froissart) a hundred pound-lands, -reckoned of the annual value of 100 pounds sterling. This is sometimes -taken as the amount of ‘relief,’ another feudal estimate, often taken at -one year’s value. - -In Edward I’s time a son and heir paid £18 for relief of his land which -was worth £18 a year. In Henry II’s time £5 appears to be the usual -relief paid for a knight’s fee on succession to it. By Magna Charta the -relief of a whole barony (10 to 40 knight’s fees) was fixed at 100 -marks; in Henry III’s time it was £100. - -I may here give a fifteenth-century record of English linear -measures.[17] - - Nota, for to mesure and mete lande. - - It is to mete that iij Early Cornys in the myddis of the Ere - makyth one ynche, And xij enchis makyth a foote - - And sixteyne foote and a halfe makyth a perche; And in sum - cuntre a perche ys xviij foote. - - Fourty perchys in lengyth makyth a Rode of Lande; put iiij - therto in brede, and that makyth an Acre. - - And xiiij Acrys makyth a yerde of lande; - - And v yerdis makyth an hyde of lande, which ys lxx Acrys. - - And viij hydis makyth a knyghtis fee, which is vC.lx Acrys of - lande. - -Footnote 17: - - I insert this note (sent to the _Academy_ in August 1896 by the late - Mr. F. J. Furnivall, who found it in a Bodleian MS.) because it - happened to direct my attention to our measures, and was thus the seed - whence this book has sprung. The yardland and hide are here of less - than half the usual extent. - - - 5. TERMS USED IN LAND-MEASURES - -ROD.—Pole, Perch, Goad, Lug, L. _pertica_, Fr. _perche_, _verge_, G. -_ruthe_, Du. _roede_. - -The equivalent words, L. _virga_, Fr. _verge_, A.S. _geard_, Eng. -‘yard,’ originally any long straight twig or rod, came to mean: (1) a -yard or ell-measure, (2) a rod measure of land, lineal or superficial. -The French verge is still thus used in Normandy and the Channel Islands. -Our ‘yard’ acquired this extended sense, and others still more extended. -In Cornwall 2 staves (of 9 feet) make a yard of land. In Somerset the -lineal rod is the ‘land-yard,’ and the yard of land is a square rod. -Thus the rood is ‘forty yard o’ ground’ and the acre is ‘eight score -yard o’ ground.’ - -ROOD.—A differentiated form of ‘rod’ applied in a lineal sense to 40 -rods, and also to the area of a quarter-acre 40 × 1 rods. - -In Normandy and the Channel Islands our rod and rood are verge and -vergée, and as the first sense of verge was ‘yard’ so vergée became in -English a ‘yard of lande.’ So here we have a third sense of the -triple-form word virga-verge-yard. - -‘A rodde of land which some call a roode, some a yarde lande, and some a -farthendale’ (Recorde, 1542). - -The latter term, meaning a ‘fourth part,’ as in the farthing to the -penny, may also have referred to the rood as being a farthing-land in -rental. It appears as L. _furendellus_, _farundel_, _ferling_. - -The rood was also divided into 4 day’s-work, each of 10 square rods. - -ACRE.—As the rood was sometimes lineal, though usually superficial, so -also the ‘acre’ was sometimes a rough lineal measure, generally an -acre-breadth, or 4 rods (a cricket-pitch). But it might also be an -acre-length = a rood length. The verse in 1 Samuel xiv.: ‘And that first -slaughter which Jonathan and his armour bearer made was about twenty men -within as it were an half-acre of land which a yoke of oxen might plow,’ -is in Coverdale’s version (1535) ‘within the length of halve an aker of -londe,’ that is, in a length of 20 rods. In French ‘arpent’ was likewise -used for a French acre-length, reckoned, not of the official square -arpent, but of the furrow-long arpent, nearly a furlong. Thus in the -Chanson de Roland - - _Einz qu ’hum alast un sul arpent de camp_ - (Before one (he) went a single acre of ground) - -evidently means about a furlong, just as in Iliad x., ‘when he was as -far off as the length of the furrow made by mules’ has the same meaning. - -Similarly the _sesteirado_ of Provence was used as an itinerary measure, -probably of 100 cano = about 220 yards, the same as the centenié. - -The _sesteirado_, the rood of Southern France, corresponding to the -_boisselée_, the bushel-land of Mid-France, was, like the latter, -originally a seed-unit, the extent sown with a _sestié_ of seed-corn. -Its extent is 0·4 acre, = our rood. Now if this were square, each side -would measure 40 yards, a length too small for itinerary measure. -Neither Northern nor Southern France had any official itinerary measure -under the league, so field-units were necessarily used; in the north the -arpent-length, in the south the sesteirado-length; both corresponding to -our rood-length, furrow-length or furlong. There seems little doubt that -the _centenié_, the popular itinerary measure of the south, 100 cano or -fathoms, was the same as the sesteirado-length. And the sesteirado being -400 square cano, it seems that its dimensions were 100 × 4 cano. It was -moreover the rood, or quarter of the greater land-unit, the _saumado_, -the ‘seam’ of land, which would thus be 100 × 16 cano just as our rood -was 40 × 1 rods, and our acre 40 × 4 rods. Ten sesteirado-lengths, 10 -centenié, made the _milo_, a mile of 1000 local fathoms, one-third of -the league of Southern France. - -YARDLAND.—L. _quatrona terræ_, _virgata_. Fr. _bouvée_. Bovate, Oxgang. -About 30 acres more or less, including pasture and perhaps some -woodland. Before the Norman conquest the gebur-geriht (boor’s right) was -6 sheep and 7 acres arable on his yard-land. This corresponds roughly to -the German _hufe_ = about 20 acres, and to the Netherlands _hoeve_, the -unit of small holding. Almost everywhere and always, 6 or 7 acres of -arable have been all that the boor’s yoke of oxen can till. There was -other work for the oxen besides ploughing, and at least five ploughings -were usually necessary for proper tillage; then there was cartage and -feudal duties in consideration of the small rent. - -In the Roll of Battel Abbey (tenth and eleventh centuries) the perch is -16 feet; the acre is 40 perches long and 4 broad and pays a penny a -year; 3 shillings for the virgate or wist, the price of which was about -20 shillings. In this case 8 virgates made a hide, but this ‘eighth’ is -exceptional, for the term ‘virgate’ brought a fourth sense to the virga -= yard series of words, giving rise to the term yard-land as a quarter -of the plough-land or hide. As the vergée in France (sometimes -ambiguously called verge, as it has been seen that Recorde spoke of ‘a -rodde of lande which some call a roode’) and the rood in England were a -quarter-acre, and as this quarter-acre was sometimes called a ‘yard of -land,’ so virga-verge-yard acquired the general sense of -‘quarter’—either of an acre or of a ploughland or carucate. Thus in -‘Quant une homme est feffe dune verge de terre et dun autre de un carue -du terre’ (Statute of Wards, 1300), the term ‘verge de terre’ means not -a rod, a verge, but a yardland or virgate. - -‘Farthing’ or ‘ferling’ as a quarter was used in the same double sense: -a quarter-acre or a quarter-hide, indeed, as will presently be seen, a -quarter-virgate. - -ACREME.—This old law-term for 10 acres of land points to a tradition -that our original unit of land-measurement was a rood or furlong square, -that is 40 × 40 rods: it was called a Ferlingata or Ferdelh. - -A document temp. Edw. II describes the virgate (of which 4 made a hide; -5 hides being a knight’s fee) as of 4 (square) furlongs, each of 10 -acres. - - X acræ terræ faciunt unam fardellam. - - Decem acræ faciunt ferlingatam; quatuor ferlingatæ faciunt - virgatam, et quatuor virgatæ faciunt hidam; quinque hidæ faciunt - feodum militis. - -So it appears conclusive (1) that the hide was 16 square furlongs, a -quarter of a square mile = the quarter section of America; (2) that the -acre was originally a slice of land off the square furlong, a rood, or -furlong in length, a tenth of this in breadth. - -FURLONG AND FERLING.—The square furlong is the same as the Acreme = 10 -acres. The square furlong or furrow-long tends to become confused with -ferling, G. _vierling_, with fardel, G. _viertel_, with farthendale, Du. -_vierendeel_, all meaning a fourth. This confusion arises from the -square furlong, similar in sound to ferling, being approximately the -fourth, or farthing, of the virgate or yardland, itself Ferlingus terræ, -a fourth of the hide or ploughland. So a ferling may be a fourth of an -acre, or of a virgate, or of a hide. Similarly it may be, as farthendale -or farendel, a quarter-bushel. - -Another cause of confusion in feudal land-measures is the -money-estimation of land. Bishop Fleetwood (‘Chronicon,’ 1707) thought -the acre was a marc-land of 160 pence and the rod a penny-land, -denariatus terræ, so that the quarter-rod was a farthing-land. He was -deceived by the coincidence of the 160 rods of the acre with the 160 -pence, 13_s._ 4_d._, 8 ounces of silver, of the monetary marc, and he -mistook the Farthingdale or Farendel, a quarter-acre or rood, for a -quarter-rod. The acre was distinctly a penny-land, and the hide of 160 -acres was a marc-land, paying 160 pence. - -HIDE.—Ploughland, carucate, L. _carucata_, Fr. _caruée_. Normally 16 -square furlongs = 160 acres, but sometimes 120 acres or less, varying -according to the arable on it; and usually divided into 4 oxgangs, -bovates or yardlands. In some parts the hide seems to have comprised -several ploughlands and to have coincided with the knight’s fee (see -Customs of Lancaster). - -HUNDRED.—This division of a shire is supposed to have been originally -one hundred hides; more probably it was a hundred knight’s fees. - - - 6. THE YARD AND THE VERGE - -These cognate terms have many developments of meaning, running almost -parallel both in English and French. ‘Yard,’ the equivalent of A.S. -gyrd, geard, and perhaps gæd (gad), is cognate to ‘Rod’ and to Fr. -Verge. It may mean: - -1. A rod from a tree; L. _virga_, Fr. _verge_. - -2. A short measure of 4 to 6 spans; Fr. _verge_. - -3. A pole of indefinite length, in various senses, naval, &c. Fr. -_verge_, _vergue_. - -4. A long measure of 9 to 24 feet = rod, pole, perch. In France the -_perche_ may be from 9-1/2 feet (Burgundy) to 22 feet (French). - -5. A measure of surface 9 to 24 feet square. Yard, Fr. _verge_. - -6. A larger measure of surface 40 × 1 rod = a quarter-acre. Yard-land, -rood, Fr. _vergée_. - -7. A quarter of a still larger unit. Virgata, yard-land. - -8. A holding of a rood when enclosed became a yard or garth, then a -cultivated enclosure of any size: tree-yard (Du. _boom-gaard_), -apple-garth, win-gaard (vineyard).[18] - -Here the Fr. _verge_ parts company with ‘yard’; its place is taken by -_cour_ (L. _curtiferum_) and G. _hof_. - -9. Any enclosed land attached to a house: Palace-yard, Fr. _cour_. -Farm-yard, Fr. _basse-cour_. Court-yard, G. _hof_. Court = farmyard in -Somerset. - -Fr. _verge_ reappears in the English form of ‘verge’ in the sense of a -circle or ring, AS. gyrd, now ‘girth.’ The gyrd was a geard or yard bent -into a hoop. Fr. _verge_ = ring was a verge or rod bent into a hoop or -ring. Cf. Fr. _bague_, ring made by bending a rod or baguette into a -hoop. The English sense of ‘verge’ = circle is seen in: - - O would to God that the inclusive verge - Of golden metal that must round my brow. - - _Rich. III_, iv. 1. - - To the furthest verge - That ever was survey’d by English eye. - - _Rich. III_, i. 1. - -The ‘verge’ of the King’s palace or court, sometimes stated as twelve -leagues (of 1-1/2 miles), a circuit equal to about 3 miles in radius. - -Footnote 18: - - Orthodoxly A.S. _gaard_ is considered to be unconnected with _geard_, - a yard or rod. - - - 7. HOW THE ROD CAME TO BE 5-1/2 YARDS - -The Roman pertica was 10 feet; though it seems probable that there was -also a customary rod of 12 feet. - -The French perche was 6 ells of 4 Roman feet, double the presumed -customary perch of Rome. - -The Scots rod was 6 ells of 3 Rhineland feet. - -The German and Norse ruthen are nearly always either of 12 or of 16 -feet. - -How came it that the English rod was fixed, about the time of Edward I, -at 5-1/2 yards = 16-1/2 feet? - -There is reason to believe that it was originally 5 yards, at first in -Roman feet, then in Rhineland feet. - -A length of 5 yards and 1 or 2 inches (= 1/(8 × 40) of the Roman mile) -survives in the Dorsetshire ‘goad’ or ‘lug.’[19] - -Footnote 19: - - Whence the term ‘lug’ = rod? I venture a derivation: - - 1. Lug, the ear. - - 2. Luggie (Sc.), a milking vessel with handles or lugs. - - 3. Lug, lugge, of land, that can be metely sown with a luggie of - seed-corn. - - 4. Lug, the rod-length of the lug of land. - - 5. Lug, a rod, as for ‘waling’ fruit trees. - -The Cornish rod or yard is 2 staves of 3 yards = 6 yards. There was, as -late as 1540, a rod of 6 yards, ‘every pole containing eighten footes of -the kinges standard.’ - -The rod of Guernsey, of Lancashire and of Ireland is 7 yards; it is the -French perche of 20 pieds = 21·36 feet taken roughly at 21 English feet; -this, and the Cheshire rod of 8 yards = 4 fathoms, are probably of -Norman origin. - -The English rod of pre-Norman and early Norman times was probably the -Teutonic rod of 16 feet, as seen in the Roll of Battel Abbey. How did it -become 16-1/2 feet? - -I cannot absolutely solve the question; I can only offer the possible -hypotheses: - -1. That 5-1/2 yards was a compromise between a Southern rod of 5 yards -and a Northern of 6 yards. But the former length only survived in the -Dorsetshire lug, probably from Roman times, and 16 feet is the probable -length of the Southern rod. And such a compromise is most improbable. I -know of no measure established as a mean of two different measures. - -2. That the length of the 5-1/2-yard rod was taken from that of the -medieval lance. Certainly in France there is some evidence of the -spear-length being used as a rough land-measure, ‘un hanst’ or ‘une -hanstée’ de terre. ‘Hanste,’ in modern French _hampe_, a shaft, is from -L. _hasta_. Doubtless very long lances have been used by infantry. The -Macedonian phalanx had lances of 8 yards, so that five rows of spear -points projected from its front. The Scots lance was 6 ells, the Scots -rod, ‘That in all, Spears be six Elns in length, under the pain of etc.’ -(James III); but this length, = 18-1/2 feet, was ordered two centuries -later than Edward I, at a time when infantry were brought to resist the -onslaught of cavalry. Two centuries later still, it was ordered by 13 -Chas. II that a pikeman was to be armed with a pike not under 16 feet in -length. It is improbable that in Edward I’s time foot soldiers were -armed with pikes anything like that length, while the knights’ spears -could not have been longer than 10 feet. Those shown in the Bayeux -embroidery are about 7 feet. - -It is possible that the length of the ox-goad may have been used as a -rough land-measure, but English ox-goads appear to have usually been -only about the length of the Cornish goad, not more than 3 yards long. - -Inclined myself to this second hypothesis—for was not Hector’s spear of -11 cubits = 22 spans, and are not 22 spans = 16-1/2 feet?—I yet -acknowledge that it is scarcely tenable. - -3. The most probable hypothesis is that the Rod was originally a North -German Ruthe of 16 Norse or Rhineland feet brought over by Saxons or -Danes, and that, established as is seen by the Roll of Battel Abbey -‘pertica vero xvi pedes,’ it was afterwards adjusted to the standard of -the King’s foot. Thus 16 Rhineland feet = 16 feet 5·7 inches; which -would make the statute rod practically 16 feet 6 inches. In North -Germany the Ruthe is usually of 16 local feet, originally, it may be -presumed, Rhineland feet, displaced by the local foot = 11·23 to 11·5 -inches. Sometimes this fall in the length of the foot is compensated by -an increase in the number of ruthen to the ‘morgen’ or acre, sometimes, -as in Holland, by making the _roede_ 13 Amsterdam short feet (of 11 -inches) instead of 12 Rhineland feet. - -It seems likely that the North German acker of 160 square ruthen came to -Northern France with the Franks and the Normans, that it became the Acre -de Normandie of 160 square rods, the length of the rod becoming changed -by the influence of the French standard of 6 _aunes_ = 24 Roman feet. -This length of 24 feet passed, under Norman influence, to Cheshire, -becoming the local rod of 8 yards or 24 English feet. - -The rod of 6 _aunes_, French ells, passed to Scotland as 6 ells, but 6 -Scots ells = 18 Rhineland feet. - - - 8. HOW THE ACRE CAME TO BE 160 RODS - -The North German acker or morgen is 160 ruthen. Why? It may be presumed -that, on the sexdecimal system dear to the bucolic mind throughout the -world, it was 16 times an original unit of 10 square ruthen, of 16 feet -square, analogous to the Greek plethron of 10 square kalamoi and to the -Provençal _cosso_ of 10 square fathom-rods. There is still extant, in -North Holland, the _snees_, snick, or score, of land, = 20 square roede. - -The Austrian joch is 1600 square ‘klafter’ of 6 feet = 1·42 acre. - -There are 1600 square rods in our square furlong, the original square -unit of which the acre is a one-tenth slice. - -In Provence, the people, long under Roman influence, are yet much more -Greek than Roman, and there is not a trace of any Roman standard among -their weights and measures. There the greater land-unit is the saumado -of 1600 square cano of 6 feet. It is divided in two ways: (1) on the -sexdecimal system,[20] (2) into 160 cosso, each of 10 square cano. - -Footnote 20: - - Concordantly with the sexdecimal system of corn-measures into 4 - sesteirado, or 8 eiminado. See Seed-measures in Section 10. - -It seems as if the 1600 small units in our square furlong, in the -Austrian joch, in the Provençal saumado, come from an extension of the -sexdecimal multiple 16 to 160 and 1600. - - - 9. CUSTOMS OF LANCASTER - -‘Customs of places doe differ; for in the Dutchy of Lancaster a knightes -fee containeth foure hides of land, every hide foure ploughlands called -in latine carucata terræ, and that is quantum aratrum arare potest in -æstivo tempore, and that is (as I take it) which is in the North parts -called an Oxegange. And every ploughland or carue is foure yard land -which in latine is called quatrona terræ; every yardland thirty acres, -halfe a yard land in some places in the West is called a Cosset, half a -Cosset is a Mese which containeth about 7-1/2 acres. But commonly a -carue or plow-land containeth a hundreth and twenty acres; a hide of -land 480 acres and every knightes fee 1920 acres. But after some -computations, a knights fee containeth five hydes of land, every hyde -foure yard land, and every yard land twenty foure acres.’ (‘The -Surveior’s Dialogue,’ by J. Norden, ‘at my poore house at Hendon, 27 -Martis 1610.’) - -So in Domesday Book it will be found that ‘inter Ripe et Mersham,’ -between the Ribble and the Mersey, the hide was not synonymous with the -carucate. The series of feudal measures appears to have been there: - - Acre, of Lancashire standard = 1·62 statute acres. - - Bovate or Virgate of about 15 acres, paying about 4 pence - ‘relief’ to the king. - - Carucate or Ploughland, of 8 bovates, paying about 32 pence. - - Hide of 6 carucates, paying about one pound. - -These feudal measures were evidently vague and variable. The King’s -assessment was very much the same as it was in Upper Burma fifty years -ago. There no survey was required; the land-tax (very light, as the -king’s revenue was derived, as in medieval England, from forest and -other monopolies and from fines) was one rupee a plough, that is for a -plough and a yoke of cattle. The Norman kings’ assessment was for the -common plough of the whole carucate, 4 oxgangs. - - - 10. SEED-MEASURES OF LAND - -When men, emerging from the pastoral stage, took to agriculture, land -was plentiful and would roughly but conveniently be estimated by the -quantity of seed-corn required for it. Thus seed-units of land were the -earliest, and many survive to this day. - -It was ordered in Israel (Lev. xxvij.) that land should be ‘estimated -according to the seed thereof, an homer of barley-seed shall be valued -at fifty shekels of silver.’ Taking the homer at 8 bushels, a homer of -land = 3 or 4 acres, was worth 50 shekels, or half-crowns, of silver. - -The Romans had the modius of land, sown with a modius, about 1/4 bushel, -of corn. - -In Northern France there is still the _bonnier_ of land, about 4 acres, -sown with a _boune_ or _bounie_ of seed, about 8 bushels. - -Throughout the greater part of France the land is reckoned in _seterées_ -or _sesteirado_, units now fixed but originally named after the variable -_setier_ of seed-corn. - -Smaller units are the _mine_ or _eiminado_, and _boisselée_, all -seed-units. - -In North Germany the Scheffel, or Schepel (Du.), corn-measure is also a -land-measure of about half an acre. The Schepel passed from Holland to -New England as the Skipple, a bushel-skip. In North Germany and Norway -there is the Tunn or Tonde, a barrel of about 4 bushels, corresponding -to the Tondeland of about 1-1/3 acre (roughly equal to the French -_estrée_). - -To the Salma of Italy, to the Saumado (she-ass load) of Provence, -corresponds the old English Seam, the Quarter of corn. The word seam -hence got the general meaning of a quarter. So although the Seam of Corn -would sow 4 acres, a seam of an acre meant a quarter-acre. - -‘A Sester or Sextarius was what we call a Quarter or a seam containing 8 -bushels (Sauma, quod unius equi fit sauma, i.e. sarcina)’ (Bishop -Fleetwood, 1707). - -There are still traces of seed-measures to be found in some parts of -England. But in ‘A pek of londe’—‘Half a pek and a nayle of londe’ -(Rolls of Parliament, 1442),[21] it is doubtful whether the peck of land -was really a seed-measure or a quarter-acre, as the peck is a -quarter-bushel. A nail of land would be 1/16 acre. - -Footnote 21: - - Quoted in the _New English Dictionary_, a treasury of quotations, - which has often put me on the track of valuable information. - -There were seed-measures of land in Scotland. Thus: ‘15th Cy. Chart -Aberd. Als mekill land as a celdr of aits will schawe,’ i.e. a Chalder -of land, as much as a chalder = 64 firlots = 55 bushels, will sow, about -25 acres. There was also the Lippy of land, that which took a lippy, -1/16 firlot of seed. It was usually about 100 square yards. - -In many parts of Southern Europe there are no other kinds of -land-measure than those derived from the corn-measures of seed required. - -Thus in Provence, the earliest civilised country in medieval times, the -whole series of corn-measures and land-measures have names in common. - - Corn-measures Land-measures Sq. cano - Saumado 4·4 bushel. Saumado 1·58 acre 1600 - Sestié 1·1 „ Sesteirado 0·4 „ 400 - Eimino 4·4 gallon. Eiminado 0·2 „ 200 - Quartiero 1·1 „ Quarteirado 0·05 „ 50 - Pougnadeiro 1/4 „ Pougneirado 0·01 „ 12-1/2 - Cosso (Sc. Luggie) 1/5 „ Cosso (Sc. Lug.) „ 10 - -These land-measures would correspond to Coomb-land, Bushel-land, -Peck-land, &c. The Cosso of land is 1/160 of the Saumado, as our square -rod is 1/160 acre. - -In Italy and Spain there are similar series of land-measures named after -corn-measures. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - ENGLISH COMMERCIAL WEIGHTS - - - I. THE STORY OF AVERDEPOIS - -The story of our Imperial system has hitherto been utterly obscure. The -origin of our foot, our gallon, our pound, indeed of all our measures, -was quite unknown. That of the pound, which gives the key to the whole -system, had been obscured by statutes which ignored any but the royal -pound used at the mints. Yet these statutes, often purposely obscure, -can be made to show the hidden sources of our system. - -Our pound, settled at its present Imperial standard in the time of Queen -Elizabeth, was then found to have risen slightly since the time of -Edward III. It was found to have increased by about 8 grains. The ounce, -now = 437-1/2 grains, had been 437 grains, the same weight as the ounce -of Egypto-Roman pound, the Roman libra.[22] There is every reason to -believe that this Roman standard passed to Britain, and that the libra, -raised to 16 ounces, became the commercial pound, afterwards known as -Averdepois, and now the Imperial pound. - -Footnote 22: - - The modern _libbra_ is 12 ounces = 436·27 grains in Rome, 436·66 in - Florence. - -When the Romans took the Alexandrian talent as the standard of their new -libra-system, they divided it into 125 libræ, which were 1500 ounces or -double-shekels, each ounce = 437 grains. - -When the Arab Caliphs conquered the southern and eastern Mediterranean -countries, they found in Egypt the Egypto-Roman pound, 1/125 of the -Alexandrian talent; they adopted it, and divided it for coin-weight -purposes into 72 mithkals, just as the Roman Emperors had divided the -old As pound into 72 aurei; so 6 mithkals = the libra-ounce of 437 -grains, just as 6 aurei = the As-ounce of 420-2/3 grains. It is not -improbable that the survival of the Roman commercial pound in Saxon -England was strengthened by commercial and scientific relations with the -Moors of Spain. King Offa of Mercia struck a gold coin with an Arabic -inscription, dated 157 of the Hejira = A.D. 774. - -However this may have been, there seems no doubt that the Roman pound, -raised to 16 ounces, was the standard of England before as after the -Norman conquest, and there is no evidence of it having ever been in -abeyance. In early Plantagenet times there was a sexdecimal series of -weights: - -The Stone of 16 lb. - -The Wey of 16 stone = 256 lb. - -There was also the Hundredweight, of which 20 made a ton of 2000 lb.; -and 20 weys made a Last of approximately 5120 lb. or 2-1/2 tons. - -The pound was divided into 16 ounces, each = 437 grains, and the ounce -into 16 drams or drops = 27·3 grains. - -Both before and after the Conquest there was another pound used in the -mints, like the As in Rome. It was of Tower, or Cologne-marc, standard. -There were doubtless many local variations of commercial standard, -especially in measures of capacity, and it was the necessity of checking -these which made King John and his successors declare that ‘there should -be one standard throughout our kingdom, whether in weights or in -measures.’ - -But the king had a mint-pound of his own, and he had to reconcile the -existence of the coinage-pound and of the commercial pound with the -customary declaration of unity of weight made in each reign. The king’s -councillors evaded the difficulty by pretending that the measures of -capacity were based on the mint-pound and, in statutes where a -commercial pound had to be mentioned, by pretending that this was equal -to 25 shillings weight or 15 ounces of the mint-pound. This deception -led to others, so that, to make out the meaning of a statute of weights -and measures, one must be able to read between the lines, and to be -prepared for misleading and contradictory statements. I will take as an -instance, Act 51 Henry III (1267): - - An English peny called a Sterling, round and without clipping, - shall weigh 32 wheat corns in the midst of the ear; and 20 d. do - make an Ounce, and 12 Ounces one Pound, and 8 Pounds do make a - gallon of wine and 8 gallons of wine do make a London Bushel - which is the eighth part of a Quarter. - -This declaration may be thus interpreted: - -In the Tower there is a standard pound. An English silver penny should -weigh 1/240 of this pound and 1/20 of its ounce, and the penny-weight -may be divided into 32 aces or little grains. But there is another -old-established pound used for all goods but gold and silver, bread and -drugs. Our regard for the unity of weight forbids us to describe this -pound otherwise than by mentioning that a wine-gallon contains 8 of -these pounds weight of wine or of water, that 8 larger gallons each -containing 8 pounds, not of wine, but of wheat, make a Bushel; and that -8 of these bushels make a quarter of a Chaldron containing a ton or 2000 -lb. of wheat. - -That this is correct is easily proved. - -The Bushel is 1/8 of the Quarter, which was the quarter of a chaldron, -the measure of a ton of 20 true hundredweight. The quarter was 500 lb. -of average wheat, and the bushel weighed 500/8 = 62-1/2 averdepois lb. -of wheat or, in wheat-water ratio, 78 lb. of wine or of water, the -specific gravity of which differs but little. But 8 × 8 Tower lb. of -wine = (5400 grs. × 8 × 8)/7000 = 49·4 averdepois lb. or, to be quite -accurate, 49·5 lb. of early Plantagenet averdepois weight, when the -ounce was of Roman standard, 437 grains; how then could the bushel = 78 -lb. of wine, be the measure of 49·5 lb. of wine? - -That there were two different gallons, the one for wine, the other for -corn, is shown in the Ordinance 31 Edw. III, where it is ordered that ‘8 -lb. of wheat shall make a gallon.’ It is true that this is continued by -‘the lb. shall contain 20 s.’; but very soon after the ordinance states -that, for everything except groceries, each lb. shall be of 25 s., and -we know that the 25 s. was merely a subterfuge to show the averdepois -pound as 15 ounces Tower, afterwards 15 ounces Troy, neither of which it -ever was: we may therefore dismiss this statement, and recognise that -the wine-gallon held approximately 8 averdepois lb. of wine, and that -the corn gallon, about one-fourth larger, held 8 averdepois lb. of -wheat. - -Further evidence is to be found in 12 Henry VII (1496). - -This statute, after the usual preamble about ‘one weight and one -measure,’ orders: - - That the measure of a Bushel contain 8 gallons of wheat, and - that every Gallon contain 8 lb. of wheat of Troy weight, and - every Pound contain 12 ounces of Troy weight, and every Ounce - contain 20 sterlings and every Sterling be of the weight of 32 - Corns of wheat that grew in the midst of the ear of wheat - according to the old law of the land. - -While the bushel is now described as containing 8 gallons of wheat and -each gallon 8 pounds of wheat, the old fiction is kept up that these are -royal pounds. Only these pounds are now Troy, of 5760 grains, instead of -Tower, of 5400 grains; 64 Troy pounds were equal to 52-2/3 lb. -averdepois, a weight still far from the 62-1/2 lb. averdepois of wheat -contained in the extant bushel-measure of Henry VII. And though the -mints were coining 420, instead of 240, pennies from the 5760 -grain-pound of silver, so that these were little more than half the -weight of Henry III’s pennies, yet they were still of the weight of 32 -wheat-corns. - -The substance of this statute was embodied in a State-document adorned -with a picture of the King’s Steward presiding over the gauging of -bushels and weighing of wheat-corns, surmounted by a picture of two -entwined wheat-ears with the inscription: - - THE CONAGE OF THE MYNTE. - - The whete eare. Two graynes maketh the xvi p^{te}. of a penny, - ffower graynes maketh the viij p^{te}. of a penny. - -After this impudent assertion one is not surprised to read that it was -‘the same tyme ordeired that xvi uncs of Troie maketh the Haberty poie a -pounde for to buy spice[23] by,’ nor by the statement that ‘the C is -true at this daye, ffyve score for the hundred as appeareth in Magna -Carta.’ - -Footnote 23: - - Probably in the meaning of the Dutch _spijs_, food. - -Comment on these ingenious statements seems hardly necessary. - -The only changes in English weights since the time of Henry III, or -indeed much earlier times, have been: - -1. The raising of the hundredweight to 112 lb. - -2. The lowering of the stone from 16 lb. to 14 lb. to make it one-eighth -of the new hundredweight. - -3. The rise of the averdepois pound from 16 Roman ounces of 437 grains -to 16 ounces of 437-1/2 grains; a difference of 8 grains, so as to make -it 7000 grains of the Tudor Troy pound. - -4. The re-legalising of the 100 lb. or cental weight in 1879. - -I may observe that the octonary series of measures of capacity, also of -the 14 lb. stone and new Cwt., is quite in harmony with the sexdecimal -system, however objectionable be those units. - - - _The Recognition of Averdepois Weight_ - -It is not until 1485 (Ripon Ch. Acts, quoted in the ‘New English -Dictionary’) that we find mention of averdepois, though there had been -standard weights of it from temp. Edw. III, ‘per balance cum ponderibus -de haberdepase,’ and those standards were extant in the time of -Elizabeth. - -The document embodying 12 Henry VII (1496) mentions, as has been seen, -the Habertypoie pound, with the assertion that it was 16 Troy ounces, an -assertion causing confusion for centuries afterwards. - -In Arnold’s ‘Customs of London,’ _c._ 1500, there is mentioned ‘the -Lyggynge Weyght, by which is boughte and solde all maner of marchaundise -as tynne, ledde ... and al maner of specery ... and such other as is -used to be solde by weyght; and of this weyght xvj uncis make a pound, -and C and xij li. is an C, and x C make a M of all suche marchaundises -... except wulle.’ - -This ‘lying weight’ was by the balance, the weight lying in one scale, -and not hanging or sliding on the beam of a stilyard as in Auncell -weight. The stilyard, very portable, as not requiring heavy weights, yet -admitted of fraud. Arnold says ‘this weight is forboden in England by -statute of parlement, and also holy church hath cursed in England all -that beyen or sellen by that auncel weyght.’ - -In 1532 it was ordered by 24 Henry VIII that meat ‘shall be sold by -weight called Haver-du-pois,’ and in 1543 Recorde (‘Ground of Artes’) -says, ‘But commenly there is used an other weyght called haberdyepoyse -in which 16 onces make a pounde.’ - -In 1545 the Custom-House notified that ‘thys lyinge and Habardy peyse is -all one.’ - -Having cleared away, as I hope, the obscurity which so long hung over -the commercial weight ignored by the statutes, it may be well to mention -that ‘Averdepois’ is the best spelling of this word, and is so accepted -by the ‘New English Dictionary.’ ‘Aver’ is an old-established English -word for ‘goods,’ and the earlier form ‘Haberdepase’ shows the original -pronunciation. The spelling of the last syllable in ‘Averdepois’ is a -sufficient concession to an incorrect modern custom. - -The term originally applied to heavy goods, such as came from beyond -sea; if the word was sometimes spelt, as in 25 Edw. III, ‘bledz, -avoirdepois, chars, pessons’ (corn, heavy goods, meat, fish), it does -not follow that the _oi_ diphthong was pronounced as in ‘boy.’ The word -_pessons_, now written _poissons_, shows the sound-value of the -diphthong. The sound now given to it in modern French is a corruption. -Up till 1700, even in Paris, _oi_ was pronounced _é_ or _wé_. -‘Averdepez’ is the true pronunciation. However, the influence of ‘poise’ -prevents any improvement on the word being written and pronounced as -‘Averdepois.’ - -Though measures of capacity had always been on an averdepois basis, the -admission of averdepois weight to statute recognition only dates from -the time of Elizabeth. In her reign light begins to appear in our system -of weights and measures. In 1574 she ordered a jury to examine the -standard weights (many of Edward III and succeeding kings), to report on -them, and to construct standards ‘as well of troy weight as of the -avoirdupois.’ - -The standards made by this jury were as unsatisfactory as their report. -Little could be expected from persons who could, with Edward III’s -standard weights before them, report that ‘the lb. weight of avoirdepoiz -weight dothe consiste of fiftene ounc troie.’ This was in accordance -with the old fiction that the averdepois pound must be a commercial -offshoot of the royal pound, that it was 15 ounces Tower = 6750 grains, -and afterwards in Tudor times 15 ounces Troy = 7200 grains, or even 16 -ounces Troy = 7680 grains. - -Elizabeth and her advisers were not deceived by this obsequious report, -so, the standards made being found very erroneous, in 1582 a second and -more intelligent jury of goldsmiths and merchants was appointed, and the -result of their work was the production of 57 sets of standard Troy and -averdepois weights, which were distributed to the Exchequer, to cities -and towns. Some of these averdepois weights are still extant and do not -now differ by more than one grain in each pound from Imperial standard. - -The Proclamation for Weights of December 16, 1587, established -averdepois weight, and ordered that ‘no person shall use any Troy weight -but only for weighing of bread, gold, silver and electuaries and for no -other thing.’ - -It seems probable that, in the two centuries before Elizabeth, the -standard of the commercial pound had risen by about 8 grains. This may -have occurred when the Troy pound superseded the Tower pound. In the -adjustment, which I assume as probable, of the Troy and Averdepois -pounds so as to obtain a ratio of 5760 to 7000, the latter standard, -raising the ounce from 437 to 437-1/2 grains, and the pound by 8 grains, -may have been adopted so as to avoid or diminish the cutting down of the -new Troy pound. - -Thus was established by Elizabeth the English standard of weight. -Excellent standards of capacity and of length were also made; and she -established our silver coinage on its present basis. - -And yet, well into the nineteenth century, even into the twentieth, went -on the puzzledom of our weights and measures, left to arithmetic book -and almanack makers blinded by the glamour of the royal pound. - -No official utterance came to clear the darkness, for it was not till -1855 that the pound, then established as an Imperial standard, was -really defined. - - - 2. THE IMPERIAL POUND - -It is the weight in vacuo of a certain piece of platinum kept in London. -It is divided into 16 ounces, approximately Roman ounces. The ounce may -be divided into 16 drams. - -The pound is also divided into 7000 grains, the ounce being 437-1/2 -grains. - -It may be well to anticipate or remove any uncertainty about the grain. -The averdepois pound was only divided into ounces and drams (just as the -yard is only divided, as a yard, into quarters and nails), but on its -adjustment with the troy pound as = 7000 grains of which the latter = -5760, it became divisible into grains. These were long called Troy -grains, in consequence of the superstition about the noble Troy weight. -This word seems to have paralysed the intelligence of many persons -doubtless sensible enough in other matters; thus Rees’ ‘Cyclopædia’ -(1819) informed its readers that ‘the pound or 7680 grains avoirdupois -equals 7000 grains troy, and hence 1 grain troy equals 1·097 -avoirdupois.’ - -The weight of the standard pound in a vacuum (that is, its weight not -diminished by the buoyancy of the air) being 7000 grains, a commercial -brass pound exactly equal to the platinum standard when weighed against -it in air at 62°, would weigh 7000·6 grains in a vacuum. - - - _The Dram_ - -This, 1/16 of an ounce = 27-1/3 grains, is principally used as a unit -for powder in the cartridges of sporting guns. In Scotland it was called -a ‘drop.’ - -1673. A quech weighing 18 unce and 10 drop. - -1805. An arrow of from 20 to 24 drop weight (‘N.E.D.’). - -The dram was possibly so called from its corresponding to the quentchen, -1/8 of the German Loth or half-ounce (1/16 of a marc) as the drachm was -1/8 of a medicinal ounce.[24] Or it may merely have been called a dram -as being the part of the ounce, in the same way that the drachm was the -next lower part of the apothecaries’ ounce. - -Footnote 24: - - The dram of spirits is a measure probably so called from its being 1/8 - of a pint, i.e. half a quartern. - - - 3. SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICINAL DIVISIONS OF THE POUND - -For scientific purposes the pound is considered as of 7000 grains. It -may be divided into tenths, hundredths, thousandths; this last division -being called a Septem, as = 7 grains. The tenth of this might be called -a Septula = 0·7 grain, and the hundredth a Septicent = 0·07 grain. This -small weight would be one 100,000th of the gallon, the same proportion -as the centigramme to the litre. In analyses of water the solid -constituents are usually stated in centigrammes to the litre, or parts -in 100,000; and as grains to the gallon or parts in 70,000 they have to -be divided by 0·7 to get that ratio. Septicents to the gallon would be -the English equivalent of centigrammes to the litre. - -An Apothecaries’ Troy ounce lingers in the Board of Trade list of -standards, for a permissive use utterly unrequired by medical -prescribers or by druggists; the British Pharmacopœia only recognising -Imperial weight, the ounce and the grain. For convenience, a weight of -60 grains is called a Drachm, and one of 20 grains is called a Scruple. -It is most rare for prescriptions to contain an ounce of any solid -medicine; and when an ounce of such a medicine is most exceptionally -prescribed, it might be an Imperial ounce, just as ounces of fluid -medicines prescribed are Imperial ounces. - - - 4. THE LONG HUNDREDWEIGHT - -The multiples of the pound were originally, like its divisions, in a -sexdecimal series, with an alternative series to bring in the -hundredweight, i.e. the true Cwt. - - 16 lb. 1 stone - 16 stone 1 wey = 256 lb. - 2 weys 1 quarter = 500 lb. approximately - 8 „ 1 ton = 2000 lb. „ - 16 „ 1 last = 4000 lb. „ - -The approximative relation of the quarter, strictly speaking of 512 lb., -mattered but little, as it applied to corn-measure, in which the -measured quarter, 8 bushels, varied from 500 lb. for wheat of 62-1/2 lb. -to the bushel, to 512 lb. for heavy wheat of 64 lb. to the bushel. The -arrangement was convenient for the corn-trade and could not give rise to -fraud; and the main object of all laws on weights and measures should be -to prevent fraud, especially in retail trade. - -This convenient arrangement was altered in the times of Edward I and -Edward III. The former King found the Cwt. of 100 lb. with a quarter of -25 lb. and a sixteenth = 6-1/4 lb. as its nail or clove. In his Acts -there is mention of the 100 weight, the 1000 weight, the 2000 weight. -But by the Ordinance of Measures 31 Edw. I, 1302, a distractingly -obscure statute, no less than three different weights are ordered for -the stone: - -A stone for lead of 12 lb. - -A London stone of 12-1/2 lb., one-eighth of the true Cwt. - -A stone for groceries of 8 lb.; and 13-1/2 stone to make a Cwt. of 108 -lb. - -And the ‘fotmal’ of lead is to be 6 stones of 12 lb. but less 2 lb., -‘which are 70 lb. making 5 stones.’ - -Here then we see, besides a 12 lb. stone for lead, - - (_a_) The true Cwt. of 100 lb. divided into quarters and nails. - - (_b_) A transitional Cwt. of 108 lb. in 13-1/2 old half-stones - of 8 lb. - - (_c_) A new Cwt. of 112 lb. in 8 stones of 14 lb. - -The Cwt. (centena) of 108 lb. seems to have been preparatory to the Cwt. -of 112 lb. mentioned in this Ordinance (if it be not a later -interpolation) and established later by Edward III. It preserved, for a -time, the ancient half-stone of 8 lb., but by the inconvenient process -of making 13-1/2 of these as the Cwt.; probably to prepare the merchant -for a new Cwt. of 112 lb. first in 14 stones of 8 lb. and then in 8 -stones of 14 lb. - -This is the Cwt. which has come down from Edward III to the present day, -against which trade has had to struggle more or less successfully ever -since, and which torments the schoolboy with sums in tons, cwts., qrs. -and lb. - -To this day the old Stone of 16 lb. or its half, the Clove of 8 lb., -still continues in use. The butcher’s and fishmonger’s stone is 8 lb., -and cheese is sold, in most parts of England, by the 16 lb. stone, as it -was five or six centuries ago. In 1434, by 9 Henry VI, it was ordered -that the Wey of cheese should contain 32 cloves, yet we learn from -Arnold (1500) that the weight of Suffolk Cheese is xij score and xvj -lb., the same weight as the wey (16 × 16 = 256 lb.), and Recorde (1543) -says that for butter and cheese ‘a clove containeth 8 lb. and a wey 32 -cloves which is 256 lb.’ By 10 Anne (1712) a barrel of soap is to -contain 256 lb., i.e. a Wey. - -The Plantagenet 14 lb. stone is used for flour and potatoes, &c., but -the load, the modern form of the wey, is 18 stone of 14 lb. = 252 lb., -evidently an approximately near substitute for the 16 × 16 lb. = 256 lb. -of the Wey, there being until quite recently no lawful weights allowed -above 7 lb. but in multiples of that weight. The load, like the wey, has -the advantage of being equal to 4 bushels of heavy corn at 63 lb., so -that it is half of the Quarter and an eighth of the wheat-chaldron or -ton-measure. - -What was the reason for the Plantagenet Cwt.? for the inconvenient unit, -rightly rejected by our brethren in North America, and in several -colonies? - -Edward I’s intermediate Cwt. of 108 lb. seems to show that it was -intended to bring our Cwt. up to that of foreign countries using Troy -pounds, 108 lb. being very close to the French and Flemish quintal -(Arabic cantar) of 100 Troy lb. The wool-trade with Flanders, the -dominion of the Plantagenets in France, may have been the motives for -this increase. - -The hypothesis that the Cwt. was made 112 lb. so as to be equal to 100 -long Troy lb. of 16 Troy ounces, is excluded by the ratio of averdepois -to long troy being 100 to 109·7 and also by the new Cwt. dating at least -from the time of Edward III, when the royal lb. was still Tower, not -Troy, with a ratio to averdepois of 100 to 128; and it was certainly not -of 16 ounces. - -The only lawful multiples of the Imperial pound were, until quite -recently, those of the stone series: - - 7 lb. . . a clove. - 14 lb. . . a stone. - 28 lb. . . a quarter-Cwt. - 56 lb. . . a half-Cwt. - 112 lb. . . a Cwt. - 2240 lb. . . a ton. - -And the only lawful weights were those of 56, 28, 14, 7, 4, 2, and 1 lb. - -I have had some personal experience of the inconvenience of these -weights. For years I had to weigh recruits and other soldiers, recording -their weights in pounds with this inconvenient set of weights. To get -the weight of a man of 152 lb. I had to reckon 2 × 56 lb. + 28 + 7 + 4 + -1 lb. Errors were necessarily frequent when many weighings had to be -rapidly done, so I had a set of decimal weights made—20, 10, 5 lb.—and -all trouble ceased. But these weights were not lawful, at least for -trade purposes. - -There was, however, another lawful unit, the Cental, that is, the -original English Cwt., brought back to England from North America by the -corn-trade. Commerce demanded the recognition of the Cental and got it -in 1879. - -In 1902, the tobacco-trade in Liverpool, annoyed at the inconvenience of -the lawful units of weight, as inconvenient for the wholesale -tobacco-warehouse as for my military purposes, moved the Liverpool -Chamber of Commerce to get the Board of Trade to allow them to use a -half-cental weight; a whole cental, the only lawful unit of the kind, -being too heavy for handling. In reply to this request, it was suggested -that a nest of weights, 28 + 14 + 7 + 1 lb. = 50 lb. might be used. To -this the tobacco-trade objected, and after correspondence, the use of a -50 lb. weight was granted. Then they requested permission to use smaller -fractions of the cental, in fact a decimal series of 20, 10, 5 lb. And -they obtained it. So, thanks to the perseverance of the Liverpool -tobacco-merchants and Chamber of Commerce, the decimal fractions of the -Cental are now lawful weights, and no one need use the inconvenient 14 -lb. stone series. - - - 5. WOOL AND LEAD WEIGHT - - - _Wool Weight_ - -The revenue of the Plantagenet kings being largely derived from duties -on the export of wool, the weight of the sack was fixed by statute. By -31 Edw. I ‘the sack of wool ought to weigh 28 stone of 12-1/2 lb.’ = 350 -lb. By 14 Edw. III ‘the sack shall contain 26 stone and each stone 14 -lb.’ = 364 lb., i.e. 2 weys of 13 stone. This regulation was supported -by other statutes, in 1389 and 1496, and appears to have had due effect, -for it is the standard at the present time: 26 stone or 13 ‘tods.’ - -Why was this particular weight ordered? - -Possibly because the sack thus corresponded nearly to the skippund -(ship-pound) of the Baltic trade and of Scotland, a weight of 20 lispund -each of 16 Norse Troy pounds or of 20 pounds of light standard = 352 to -375 lb. The Baltic skippund at the present day is about 350 lb. - -In Scotland the sack of wool was ordered to be 24 stone, which was -equivalent to 26 English stone, in proportion to the heavier weight of -the Scots pound. - -The Plantagenet domination in France caused the stone to pass there, -though not always at English weight; and there being no regular weight -in France between the pound and the quintal, local stones came into use. -‘Les laines vend on par sacs et par pois, par pierres, par claus et par -livres,’ the French terms for the sack, the wey, the stone, the clove -and the pound.[25] Sometimes the stone was called ‘gal’ (stone, _galet_, -shingle) and the clove ‘demi-gal’ (Livre blanc de l’hotel de ville -d’Abbeville). The French stone was of variable weight. One record gives -the sack of wool (= 4 Montpellier light quintals) as of 25 pierres, -which would make them 9 lb. each. Another record gives it as 36 stone of -9 standard pounds (= 10 English pounds). - -Footnote 25: - - See section on the Nail and the Clove, Chap. XX. - -The stone appears to be extinct now in France; I find that as late as -1579 wool was sold in Burgundy by the wool-stone (_la pierre de laine_) -= 12 French or about 13 English pounds. - -While the old English wey or load was 16 × 16 = 256 lb., the wey ordered -for wool was half a sack = 182 lb. It would seem that, once the King’s -dues paid, the shipper was free to make up his sacks or sarplers of wool -as most convenient to him. The customary wey or weigh (Sc. waugh or -wall) seems to have been 32 cloves or nails of 7 lb. = 2 cwt. A ‘poke’ -of wool ‘weand 4 C. 15 nallis,’ i.e. 4 cwt. and 105 lb. A sack might be -‘6 wall and 25 naill,’ i.e. 12 cwt. and 175 lb. - -The wey or weigh became, in statute French, _poids_, _pois_; but the -scribes took the wrong _pois_ and thinking it meant ‘pease’ made it -_pisa_ in their Latin, just as they took the wrong ‘nail’ and made it L. -_clavus_, and in French _clau_, through L. _clavis_, meaning a ‘key.’ - - - _Lead Weight_ - -While the fother is 17-2/3 cwt. for coal, it is 19-1/2 cwt. = 2184 lb. -for lead. This peculiar unit, also called the char or load, is the -consequence of a statute 31 Edw. I, perhaps the most confused and -bewildering of the many confused medieval statutes on weights and -measures, and one in which subsequent interpolations may be suspected. -It ordered two stones, one of 12 lb. and another of 12-1/2 lb., and to -keep up the pretence of there being no weight other than of Tower -standard, it declared that a pound shall contain 25 shillings. This -shilling standard may be put aside. - -The 12 lb. stone is ordered apparently either as a double of a customary -‘lead-pound’ of 6 lb. or to make the customary fotmal or ‘pig’ of lead, -70 lb. weight, ‘contain 6 stones (of 12 lb.) less 2 lb.’ It also says -that the deduction of 2 lb. leaves ‘70 lb. making 5 stones.’ This -passage appears to be a subsequent interpolation after the institution -of Edward III’s 14 lb. stone. - -The fother of lead, of 30 fotmals, would thus be = 2100 lb. But the -stone of 12-1/2 lb., evidently intended to be 1/8 of the true -hundredweight, and to pave the way for the coming 14 lb. stone, is also -applied to lead. How it is not said; but the present fother, = 2184 lb., -is almost exactly equal to 30 fotmal, each of 73 lb. = 2190 lb.; and 73 -lb. is just 6 stone of 12-1/2 lb. less 2 lb. - -The 70 lb. fotmal seems to have disappeared by the seventeenth century, -but in the meantime the uncertainty of the fother led to the use of -Boole-weight, meaning the weight used at the lead-boles or natural bowls -in which lead ore was smelted. The fother, boole-weight, was 30 fotmals -of 6 stone of 14 lb. Sometimes it was of 24 fotmals = 2016 lb., that is -18 cwt. - -The meaning of Fother is given in Chapter XX. - - - 6. TRADE-UNITS OF WEIGHT - -It is unnecessary to describe or even name the various weights peculiar -to trade or local custom. Everyone in the trade knows them; out of it no -one need know them. If a person not in the trade buys a cask of wine, a -barrel of beer, a sack of flour or a load of potatoes, commonsense -prompts him to ask how many gallons or pounds are contained in these -units. It is the same in France and other countries of the metric -system, where the cask, the sack, the churnful, &c., are trade-units -with their peculiar equivalents of litres or kilogrammes. It is indeed -by the use of trade-units that manufacturers evade the rigour of the -metric system. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - ENGLISH MEASURES OF CAPACITY - - - I. THE OLD WINE MEASURES - -It has been seen that a cubic foot of water is very approximately = 1000 -Roman ounces = 62-1/2 lb. of water at the early averdepois standard. -There is reason to believe that this cubic foot was our original -wine-unit, the wine-bushel, 1/8 of it = 216 cubic inches, being the -wine-gallon; and that the cubic foot, increased in water-wheat ratio -1728 × 1·25 = 2160 c.i., was the corn-bushel. The corn-gallon, 2160/8 = -270 c.i., remained at this standard for centuries, 268·8 c.i. being the -London measure, and 272-1/4 c.i. the Winchester measure, the slight -differences being due to difficulties in casting and gauging shallow -metal pans. - -That the wine-gallon was originally 1/8 cubic foot is rendered very -probable by the existence in Ireland of a gallon of almost exactly that -capacity. This gallon was legalised for ale, beer and spirits by George -II (1735) at a capacity of 217·6 c.i. - -The rise of the wine-gallon in England to 219 c.i., to 224 c.i., and -finally to 231 c.i. under Henry VIII, seems due to two influences: - -1. The desire to make it hold 8 lb. of wine = about 222 c.i., that -weight being mentioned in statute. - -2. The influence of wine-measures used at the ports whence wine came. - -The principal unit of wine-measure at Bordeaux, and some other -continental ports, was the Velte, the equivalent of the German viertel -which was 1/4 Rhineland cubic foot = 471·6 c.i. So our gallon tended to -increase towards the measure of 235·8 c.i., the half-velte. It could not -increase further than 231 c.i. without deranging its water-wheat ratio -with the corn-gallon, already increased, temporarily at least, under -Henry VIII to 282 c.i. But the principal reason for 231 c.i. was that -this was the capacity of a cylinder 7 inches in diameter and 6 inches -deep. It has always been desirable that market-measures should be of -dimensions easily remembered and readily gauged with a foot-rule. The -wine-gallon of 231 c.i., confirmed by the new measures made by -Elizabeth’s order, was afterwards known as Queen Anne’s gallon. It is to -this day the fluid gallon of the United States, Canada and Ceylon. - -The half-velte was the French _galon_, a word connected with _galloie_, -_jallaie_, _jalle_, _jarre_, with our ‘jar’ and with ‘gauge,’ Fr. -_jauge_. It may be mentioned that ‘velte’ sometimes meant a gauging-rod -for wine-casks. - -The wine-gallon was divided into 2 pots, or 4 quarts or 8 pints. The -wine-pint = 16·57 fluid ounces = 5/6 Imperial pint. - - - _Cask Measures_ - -By 2 Henry VI (1423)— - - The wine-Hogshead was 63 gallons - The Pipe „ 126 „ - The Tun (tonnel) „ 252 „ (12 score and 12). - -Thus the hogshead (Flemish _okshoofd_, ox-head) was approximately 1/4 of -the tun or fluid ton. - - 252 wine-gallons of 8 lb. = 2016 lb. - -The customary beer-barrel contained, and still contains, 36 gallons (now -Imperial gallons). It is probable that it was originally a half-hogshead -= 31-1/2 or 32 gallons, and that it rose as an indirect consequence of -the statutory rise of the Cwt. and Ton. (This will be explained under -Corn Measure.) - -The half-barrel of 18 gallons was called a Kilderkin, from the old -Flemish word _kinderkin_, a little child. To it corresponded the Runlet -of 18-1/2 wine-gallons (1483), the German Eimer or double Anker. - -The quarter-barrel of 9 gallons is a Firkin, a word in which _vierde_, a -fourth, replaces _kinder_; so that in the fifteenth century it was a -Ferdekyn. - -But the ale-barrel remained nominally at 32 gallons, its kilderkin at -16, its firkin at 8 gallons. This counterbalanced the increase of the -ale-gallon to 282 c.i. How did this rise come about? The probable -explanation is that the ale-gallon was really a corn-gallon of Henry VII -and VIII; it disappeared for corn, but it remained for ale. - - - 2. THE ALE-GALLON - -Henry III proclaimed on his accession that, according to Magna Charta, -there should be but one standard of measure and of weight throughout the -realm, one measure of wine, one measure of ale, and one measure of corn. - -There seems to be no information extant about the second of these -measures; it was presumably the same as the corn-gallon. A statute of -Henry VIII ordered the barrel of beer to be 36 gallons and that of ale -32 gallons, whence it may be presumed that the former were wine-gallons -and the latter corn-gallons, 32 and 36 being taken as the whole numbers -nearly proportionate to wine and corn measure, and admitting of the -quarter-barrel being 8 gallons of ale and 9 of beer.[26] - -Footnote 26: - - For a long time the difference between ale and beer was that beer was - hopped. - -In 1496 (temp. Henry VII) a new corn-bushel was made = 2240 c.i., its -gallon being 280 c.i. While it is possible that this increase was due to -inaccurate casting, yet it might be that the new corn-gallon was -intended to be on a water-wheat ratio with the wine-gallon, then = 224 -c.i. (224 × 1-1/4 = 280), in the same way that the usual corn-gallon of -270 c.i. was in that ratio to the original 1/8 cubic foot gallon of 216 -c.i. (216 × 1-1/4 = 270).[27] - -Footnote 27: - - It has been suggested that the 280 c.i. corn-gallon was constructed so - as to have Averdepois-Troy ratio to the 231 c.i. wine-gallon - (1·215 : 1). But the latter had not at the time risen to 231 c.i., and - it is more probable that the ratio was that of water to wheat, the - pound-pint ratio. - -In 1531 the corn-gallon was increased to 282 c.i. But under Elizabeth -the corn-gallon was restored to its old standard of 1/8 bushel = -2150·4/8 c.i. = 268·8 c.i. and the wine-gallon fixed at 231 c.i. At -these standards both gallons stood until their unification in 1824. -Confirmed by Queen Anne, they are known by her name. - -But the corn-gallon of Henry VIII, = 282 c.i., remained as the -Ale-gallon, probably because it had become the standard measure for -malt. - - - _The Quart and Pint_ - -While the wine-pint was an eighth of a wine-gallon the common pint of -England was the Ale-pint, an eighth of the Tudor Ale-gallon, which was -280 or 282 cubic inches and differed little from the Imperial gallon = -277·27 cubic inches. So the pint of ale in Tudor times differed little -from an Imperial pint. - -The Quart and Pint of Elizabeth preserved at the Standards Office are -larger than Imperial measure, the Quart holding 40·53 ounces as compared -with the 40 ounces of the Imperial quart; it is one-fourth of a gallon -of 280 cubic inches, the Tudor ale-gallon. - - - 3. CORN MEASURE - -It has been seen that Henry III’s statute defined the gallon as -containing 8 lb. of wine, and Edward I’s as containing 8 lb. of wheat. -It is probable that the Magna Charta principle of ‘one weight, one -measure’ prevented the mention of two different gallons, as it prevented -the mention of two different pounds. But we know that there were two -gallons. In England as in ancient Greece the unit of corn-measure was -the fluid measure of the Talent increased in water-wheat ratio; so our -cubic foot, taken as a wine-bushel of 8 wine-gallons, and increased -one-fourth, gave the corn-bushel of 8 corn-gallons. - - 1728/8 c.i. = 216 c.i., the original wine-gallon, - 1728 c.i. × 1·25 = 2160 c.i., the corn-bushel, - -of which 1/8 = 270 c.i. was the corn-gallon. - -It has been seen that the wine-gallon increased to 231 c.i., but the -corn-standard remained for centuries (excepting a vagary temp. Henry VII -and VIII) at very nearly its original value. It must be remembered how -difficult it must have been to cast accurately a shallow brass pan -18-1/2 inches in diameter and only 8 inches deep; and this is probably -the cause of the slight difference between the two standards of -corn-measure, the London bushel and the Winchester bushel. These were -simply variants, inevitable in making standard measures of the -calculated capacity of the bushel = 2160 cubic inches = 1-1/4 cubic -feet. - -The London bushel = 2150·42 c.i.; the gallon = 268·8 c.i. - -The Winchester bushel = 2178 c.i.; the gallon = 272-1/4 c.i. - -The latter standard was so called, it is said, because its standard had -been kept at Winchester since the time of King Edgar; it was, by 22 -Chas. II (1670) and 10 Geo. III (1769), the standard measure for corn -and other dry goods. - -But by 13 Wm. III (1702) and by 5 Anne (1707) the London bushel was the -standard, and this is the present corn-bushel of the United States. It -is, however, commonly called, but inaccurately, a Winchester bushel. - - - 4. THE QUARTER AND THE CHALDRON - -When the Cwt. was raised to 112 lb. and the Ton to 2240 lb. the Chaldron -or ton-measure of wheat was increased by statute from 4 × 8 = 32 bushels -to 36 bushels. One would think it would follow that the Quarter would be -raised from 8 to 9 bushels. No, it was not raised, by law at least; so -the corn-trade raised it themselves, thinking that evidently if a -chaldron is now 36 bushels, for the quarter of it we must ask or give 9 -bushels. - -But this practice was apparently held to be an offence against the -repeated royal declarations beginning with the 32 wheat-corn weight of -the penny and ending with the ‘bushel which is the eighth part of the -Quarter.’ While one statute raised the Chaldron to 36 bushels, another -declared that its quarter was to remain at 8 bushels. In 15 Rich. II -(1391) it is declared that ‘8 bushels striked should make the Quarter of -corn nevertheless that divers people will not buy but 9 bushels for the -Quarter.’ - -As statutes of 1436 and 1496 repeated this prohibition of any increase -of the quarter one may presume that the forbidden practice continued, -the increased quarter being called a Vat. But there was another way of -evading these statutes; the old story with bad legislation; _Fatta la -lege, trovato l’inganno_. It became in many parts customary to give, not -a long-quarter, but a long-bushel of 9 gallons, so that 8 long-bushels -would make the new quarter-chaldron. It was possibly a relic of this -practice which caused the Chester corn-measure to become 70 lb., roughly -62-1/2 lb. × 9/8 = 70·3 lb. Cheshire perhaps benefited by its -neighbourhood to Lancashire, which was specially exempted by 13 Rich. II -from the penalties for offences against the unity of weights and -measures, ‘because in that county it hath always been used to have -greater measure than in any other part of the realm.’[28] Yet -long-bushels are sometimes the striked equivalents of heaped measure. - -Footnote 28: - - Curiously Lancashire still uses the Cheshire acre, and in some parts a - pound of butter is a pound + the weight of 2 pennies, formerly the - heavy Georgian ounce-pennies, now the lighter bronze coins. - -But in most parts of the country the attempts to correct stupid -legislation were abandoned, and so the Chaldron of 36 bushels fell -almost out of use and the Quarter ceased to be a quarter of any measure. -In 1707 Bishop Fleetwood (‘Chronicon preciosum’) could only say -‘doubtless a Quarter is a quarter or fourth part of some load or -weight.’ And there is a story that Lord Kelvin, asking the head of the -Standards Office (giving evidence before a Royal Commission on Weights -and Measures) of what a Quarter was the quarter, failed to obtain any -light on the subject. And he himself did not know. - -But since the corn-trade brought back from North America the old ton of -20 centals, the quarter has found its long-lost father. The freight-ton -of ships, 40 cubic feet of cargo, contains 32 bushels (at 1-1/4 cubic -feet to the bushel), that is 4 Quarters or 2000 lb. of average wheat = -20 centals. - - - 5. COAL MEASURE - -The Chaldron of 36 bushels is used for the sale of coke and in -Northumberland for coal. - -A ‘keel’ of coal, i.e. the load of the Tyneside lighter known as a -‘keel,’ was, up till the fifteenth century, 20 ‘chaldres,’ the measure -of 20 old tons: - - The old chaldron of wheat, 32 bushels of 62-1/2 lb. = 2000 lb. - „ „ „ „ coal, 25 „ „ 80 lb. = 2000 lb. - -When the old Chaldron became illegal it gradually gave place to the new -ton and to the new chaldron. The Newcastle chaldron was 2 statute -chaldrons = 72 bushels. The modern keel of coal is 21·2 tons = 16 -statute chaldrons of 36 bushels = 8 Newcastle chaldrons. This double -chaldron is then 72 bushels, or, as 1/8 of the keel, = 21·2 tons, it is -53 cwt., and it is divided into 3 Fother of 17-2/3 cwt. = 1966 lb. or -nearly the old ton of 2000 lb. Thus the Newcastle fother is nearly the -old ton, and the keel of 24 fothers or old tons has taken the place of -the sixteenth-century keel of 20 old tons. - -In the eighteenth century the coal-bushel was slightly changed from -London or Winchester standard. 12 Anne (1714) ordered a special -coal-bushel. It was defined as containing a Winchester bushel and a -quart, 33 instead of 32 quarts = 2218 cubic inches, and coal was to be -sold by the chalder of 36 such bushels, heaped. - -This new bushel was 1/8 inch more in diameter and in depth than the old -standard; it arose probably from a faulty casting. It is remarkable, -inasmuch as its capacity is almost exactly that of the Edinburgh firlot -and also of the Imperial bushel instituted a century later. - -The Chaldron survives for coke. When coal is coked at the gas-works it -swells, so that a ton of coal, = about 3/4 chaldron, yields about a -chaldron of coke. - - - _Heaped Measure_ - -It has been seen that in 1392 the bushel was to be measured ‘striked’ -and not heaped. Yet the love of extra weight or measure is so ingrained -in human nature that it persisted, at least in retail transactions. With -a pan-shaped bushel more than twice as broad as deep, heaping increased -the measure by not less than one-fourth. With a drum-shaped bushel, its -depth equal to its diameter, the increase of heaped over striked measure -would be about an eighth, so that a bushel of wheat would weigh about 70 -lb. instead of 62 lb. Heaped measure was made illegal in 1835. - -It is possible that some long-bushels (as that of Chester = 70 lb.) were -originally, or actually, heaped bushels. - - - 6. THE IMPERIAL GALLON - -In 1824 some of our measures were reorganised, and among the changes was -the unification of wine and corn measure. The better concordance of -capacity with weight by a single gallon containing exactly 10 lb. of -water at ordinary temperature has been a great advantage. It has -enlarged the decimal capabilities of our system without impairing its -convenient and popular series of capacity units. It is indeed an -advantage that the slight increase of the corn-gallon now gives a weight -of 64 lb. good wheat to the bushel, so that the pint corresponds very -exactly to a pound of wheat. - -Yet it must be remembered that our brethren of the United States, not -usually deemed unprogressive, get on very well with Queen Anne’s -wine-gallon and corn-gallon. - -The new gallon holds exactly 10 lb. of pure water at 62° or 277·274 -cubic inches. - -The bushel is of the capacity of 2218·19 cubic inches. It holds 80 lb. -of pure water. - -The change from the old corn-gallon was very slight, increasing it by -only 3 per cent., from 268·8 to 277·27 c.i. (and rather less from the -Winchester gallon of 270 c.i.), so that the bushel formerly holding -62-1/2 lb. of wheat now holds 64 lb. - -Wine-measure was increased by almost exactly 20 per cent., from 231 c.i. -to 277·27 c.i., so that a gallon of wine is contained in 6 customary -bottles, instead of 5 as formerly, or as at present in the United -States. - -Bushel measures are of two shapes: the drum-shape, 15 inches diameter by -12-2/4 inches deep, and the standard shape (that of the old -corn-measure), 18-1/2 inches diameter by 8-1/4 inches deep. - -Nothing has been changed in the excellent octonary series of measures, -pint, gallon, bushel, quarter (eight of the first making one of the -second and so on), with binary sub-units—some of them general, as the -quart; others local, as the coomb; and some more or less obsolete, as -the tuffet, famous in nursery rhyme. - - - MEASURES OF CAPACITY - - ─────────────────────┬───┬───────────────────────────────────────── - 2 Noggins 1 Gill │ │ (In the South 4 gills to a pint) - 2 Gills 1 Pint │ │20 oz. water│1 lb. wheat - │ │ │ - 2 Pints 1 Quart │⎫ │ │ - 2 Quarts 1 Pottle │⎬ 8│ │ - 2 Pottles 1 Gallon │⎭ │10 lb. water│8 lb. wheat - │ │ │ - 2 Gallons 1 Peck │⎫ │ │16 lb. wheat (old stone) - 2 Pecks 1 Tuffet │⎬ 8│ │ - 2 Tuffets 1 Bushel │⎭ │80 lb. water│62-64 lb. wheat - │ │ │ - 2 Bushels 1 Strike │⎫ │ │ - 2 Strikes 1 Coomb │⎬ 8│ │256 lb. wheat (16 old stone) - 2 Coombs 1 Quarter │⎭ │ │500-512 lb. wheat - │ │ │ - 4 Quarters 1 Corn-ton│ │ │40 cubic feet - ─────────────────────┴───┴────────────┴──────────────────────────── - -These measures can be used for either dry goods or fluids. The smaller -measures below a pint are used for fluids. - - - _Fluid Measures_ - -The institution of the Imperial gallon, while increasing corn-measure by -3 per cent., had less effect on Ale-measure. The Ale-pint, being 1/8 of -the Ale-gallon of 282 cubic inches, was somewhat larger than the new -Imperial pint, holding about 20-1/4 ounces; so the change to the -Imperial pint of 20 ounces was practically imperceptible. - -The Gill is officially, according to southern custom, a 1/4 pint; but in -Lancashire and the north it is a half-pint. The name Gill, like the Jug -synonym for Pint, is part of a popular series of names for beer or -spirit measures. Jug is the feminine of Jack, with which name Gill is -familiarly associated. - - Pint or Jug 20 ounces - 1/2 „ „ Gill (in the north) 10 „ - 1/4 „ „ Jack (or Noggin) 5 „ - 1/8 „ „ Jock (a dram) 2 1/2 „ - 1/16 „ „ Joey 1 1/4 „ - -The customary capacity of wine-bottles is 1/6 gallon = 26-2/3 ounces. So -six customary bottles go to the gallon, and a customary ‘dozen’ of wine -or spirits = 2 gallons. - -In India the gallon of canteen-spirit, rum or arrack, is reckoned as 48 -drams, each 1/8 bottle or 3-1/3 fluid ounces. - - - 7. MEDICINAL FLUID MEASURES - -The Imperial gallon, as 10 lb. of water = 160 fluid ounces, each of -437-1/2 grains of water at standard temperature. - -Its eighth part, the Pint, contains 20 ounces weight or 20 fluid-ounces -measure. It is so divided on druggists’ glass measures. The fluid ounce -is divided into 8 fluid drachms, each of 60 minims, approximately fluid -grains. - -In the United States, where the old wine-gallon of 231 cubic inches is -retained, the old wine-pint of 16 fluid ounces is used. 231 c.i. × -252·458 (grains of water in 1 c.i.) gives— - - 58,317·8 grains for the gallon - 7,289·7 „ „ „ pint - 455·6 „ „ „ ounce - -The fluid ounce is divided as in England into 8 fluid drachms, of 60 -minims. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - THE MINT-POUNDS - - - 1. THE SAXON OR TOWER POUND - -At some time before the Norman Conquest the Marc of Cologne was brought -to England, probably only as the mint-standard of the later English -kings, for the 16-ounce Roman pound was already long-established as the -commercial weight. - -The standard of the Cologne marc has never varied much. - -Its mean weight = 3608 grains; when doubled it made a pound = 7216 -grains, with an ounce = 451 grains. This pound is almost identical with -the greater rotl of Al-Mamūn, 1/100 of the cantar = 102·92 lb.; and the -old Prussian pound of Cologne standard was 1/100 of the Prussian centner -= 103·11 lb. - -The Norman Conquest made no change; the Saxon pound became the Tower -pound, the King’s treasury or mint being in the Tower of London. The -Tower pound of standard silver was coined into 240 silver pennies, -which, at 22-1/2 grains, their weight down to the time of Edward III, -gives 5400 grains for the pound and 450 grains for the ounce. An actual -weight = 5404 grains was found in the Pyx chamber in 1842. - -The shilling, of 12 pence, was until Tudor times only money of account. -But it was also a weight of account, the pound being either 12 ounces of -20 pennyweight, or 20 shillings of 12 pennyweight. - -‘When a quarter of wheat is sold for 12 pence, the wastel-bread of a -farthing shall weigh 6 li. and 16 s. But bread cocket of a farthing -shall weigh more by 2 s.’ (Assize of Bread, 51 Henry III.) That is, the -farthing loaf shall weigh 6-16/20 Tower lb. = 5-1/4 averdepois lb., and -the second sort 24 dwt. or 1-1/5 Tower ounce more. - -Here is an instance of the confusion caused by making bread, like gold, -silver and medicines, saleable only by the royal pound. This system of a -peculiar pound for bread lasted till the eighteenth century. - -Under Edward I the halfpenny loaf weighed 40 s., that is 2 lb. Tower = a -little more than 1-1/2 lb. averdepois. - -Moneyers and goldsmiths divided the dwt. or original weight of the -silver penny, for fine weighing, on the Dutch system, that is into 2 -mayles, 4 ferlings 8 troisken, 16 deusken, 32 azen (aces). This would -account for the 32 wheat-corns which the silver penny was always -supposed to weigh, however many pence the mint struck from the pound of -silver. - -The mayle and ferling (Fr. _maille_ and _felin_) were the mint-names for -the silver halfpenny and farthing. - -Under the gradual influence of Troy weight the dwt. Tower was also -divided into 24 parts or grains. It was so divided in the time of Edward -III. - -It must be remembered that there was absolutely no definition of Tower -weight, nothing but the usual proclamation about the 32 wheat-corns, a -convenient definition, as they still appeared to balance the penny when -it had fallen to half its original weight. - - - 2. THE TROY POUND - -The pound of Troie is mentioned in the time of Henry IV, and in the next -reign goldsmiths were ordered to use _la libre de Troy_, though by 9 -Henry V mint-rates were still stated in _la libre de Tour_. By 2 Henry -VI the price of standard silver is fixed at 30_s._ la livre du Troie, -which means that 12 × 30 pennies of 15 grains were being coined from a -pound of 5400 grains, evidently still a Tower pound. Notwithstanding the -change of name, the Troy pound was not proclaimed as the royal pound -until 1527, when by 18 Henry VII ‘the pounde Towre shall be no more -used, but all manner of golde and sylver shall be wayed by the pounde -Troye which excedith the pound Towre in weight 3 quarters of the ounce.’ -But the Troy pound had been used concurrently with the old mint-pound -for a long time, and there had been two standards at the mint. - -According to an anonymous writer in 1507 (quoted in Snelling’s ‘View of -the Silver Coin and Coinage,’ 1762) ‘it is a right great untruth and -deceit that any such pound Toweres should be occupied, for that thereby -the merchant is deceived subtilly and the mint master is thereby -profited.’ - -There is no doubt that after the conquest of England by Henry Tudor a -cloud of deceit came over the coinage, deceit only ended by Elizabeth’s -establishment of the coinage on an honest basis. Comparing the -declaration of weights, measures, and coinage by Henry III in 1266 with -that of 12 Henry VII in 1496, the latter does not show to advantage. It -orders— - - That every Pound contain 12 ounces of Troy weight and every - ounce contain 20 sterlings and every Sterling be of the weight - of 32 corns of wheat that grew in the midst of the ear according - to the old law of the said land. - -Meanwhile the Troy ounce of silver was being coined, not into 20, but -into 40 sterlings or pennies. But each of these was supposed to weigh 32 -wheat-corns just as they did when they were really 20 to the ounce, -albeit a Tower ounce. - - - _Whence came the Troy Pound?_ - -It is probable that the name of the King’s Troy pound came from the marc -of Troyes, but it is certain that the English Troy pound no more came -from Troyes than the ‘pound Toweres’ came from Tours. - -There were four principal marcs in France: - - Marc de Troyes its oz. = 472·1 grains - „ „ La Rochelle „ = 443·4 „ - „ „ Limoges „ = 436·5 „ - „ „ Tours „ = 430·9 „ - -The marc of Troyes doubled made the livre poids de marc, the Paris -standard = 7554 grains. - -That of La Rochelle, the marc d’Angleterre, would appear from its name -to have been, originally at least, the marc of Cologne, Tower standard, -but its standard corresponds almost exactly to the marc of Castille. I -make inquiries at La Rochelle, and am informed that the La Rochelle mint -had at one time been coining for Spain, perhaps at the time of -Plantagenet dominion in the South. - -The marc of Limoges coincides nearly exactly with 8 ounces averdepois of -Plantagenet times; it will be remembered that Limoges was for a long -time an English Plantagenet city. - -The marc of Tours is of southern rather than northern type. - -None of these marcs seem to have any relation with the Troy weight of -England. - -There appears to have been in Northern France, England and Scotland, -about the eighth century, a heavy 16-ounce pound of nearly 8500 grains, -possibly related, through the Russian pound, with the miná of the -Greek-Asiatic talent = 8415 grains. This was probably the heavy pound -which survived in Guernsey up till the eighteenth century; and perhaps -other pounds said to be of 18 ounces, such as that of Cumberland up to a -generation ago, were really survivals of this heavy northern pound. -Whether this pound dwindled spontaneously, or whether it was superseded -by the pound derived, either directly from the lesser Arabic rotl with -an ounce = 480-1/4 grains, or indirectly from an ounce of 10 dirhems, of -about 48 grains, is difficult to say. All that is known is that there is -a family of pounds usually known as Troy with an ounce varying between -483 and 472 grains; that the pennies of Charlemagne averaging 25 grains -correspond to an ounce of about 500 grains, possibly more, which is -certainly not modern French Troy, and that many Saxon pennies of about -that time were much heavier than those of the times nearer to the -Conquest. The Northern Troy pounds show the following variations: - - Swedish mark-weight pund, its ounce = 483·3 grains - Danish solvpund „ = 481·5 „ - Scots Tron pound „ = 481·1 „ - Bremen pound „ = 480·8 „ - Norwegian skaalpund „ = 477·4 „ - Amsterdam pound „ = 476·6 „ - Scots Trois „ „ = 475·5 „ - Dutch Troy „ „ = 474·7 „ - French Troy „ „ = 472·1 „ - -The variation in these Troy pounds seems due to their ounces being 10 -dirhems of 48 grains, more or less; the lightest ounce, that of French -Troy, being 10 dirhems of 47·1 grains, the same as the dirhem of which -the Provençal ounce, 377 grains, contained 8. - -Our Troy pound, while taking its name, like the Scots and Dutch pound, -from the Troyes marc, took its standard from some pound of full weight, -possibly from the Bremen pound, introduced by the Hanse merchants. Its -exact standard appears due to the influence of the averdepois pound, and -this would explain— - - - _How the Averdepois Pound was of 7000 Grains._ - -This division into 7000 grains was not arbitrary, but it was due to the -desire to give it as simple a ratio as possible to the new Troy pound. -It was found by a Parliamentary Committee in 1758 to weigh 7000 of those -grains into which the Troy pound had always been divided, necessarily -into 5760 of them (12 oz. × 20 dwt. × 24 grs.). Now it seems probable -that when the Troy pound was adopted for mint purposes its weight might -be modified, on the advice of goldsmiths and merchants, so as to give it -a convenient relation to the old-established averdepois pound. Supposing -the new pound were of the Bremen standard, 7693 grains, of which 12 -ounces = 5769·6 grains, then its weight would be to that of averdepois -as 5769·6 to 7000, or as 5760 to 6987·8. To make the proportion 5760 to -7000 it would be necessary to decrease the weight of the Troy pound by -about 8 grains or to increase that of the averdepois pound by about 10 -grains. It is probable that the latter alternative was adopted, and that -the averdepois pound was raised in such proportion that it now weighed -7000 grains of the Troy pound = 5760 grains. This accounts for the rise -in the weight of the averdepois standard between Plantagenet and -Elizabethan times, making the ounce = 437-1/2 grains instead of the 437 -grains of the Roman ounce. - -It is not improbable that the change of mint-standard from Tower to Troy -was due to the very inconvenient ratio of the Tower pound to the -averdepois pound. The mint-pound being necessarily divided into 12 -ounces of 20 pennyweight of 24 parts or grains = 5760 parts, the ratio -of the Tower and averdepois pounds was 5400 to nearly 7000, or -5760 : 7453, the latter figure being about the number of Tower grains = -0·937 grain, contained in the original averdepois pound. The -introduction of a new pound, which by slight modification in either it -or the averdepois pound would give the simpler ratio of 5760 to 7000, -would probably be most welcome to the mercantile community. - -In Teutonic countries the usual system of dividing the pounds was as -follows: - - Mint-marc of 8 oz. × 20 dwt. × 24 grs. (or 32 azen). Oz. of 480 grains. - Medicinal lb. of 12 oz. × 24 scruples × 20 grs. Oz. of 480 grains. - Commercial ⎧ Marc of 16 loth × 16 ort (German). - ⎩ lb. of 16 oz. × 16 drams (English). - -The Latin nations followed the ancient Roman system of dividing the -ounce: - - Mint-pound of 12 oz. × 6 sextulæ × 24 siliquæ = 1728 - siliquæ, the ounce being of 6 × 24 = 144 siliquæ or - carats, and the carat of 4 grains, giving 576 grains in - an ounce. - - Medicinal lb. of 12 oz. ⎧ × 8 drachmæ × 3 scrupuli × 24 granæ, - ⎩ × 8 drachmæ × 3 scrupuli × 2 oboli × 12 - granæ. - -In Southern France: - - Pound of 16 oz. × 8 ternau × 3 denié × 24 gran. - -There we see the scruple becomes a pennyweight, and the obolus or -half-scruple becomes a halfpenny. - -In Northern France: - - Mint-marc 8 oz. × 8 gros × 3 deniers × 24 grains. - Medicinal lb. of 12 oz. × 8 drachmes × 3 scrupules × 24 grains. - Commercial lb. of 16 oz. × 8 gros × 72 grains. - -In this system, common to France, Spain, Portugal, Florence, and Rome, -the ounce is divided into 576 parts or grains, while the Troy ounce of -the rest of Europe is of 480 grains. This makes the Latin grain lighter. - -In the medicinal pound, more or less international throughout the West, -the 24 Scruples of the ounce are grouped into 8 drachms of 3 scruples. - -It may be concluded that the English Troy pound was a Northern weight -with its ounce of 480 instead of 576 parts. It has no direct connexion -but in name with the marc of Troyes. It probably came to us as an -apothecary’s and goldsmith’s pound, and in the latter, the Latin factors -24 scruples × 20 grains were transposed for mint purposes so as to -preserve the ancient pennyweight 1/20 ounce of the Tower pound. But in -the apothecary’s Troy pound the ounce remained divided into 24 scruples -(8 drachms of 3 scruples) each of 20 grains as in other countries except -France, &c. - -The story of the goldsmiths’ Carat and Grain will be found in Chapter -XX, that of the Provençal weights, from which the French Troy was -derived, in Chapter XVIII. - - - 3. THE PRIDE AND FALL OF TROY - -The myth of the 32 wheat-corns which formed the basis of the Tower pound -= 5400 grains, passed to the Troy pound = 5760 grains, and this -deliberate fiction lasted till the time of Elizabeth and perhaps later. -It did little harm as regards these mint-pounds, but its application to -the Averdepois pound, alleged to be an offshoot of the royal pound, -either as 25 shillings, that is 300 pennyweights of 32 wheat-corns, or -as 15 ounces Troy, or at a later period as 16 ounces Troy, produced a -mental obliquity which is most lamentable. - -The jury of merchants and goldsmiths appointed in 1574 to examine the -ancient standards, and construct a new set, declared that ‘the one sorte -of weight nowe in use is commonlie called the troie weight and that -other sorte thereof is also commonlie called the avoir de poiz weight, -and further they say that both the saide consiste compounded frome -thauncient Englishe penye named a sterling rounde and unclipped which -penny is limeted to waie twoo and thirtie grains of wheate in the midest -of the eare and twentie of those pence make an oz. and twelf of those -ounc make one pound troie.’ They go on to ‘saie that the said twoo -sortes of weights doe differ in weight the one from the other three -ounces troie at the pounde weight, for the pounde weight troie doth -consiste onlie of xii oz. troie and the lb. weight of avoir de poiz -weight dothe consiste of fiftene ounc troie.’ - -Thomas Hylles, in his ‘Arte of Vulgar Arithmeticke’ (1600), showed -himself emancipated from the superstition of troy weight so far as to -say: - -‘15 ounces of Troy weight should by the statute make 1 pound of -haverdepoise, but the same pound weyeth commonly but 14 ounces 1/2 Troy, -14 ounces 3/5 at the uttermost.’ - - (14-1/2 oz. troy = 6960 grs.; 14-3/5 oz. = 7008 grs.) - -But he unfortunately went on to say that ‘of things liquid and dry 1 -pound of Troy weight maketh a pinte in measure,’ not seeing that 12 oz. -troy = only 13·16 oz. averdepois, while a wine-pint contained 16-2/3 -ounces of water, and a corn-pint close on 16 ounces of wheat or 20 of -water. - -But the ignorance and superstition engendered by troy weight was just as -bad in 1702 as in 1600 or even in 1500, as shown by the following -utterance of an eighteenth-century scientist: - - Troy weight, whereby bread, gold, silver, apothecaries’ wares - etc. are weighed containing only 12 ounces in the pound, each - ounce 20 pennyweight each pennyweight 24 grams. This seems to - have been the most ancient weight by its name, as derived from - the famous city of Troy, from whence Brutus and his people are - said to have descended and to have called London Troy-Novant or - New Troy. - -So said J. Ralphson, F.R.S., in his ‘Mathematical Dictionary’ (London, -1702). And then he continued: - - The second and more common weight is called Avoirdupois, being - fuller and larger weight than the other, for it contains 16 - ounces or 128 drams, viz. 384 scruples, viz. 7680 grains, by - this are weighed all kinds of grocery ware and base metals, as - iron, copper and brass, as also hemp, flax, rosin, pitch, tar - &c. - -A century later we find not much improvement in the idea of the pounds -Troy and Averdepois. - -‘The pound or 7680 grains avoirdupois equals 7000 grains troy and hence -1 grain troy equals 1·097 avoirdupois’ (Rees’ ‘Encyclopædia,’ 1819). -This is an example of the utter muddle the Troy pound had made in the -minds of otherwise intelligent people. - -Similar pedantic efforts were continued, well into the nineteenth -century, to represent the Troy pound as the sole standard of England and -the averdepois pound only respectable as an offshoot of the royal pound -used for vulgar purposes. - - - _The Assize of Bread_ - -Such fictions were helped by the old statutes which compelled the sale, -first by Tower and then by Troy weight, of bread as well as of gold, -silver, and medicines. And confusion was made worse by the use for a -long period of a third weight for bread, the Amsterdam or Scotch troy -pound. - -The peck loaf, supposed to be that produced from a peck of flour (16 -pints), was to weigh 16 of these pounds = 17 lbs. 6 oz. averdepois, the -quartern loaf 4 = 4 lb. 5 oz., and the pint loaf (to be sold at a penny -when wheat was 4_s._ a bushel or 32_s._ a quarter) was to weigh one -pound = 17 oz. 6 drams averdepois. The periodical Assize of Bread fixed -the price of the peck loaf. - -It appears then that the pound of bread was = 7600 grains, its ounce = -475 grains, which was about the Scottish (and Dutch) troy standard. It -was probably adopted as coinciding with the weight of bread supposed to -be produced from a pint of flour and as keeping up the old superstition -that bread must be sold by troy weight. As some persons in authority did -not share the stupidity of those who considered the averdepois pound to -be 16 troy ounces, the Scottish 16-ounce pound of troy standard was -imported for the purpose. - -This weight was abolished by 8 Anne (1710) and the sliding scale was put -in the averdepois equivalent. - -The Assize of Bread was abolished in 1815, but traces of it remain in -the name ‘quartern loaf,’ although this now means a loaf of 4 imperial -pounds. It may also mean a loaf weighing the quarter of a 16-lb. stone. - - - _The Disappearance of the Troy Pound_ - -In 1841 a Royal Commission on Weights and Measures recommended the -abolition of the Troy pound as ‘wholly useless,’ retaining its ounce -provisionally for the use of bullion merchants, pending ‘the removal of -the troy scale.’ This recommendation was not carried out until 1878, -when the Troy pound disappeared, except of course in almanacks and books -for the instruction of youth—but the Troy ounce still survives at the -mint, and consequently in the bullion market; and it is virtually forced -on druggists in spite of the Medical Council. Troy weight was abolished -by the Pharmacopœia Committee in 1864, Imperial weight being alone -recognised; yet the Board of Trade keeps up the Apothecaries’ ounce of -480 grains. Troy weight has fallen; but, like many other superstitions, -it dies hard. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER X - - THE CUBIC FOOT AND THE TON REGISTER - - -The cubic foot and the cubic inch are the usual measures of solidity. -The cubic yard is used as a measure of masonry, earthwork, or reservoirs -of water. - -The cubic foot has many points of concordance with weights and with -measures of capacity, and is the basis of ship and cargo measurement. - -The definition of the Imperial gallon as 277·274 cubic inches, the -volume of 10 lb. of water at 62°, a pound of water measuring 27·7274 -cubic inches, led to attempts to determine accurately the weight of a -cubic inch and of a cubic foot of water. These experiments are -interesting in consequence of the recognition, in 1685,[29] that the -cubic foot of water weighed approximately 1000 ounces, and of the -probability that this weight of water in Roman ounces, = 437 grains, was -the source of our Imperial system. It has already been shown how -difficult it is either to construct accurately a measure containing a -certain weight of water or conversely to determine the weight of water -in a standard measure.[30] - -Footnote 29: - - ‘Some Gentlemen at Oxford in 1685 determined the weight of a cubic - foot of spring water, or 1728 solid inches, to be 1000 ounces - averdepois.’—Kelly, _Metrology_, 1816. - -Footnote 30: - - For this reason the custodians of the metric system have abandoned the - cubic decimetre of water as the basis of measures either of capacity - or of weight. The kilogramme is now, like our pound, a certain metal - standard, and the litre is a measure containing, more or less exactly, - a kilogramme of water. A perfect litre standard contains 1000 grammes - of water at 39·2°; but 1·1 gramme less at 62°, 2 grammes less at 70°, - and 3·3 grammes less at 80°, a very frequent summer temperature. For - exact correspondence of measure with weight, corrections are always - required whether on the imperial or on the metric system. - -The statute definition of the cubic inch of water as = 252·458 grains at -62° corresponds to 62·326 lb., or 997·21 ounces, for the cubic foot. -Reduction of these weights to the standard of maximum density of water -at 39·2° increases the weight of the cubic inch by 0·29 grain, and of -the cubic foot by 1·1 ounce, making it = 62·4 lb. or 998·3 ounces. An -Order in Council of 1889 gives 252·286 grains as the weight of the cubic -inch of water. But the exact weight is uncertain, and the 1824 statute -definition seems to be as accurate as the more recent determinations, -all different. - -It may be taken that the cubic foot of water weighs very approximately— - - at 62° in air 997·2 ounces - at 39·2° in air 998·3 „ (+ 0·9 ounce) - at 39·2° in vacuo 999·6 „ (+ 2·4 „ ) - -And 1000 ounces of water at the original weight of the averdepois ounce, -of Roman standard = 437 grains, would weigh 999·5 of such ounces, at 62° -in air. - -Practically measures of capacity need only approximate coincidence with -standards; they are used for convenience in order to avoid weighing, -especially in retail trade. Corn and many other kinds of produce are -more conveniently measured than weighed, the average weight being -ascertained, if desired, by a sample bushel. - -Fluids may also require corrections for temperature when bought or sold -by measure. Water increases in volume 1 per 1000 between 39° and 61°; -and another 1 per 1000 between 61° and 70°; other fluids have their -peculiar coefficients of expansion. - -Allowing then for small temperature-corrections, the cubic foot may be -taken as equal to 62-1/2 lb. or 1000 ounces of water, and at this -sufficiently approximate standard it becomes the basis of a series of -measures for ship and other purposes. - - - _The Ton Register_ - -The capacity of ships has for centuries been reckoned in tons. The term -arose from the custom, in French and other wine ports, to take as the -unit of cargo-bulk the tun of wine usually contained in four hogsheads, -each of 63 wine-gallons. The number of hogsheads divided by 4 gave the -tonnage to be charged. - -This cargo-ton, the _tonneau d’encombrement_, was equal to 42 French -cubic feet = 51 English cubic feet. - -The Ton Register appears to have arisen in the ports of Northern Europe. -There the unit was usually the skippund (ship-pound) of about 360 lb. -for wool and light goods. But the Last was also a wide-spread, though -variable, measure; in the Baltic trade it was usually reckoned at 11-1/4 -quarters of wheat = 90 bushels or 5400 lb. In England it was usually 10 -quarters = 80 bushels = 5000 lb. Now this bulk of wheat measures about -100 cubic feet, so 100 English cubic feet has become the unit adopted in -all maritime countries, as the Ton Register. In France it is called the -_tonneau de jaugage_ and is taken as = 2·83 cubic metres. - -A ship of 2000 tons register is of a capacity = 200,000 cubic feet below -decks. The register tonnage is thus obtained: - -Mean length × 0·94 of maximum beam × depth from upper deck to keel, the -measure being taken inside, and in feet. The product is cubic feet, -which divided by 100 gives register tonnage. - -In France these measurements have to be made in metres; the product in -cubic metres is divided by 0·38 to get tonnage. - -Net tonnage, as distinguished from gross tonnage, is the latter less the -space occupied by cabins below deck, by engines and bunkers, in short -all that is not ‘hold.’ - -This deduction gives the space available for cargo, a very large -proportion in a sailing-ship, a very small proportion in a steam-yacht -or tug. - -The Cargo Ton is usually reckoned at 40 cubic feet; the space occupied -by 20 centals = 4 quarters of wheat, or 25 centals of water. - -A steamship of 4500 tons register may be 3000 tons net; as each of these -net tons will contain 2-1/2 tons of cargo of about the same weight as -wheat, after allowing for cases, dunnage, &c., the ship may be described -as carrying 7500 tons dead-weight. Of course, this would only apply to -goods of medium weight; not to iron rails or to ore, which could only be -taken as a limited part of the cargo, the rest of the space being either -filled with light goods or remaining empty. - -The ship-owner has the choice of charging freight by measurement, -usually at 40 c. ft. to the ton, or by the ton weight for metal and -other heavy goods. - - CONCORDANCE OF CAPACITY, WEIGHT AND MEASUREMENT - - ┌──────────────────┬───────────────────┬───────┬───────────────┬──────┐ - │ │ Weight of Water │ Cubic │Weight of Wheat│ Cubic│ - │ Capacity ├─────┬────────┬────┤Inches │ Lb. │ Feet │ - │ │ Oz. │ Lb. │ Oz.│ │ │ │ - ├──────────────────┼─────┼────────┼────┼───────┼───────────────┼──────┤ - │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ │ │ │ 1│ 1·73 │ │1/1000│ - │ (1/2 Quartern) │2-1/2│ │ │ │ │ │ - │ │ │ │ 10│ │ │ 1/100│ - │× 8 = Pint │20 │= 1-1/4│ │ 34·6 │ 1 │ │ - │ │ │ │ 100│ │ 5 │ 1/10│ - │× 8 = Gallon │160 │= 10 │ │277-1/4│ 8 │ │ - │ │ │ 62-1/2│1000│ │ 50 │ 1│ - │× 8 = Bushel │ │ 80 │ │ 2218 │ 64 │ │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ Cental 100 │ 2│ - │× 8 = Quarter │ │ │ │ │ 500 │ 10│ - │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │× 4 = Ton-cargo │ │ │ │ │ 2000 │ 40│ - │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ = Ton-register│ │ │ │ │ 10 Qrs. 5000 │ 100│ - └──────────────────┴─────┴────────┴────┴───────┴───────────────┴──────┘ - - With the Corn-bushel (U.S.) = 62-1/2 lb. of wheat, 1 Quarter = 500 lb. - „ „ Imperial bushel = 64 lb. „ 1 „ = 512 lb. - - TABLE OF VOLUME AND WEIGHT OF WATER - AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES - - ┌───────────┬──────────┬──────────┬─────────────┬─────────────────┐ - │ │Expansion │ Density │ Weight of │ Corrections │ - │Temperature│ ———— │ ———— │1 Cubic Foot.│ from 1000 ozs. │ - │ Fahr.° │1000 Units│1000 Units│ Ounces │in 1 Cubic Foot. │ - │ │of Volume │of Weight │ │ │ - ├───────────┼──────────┼──────────┼─────────────┼─────────────────┤ - │ 32 │ 1000·13 │ 999·8 │ 998·1 │ │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ 39·2 │ 1000 │ 1000 │ 998·3 │ -1·7 oz. │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ 45 │ 1000·1 │ 999·9 │ 998·2 │ -1·8 „ │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ 50 │ 1000·25 │ 999·7 │ 998 │ -2 „ │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ 55 │ 1000·55 │ 999·4 │ 997·7 │ -2·3 „ │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ 60 │ 1000·9 │ 999·1 │ 997·4 │ -2·6 „ │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ 62 │ 1001·1 │ 998·9 │ 997·2 │ -2·8 „ │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ 65 │ 1001·5 │ 998·6 │ 996·8 │ -3·1 „ │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ 70 │ 1002 │ 998 │ 996·3 │ -3·7 „ │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ 75 │ 1002·6 │ 997·4 │ 995·7 │ -4·3 „ │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ 80 │ 1003·3 │ 996·7 │ 995 │ -5 „ │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ 85 │ 1004 │ 996 │ 994·3 │ -5·7 „ │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ 90 │ 1004·8 │ 995·2 │ 993·5 │ -6·5 „ │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ 95 │ 1005·7 │ 994·3 │ 992·6 │ -7·4 „ │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ 100 │ 1006·8 │ 993·2 │ 991·5 │ -8·5 „ │ - └───────────┴──────────┴──────────┴─────────────┴─────────────────┘ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - SCOTS, IRISH, AND WELSH MEASURES AND - WEIGHTS - - - 1. SCOTLAND - -The Scots system was distinctly North German, influenced by English -measures. - - - _Linear Measures_ - -The standard of length was the Scots Ell = 37·06 English inches. -Originally three Rhineland feet at 12·353 inches, it was always -described as containing 37 inches. The inch, at 1/37 of the ell, was -slightly longer, by less than 2 in 1000, than the English inch. The -penalty edicted in 1685 against the use of any other foot but that of 12 -inches, while ‘three foot and an inch’ were a Scots ell, seems to show -that a foot equal to one-third of an ell may have been used. - -The rod or ‘fall’ was 6 ells; the acre was 160 square rods = 1·26 acre, -and very nearly equal to the French arpent, which was equal to the Roman -heredium. This is, however, a mere coincidence. The Scots acre comes, -like the English acre, from North Germany. The type of the Scots acre is -seen in the Jück (yoke) of Oldenburg; this field-measure is 160 square -ruthen; each ruthe is 18 feet square, presumably 18 Rhineland feet = 6 -Scots ells, originally; though now of a lower standard which makes the -Jück = only 1·12 acre instead of the 1·26 acre of Rhineland standard. - - - _Weights_ - -There was an ancient weight, the Tron pound, of variable standard, about -20 Scots ounces. But its actual weight appears to have been 9622 grains, -which is exactly 20 ounces of the original Arabic ounce = 481·18 grains. -This was abolished by the Act of 1618, which ordered ‘that the standards -be kept, two firlots by Linlithgow, the stone weight by Lanark, the ell -by Edinburgh, and the pint by Stirling, as of old.’ - -The Lanark stone was 16 lb. of Scots Trois weight. An inscription on the -standard still extant states that it was equal to 15 lb. 14 oz. English -Troy, that is to the fictive long Troy pound of 7680 grains. The Scots -pound, = 7609 grains, was divided into 16 ounces = 475·5 grains, divided -into 16 drops. - -The stone was blunderingly described (1618) as ‘the French Trois Stone -containing sixteen Trois ounces.’ But it had nothing to do with French -weight (in which the ounce = 472·12 grains); its standard was of the -Dutch Troy (Trooisch) class, coinciding very closely with that of the -Amsterdam pound = 7925 grains, the ounce = 476·5 grains. - -When the 7600-grains lb. came to England as the standard of the Assize -of Bread, it was known as the Scots or Dutch pound. - -An Act of James I (1410), ‘That a Stone be made for weighing fifteen -Trois pounds and divided into sixteen Scots pounds,’ leads to a -suspicion that there was another Scots pound, of Rhineland standard; for -16 pounds or double marks of Cologne are very approximately equal to 15 -long Troy pounds of English standard. - -Troy oz., 480 grs. × 16/15 = 450 grs. = Tower oz. - -One may thus surmise that the royal pound of Scotland, like that of -England up to Tudor times, was of Cologne or Tower standard, and was -superseded in course of time by the Amsterdam or Scots Trois pound. - - - _Measures of Capacity_ - -In 1410 it was ordered: - - That the Boll be divided into 4 Firlots, and contain 29 inches - within the boords, and above 27 and an half-inch even over, and - in deepness 19 inches; that the Firlot contain in breadth even - over 16 inches under and above within the boords, and in - deepness 9 inches; that the Firlot contain 2 gallons and a pint, - and the Pint to weigh, of the water of Tay 41 ounces or 2 pounds - 9 ounces; so the Gallon weighs 20 pounds 8 ounces, the Firlot 41 - pounds and the Boll 164 pounds. - -This seems as clear as the water of Tay; unfortunately the three firlots -mentioned in the first half of the quotation are three different -firlots. - -There is also a difficulty about the pint. An Act of James VI gives ‘the -pint of Stirling two pounds and nine ounces Trois, of clear water,’ the -same weight as above. But another and previous Act of the same king -(1618) orders ‘that the Pint weigh three pounds seven ounces Trois of -the running water of the Water of Leith’; and this pint is also called -the Stirling Pint, Jug or Stoup, so there were two pints, as well as -several firlots. - -Of the two pints, the standard of one is still extant, which we will -call the Stirling Jug or larger pint. It contains 104·2 cubic inches = -60·1 ounces of water, almost exactly 3 Imperial pints, and was 55 ounces -or 3 lb. 7 oz. Scots of water. It was not an aliquot part of any of the -firlots, but was itself a standard basis of measure, of which the firlot -might be 18, 19, 21-1/4, &c. There is little doubt that it was one of -the ‘Kanne’ of North Germany (Du. _stoop_); these kanne vary at the -present day between 2·83 pints in Bremen and 3·2 pints in Hamburg. There -was in Prussia until quite recently the Metze of 6 pints or 120·8 -ounces, almost exactly twice the larger Stirling Jug. - -The other pint, of 41 Scots ounces = 44-1/2 English ounces or 2-1/4 -pints, was not a standard measure. It was merely a divisional unit, -one-sixteenth of the above-described wine firlot containing 41 lb. -Scots, or 44-1/2 English pounds, of water. This firlot was divided into -2 gallons = 20-1/2 lb. Scots, or 22-1/4 English pounds; and the gallon -into 8 pints of 41 ounces Scots. - -What was the origin of this firlot, or rather of the Boll, of which it -was a fourth? There is only one measure with which it has any affinity: -the half-Cargo of Marseilles,[31] divided like it, sexdecimally. The two -series run thus: - - SCOTLAND MARSEILLES (original Standard) - Imp. Gall. Imp. Gall. - Boll 164 lb. Scots = 17·8 Half-Cargo = 17·76 - Firlot 41 „ = 4·45 Panau, Eimino = 4·43 - Gallon 20-1/2 „ = 2·22 Half-Eimino = 2·21 - Pint, Jug 41 oz. = 2·2 Pechié (Pitcher) = 2·21 - -Footnote 31: - - There was considerable intercourse between Marseilles and Scotland. - The Scots custom of eating grey peas with oil on Carlin’ Sunday is - taken from the Provençal custom of eating chick-peas on Palm Sunday; - and the traditional reason, the arrival on that day, in famine-time, - of a ship laden with pulse, is the same at Leith as at Marseilles. - -In the next reign, that of James II, about 1450, another Firlot -appeared. It was to be ‘a general Mett, according to the Pint and Quart -formerly given to the Burgh of Stirling for an universal standard, -whereof each Firlot to contain eighteen Pints ... and that none use -another measure.’ - -Which of the Stirling pints was the Standard? The smaller pint of 41 -Scots ounces of water, or the Jug, the larger pint, of 55 ounces? - -In this case it was certainly the larger pint; for 18 pints of this -standard are very nearly equal to a firlot containing a Rhineland cubic -foot of water, 1000 Troy ounces = 1886 cubic inches. Except the slight -difference between Amsterdam and Scots Troy weight, this firlot was -62-1/2 lb. Scots, just as the English cubic foot was 62-1/2 lb. -averdepois. It was 18 pints of 104·2 cubic inches = 1875·6 cubic inches -= 54 Imperial pints or 6·76 Imperial gallons. This corresponds very -closely to the Himt or cubic Rhineland-foot measure of North Germany, -actually = 6·85 gallons. - -This was a corn-firlot, and I recognise in it the firlot mixed up with -the wine-firlot and only rescued by its stated dimensions corresponding -to a capacity so different from the calculated contents of the latter. -The dimensions given correspond to a capacity of 1809 cubic inches, a -considerable divergence, but the old custom of ordering the gauge of -bushel-measures in inches either whole or with simple fractions often -caused considerable divergence from the calculated standard of capacity. - -Progress through the Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland reveals to us -more firlots, with the same anxiety which has been seen in English -statutes for unity of standards, with the same attempts to conceal their -plurality beneath plausible wording. Under James VI (and I of England) -the Parliaments were anxious ‘that the measure and firlot of Linlithgow -should be the only firlot for all his Majesty’s liedges.’ It was -therefore ordered that the Pint of Stirling be 2 lb. 9 oz. Trois of -clear water, and the Firlot of Linlithgow 19 pints. - -It has been seen that the Act of James I which ordered the wine-firlot -to be 41 lb. in 2 gallons of 20 lb. 8 oz. also stated that it was to -contain 2 gallons and a pint; thus making it in one line 16 pints (of 41 -ounces), in another 17 pints. The Act of James II ordered the firlot -(presumably a corn-firlot) to be 18 pints, of 55 ounces. And then the -Act of James VI made the firlot 19 pints, of 41 ounces = 48-3/4 lb. -Scots or 53 English pounds. This capacity corresponds approximately to -the Schepel of Oldenburg, now = 50 lb. - -Yet another Act of James VI (1616) finds the Linlithgow standard of the -Firlot to be true and to contain ‘twentie are pincts and ane mutchkin of -just Sterline Jug and measure,’ but, in order to put an end to heaped -measure, it orders a new firlot for malt, barley and oats, containing 31 -pints Stirling Jug, and that the pint weigh 3 lb. 7 oz. Trois of the -running water of the Water of Leith. Thus different Acts order firlots -of 16, 17, 18, 19, 21-1/4, 31, pints; sometimes the pint is to be 41 -ounces Scots, sometimes 55 ounces, and sometimes it is not mentioned -which. - -The firlot of 21-1/4 pints was probably an imported measure found to -contain that number of pints; 21-1/4 × 104·2 gives 2214 cubic inches, = -7·98 Imperial gallons, for its capacity, a measure coinciding very -closely with the Anker, which varies between 7·83 gallons in Oldenburg -and 8 gallons in Lubeck (and 7·95 gallons in the Cape Colony). The Boll -of 4 firlots = 4 bushels was equal to the Lubeck Ohm; and the term Anker -was used in Scotland for the potato-firlot. - -This firlot of 21-1/4 pints became the Edinburgh firlot; and it happens -to coincide almost exactly with the Imperial bushel. It being fixed at -21-1/4 Stirling pints (of 104·2 c.i.) when 20-1/2 pints would have made -it 2136 c.i., almost exactly the old English bushel (2150 c.i.), shows -that it was not influenced by the latter; it was clearly an independent -measure imported by trade. Its series was quaternary: - - Boll (of 4 firlots) = 4 Imperial bushels. - Firlot = 1 „ „ - Peck = 2 „ gallons. - Lippy (or forpit) = 4 „ pints. - -The lippy, as its sixteenth, came to mean a sixteenth generally. The -word is a diminutive of the O.E. ‘leap,’ a basket, e.g. ‘seed-lip.’ - -The barley and oats firlot of 31 pints = 3230 cubic inches is the real -Linlithgow firlot. It was the Edinburgh firlot increased to contain the -same weight of malt, bear (barley) and oats as that contained of -wheat.[32] Its capacity was 11·6 gallons, and its Boll contained 46-1/2 -gallons or 5·8 bushels. It was probably a Boll of about this capacity -the dimensions of which, giving a capacity of about 43 gallons, were -roughly stated in the Act of 1410 as those of the wine-boll. - -Footnote 32: - - It was a common custom formerly to measure corn by the shallow bushel, - striked for wheat, heaped for lighter corn. The oats firlot of 31 - pints was ordered to end the practice of giving ‘three straiked for - two heaped measures [which] do exceed and are not just.’ - -The Chalder (of Culross) was 16 Edinburgh bolls. - -I need scarcely do more than mention the smaller measures: to the -Choppin (Fr. _chopine_), half a wine-pint; to the Mutchkin (Du. -_maatje_), its quarter; to the Gill, its eighth, usually. - -The measures of Scotland may be thus summarised: They appear to have all -come from North Germany, except one from Provence. - -The Ell was a length of 3 Rhineland feet, divided into 37 inches, -approximately of English standard. - -The Acre was a North German acker of 160 rods, each 6 Rhineland feet -square. - -The Pound was the Amsterdam standard of Troy = 7609 grains, multiplied -and divided sexdecimally. - -The old wine-boll = 17·8 gallons was the half-Cargo of Marseilles, -divided into 16 pints of 41 Scots ounces. - -The larger Stirling Jug was a North German ‘kanne’ of 104·2 cubic inches -= 55 Scots ounces or 3 Imperial pints. It was the standard of -corn-measure; the corn-firlots were multiples of it. - -The common corn-firlot was a Rhineland cubic foot = 1000 Troy ounces or -18 Stirling Jugs. It was the North German Himt. - -Another firlot was 19 lesser pints = 48-3/4 lb. Scots. - -The Edinburgh Firlot of 21-1/4 Stirling Jugs or 2214 cubic inches was -the North German Anker, become a corn-measure. - -The Firlot of 31 Stirling Jugs was a wheat-firlot enlarged to hold about -the same weight of oats. - - - 2. IRELAND - -There are in Ireland many primitive Celtic measures worthy of study, if -merely as showing the ways of thought of the people; but apart from -these, the system of weights and measures, established for many -centuries, has been the English system introduced in early Plantagenet -times. - -Some of these measures, relics of that time, long overlaid in England, -are of interest; for instance, the gallon of 217 c.i. is one-eighth of -the early wine-bushel = 1 cubic foot. - -The Irish road and field measures, multiples of the seven-yard rod, have -been noticed. - - - 3. WALES - -The general unit is the Cibyn (kibbin) = 4 gallons or 32 lb. of wheat, -the English half-bushel or tuffet. It is divided into 4 quarts, and 16 -cibyns make a Peg = 8 bushels or 1 quarter. - -Measures on the English stone system are also used: - - The Ffiol = 1 stone, 14 lb. - „ Peck = 3 „ - „ Hobbet = 12 „ about 2-1/2 bushels. - -There is a Hobbet in England, but this is about a bushel. - -The 5-span Ell survived in Wales for a long time as the Hirlath. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XII - - MEASURES AND WEIGHTS OF SOME BRITISH - DOMINIONS - - - 1. THE CHANNEL ISLANDS - -These measures are the connecting links between those of old France, -through Normandy, and those of England, especially in land-measures. -Normandy had a system of measures kept in fair unity by the English -dukes of Normandy. - -‘Thanks to their firm administration the English system was generally -marked by a scientific regularity which, notwithstanding its -complication, is in remarkable contrast with the barbarous French -system.’[33] - -Footnote 33: - - _Etudes sur la condition de la classe agricole en Normandie au moyen - age_ (Leopold V. Delisle, 1851). - -For England had already, at the Norman Conquest, a good system in which -weight, wine-measure, corn-measure, and linear measure were co-related; -albeit this co-relation, under the influence of the royal mint pound, -was forgotten for many centuries, and is indeed scarcely known at -present. - -But Northern France and Normandy had no such co-related system. Southern -France had an excellent system, indeed that of Marseilles was perfect; -while Paris, taking its measures from the South, destroyed their -co-ordination and was careless of their standards. - -None of the Paris series had any simple relation. So it was in Normandy, -where the systems of North and South were mixed with Teutonic measures. - -The original Norman perch, like that of England, - - _et est la mesure 16 pies la perque_, - -probably Rhineland feet, but perches of 20, 22 and 24 Paris feet, often -of reduced Paris feet, superseded it. The Acre was always 4 Vergées or -roods, nearly always of 40 square perches, and divided into quarters. - -The charuée, caruée or ploughland was usually 60 Normandy acres, divided -into 12 bouvées or oxgangs, each of 5 acres or 20 vergées. - -Corn-measure had for principal unit the Bushel, 8 of which made a -Quarter, a quarter of a horse-load or, if large, of a cartload. The -bushel was, or appeared usually to be, a multiple of the Pot; this led -to divergencies according to the number of pots taken; yet it seems -probable that the Pot was itself a fraction, an eighth, a tenth, a -twelfth, or a sixteenth of some bushel either wine-measure or -corn-measure. - -While the weights and measures of Paris had established themselves in -Rouen and Caen, local measures more in agreement with Norman customs -were in general use. Thus the Paris bushel = 793 cubic inches was -scarcely used. A typical Norman measure was the _Boisseau étalon de -l’abbaye de Jumièges_, containing, as nearly as I could measure, 1648 -cubic inches. Now this is very approximately a cubic foot of the reduced -Paris 11-inch standard usual in Normandy, akin to the 11-inch foot of -Jersey. This cubic foot was very nearly the Roman cubic foot or -Quadrantal; for the reduced Paris foot, = 11·72 English inches, was very -nearly the same as the quarter of the aune, which was 4 Roman feet very -approximately. - -There was another standard Bushel—the _Boisseau étalon de la Ville de -Bolbec_—containing, as nearly as I could measure, 2534 cubic inches. - -There is also a peculiar measure for apples, the _barattée_ or churnful, -usually of 25 pots. - -In Normandy as in the rest of France weights were not related to -measures. It was always known what was the usual weight of corn in the -bushel; thus the Paris bushel was supposed to hold 20 French pounds of -wheat. - -Some heavy pounds, brought possibly by the Normans, disappeared -gradually before the Paris Troy pound. Wool-weight brought from England -was used; the sack being 36 stone of 9 French pounds or about 350 -averdepois pounds. - -Such was the system of measures and weights used in Normandy, and -surviving there in great part. The slightly differing systems of the -Channel Islands are simply variants of this system, a rough sketch of -which I have given by way of introduction to them. - -Jersey and Guernsey (the latter including Alderney and Sark in its -government) are each practically autonomous. The Islanders keep their -Norman laws, customs and dialects, and retain their systems of measures, -weights and currency. These are being gradually modified by increased -intercourse with England; and French influence tries hard, especially in -Jersey, to introduce the metric system. - - - _Linear and Land Measures_ - -1. _Jersey._—For ordinary linear measures the English standards are -used, the yard and the pied du roi; that is the English foot. There is -also an ancient ell of 4 feet. - -For land measure the Jersey foot is 11 English inches (but divided into -12 land-inches); and 24 of these feet make a perch = 22 English feet. -This peculiar standard is evidently an adaptation of the Norman custom -(which prevailed in France) of making 24 short feet of either a quarter -aune, or 11 pouces, the perch or verge, which became officially the -_perche d’ordonnance_ of 22 French feet. - -The Jersey Vergée or rood is 40 square perches = 0·44 acre. - -2. _Guernsey._—The linear measures are based on the English standards. -They were, in 1611: - - Cloth yard = 38-1/2 inches (= half a toise). - Sail Cloth yard = 44 „ - English ell = 45-1/2 „ - English yard = 36 (Verge d’Angleterre). - -The perch or verge is 21 feet; probably an approximate adaptation of the -common perch of 20 French feet = 21·3 English feet. It is the same as -the Irish and Lancashire rod. - -The verge or rood is 40 square perches = 0·4 acre. - -The acre-unit is not used now in either island. - -The bouvée (bovate) of 20 vergées, and caruée (carucate) of 12 bouvées -remain only in manorial records. - - - _Measures of Capacity_ - -1. _Jersey._—The standard ordered in 1754, and confirmed in 1771, is the -Cabot, defined as containing 10 Pots. - -The Pot contains 123·56 cubic inches = 0·445 Imperial gallon. It does -not correspond directly to the Paris pot = 111 cubic inches or 0·41 -gallon, nor apparently to the various Normandy pots, of which that of -Caen, about Paris standard, is the type. It is simply one-tenth of the -Cabot. - -The Cabot, a common name in Normandy for a corn-measure, is for wheat -and for wine, cider, &c. A larger cabot, for barley and other light -grain, is one-third larger, containing 13-1/3 pots; another, for coal, -contains 14 pots. Lime and charcoal are measured by the cask of 120 -Pots, i.e. 6 bushels of 20 pots. For a double cabot is usually called a -bushel. - -The Cabot = 1235·6 cubic inches, and containing 4·456 gallons, coincides -nearly with one-eighth of the Paris Setier = 4·29 bushels, and also with -the Panau or Eimino, 1/8 of the Marseilles Cargo of 4·34 bushels. - -It is divided into 6 Sixtonniers. - -For wine, cider, &c., it is divided into gallons (double pots, 1/5 -cabot), pots, quarts and pints. - -A double cabot is the bushel. The duodecimal division of the Paris -Setier and the division (in the corresponding wheat-water series) of the -Quartant into 9 veltes, prevent the relations of the Jersey measures -with those of Paris being clearly seen. But the relations with the -Marseilles standards, corn and wine, from which the Paris standards were -taken, are evident. It will be seen in the chapter on the Old Measures -of France that the Paris Setier was derived, through the Marseilles -Cargo, from the Egyptian Rebekeh, which is the cubed cubit of Al-Mamūn. - -The Cabot has been stated (Ansted, ‘Channel Islands,’ 1862) to contain -43 lb. 7 oz. of water. On this estimate = 4·344 gallons, it is exactly -the Marseilles Eimino. - - MARSEILLES JERSEY - - Gallons Gallons - Cargo 34·72 Quarter (8 Cabots) 35·6 - Sestié 8·68 Bushel 8·91 - Eimino, Panau 4·34 Cabot 4·45 - 1/6 „ 0·72 Sixtonnier 0·74 - - _Fluid Measures._ - - Escandau 3·54 - Quartié 0·885 Gallon 0·89 - 1/2 „ 0·442 Pot (1/10 Cabot) 0·445 - Pot, Pechié 0·221 Quarte 0·222 - Fuieto 0·11 Pinte 0·111 - -N.B.—The Escandau is the Panau diminished in wheat-water ratio. The -Jersey pot is the fluid measure in wheat-water ratio with 1/8 cabot. - -There seems no doubt that the cabot is the eighth of the setier (and of -the Cargo), slightly variant, as the Jersey pound is a variant of the -Paris pound. - -There is also a measure for apples = 3·77 bushels or 30 gallons. The -ordinary barattée (churnful) of apples in Normandy is 25 pots = 10 -gallons. - -The larger Cabot for barley and other grains except wheat was to be = -1-1/3 of the wheat cabot, that is 13-1/3 pots; it was therefore = 5·933 -gallons, very nearly 3/4 an imperial bushel = 1647 c.i. Was it fixed at -this size to hold approximately the same weight of barley, &c., as the -smaller cabot held of wheat, or was it the Boisseau de Jumièges = 1648 -c.i. approximately? That I cannot say. But the question is of some -importance historically, for Guernsey adopted a bushel of about this -capacity, the lineage of which is a matter of considerable interest. - -2. _Guernsey._—In 1582, also in 1611, the Guernsey bushel was ordered to -be 16 inches diameter and 8 inches deep; it was to hold 13 pots and a -quart. The pot was not defined: at the end of the seventeenth century it -is recorded to be equal to 121 cubic inches. On this basis the bushel -should be 1633 cubic inches, but according to the dimensions ordered it -contains only 1608 cubic inches. This is evidently one of the cases -where the wish to order a measure of simple dimensions has caused the -standard to deviate practically from its calculated value. There is -considerable doubt as to the capacity of the pot, the original standard -of which is not extant. But from the definition of the Guernsey bushel -as 13-1/2 pots of approximately 121 cubic inches, it would seem that -this was considered as roughly equivalent to the 13-1/3 pots, each -123-1/2 cubic inches, of the Jersey barley-bushel = 1647 c.i. - -The bushel is divided, on its calculated capacity of 13-1/2 pots, = 1631 -c.i., into - - 2 Cabotels - 6 Denerels (Jersey sixtonniers) = 272 c.i. - 30 Quintes = 54-1/2 „ - -The Denerel is thus, probably by mere coincidence, exactly the old -corn-gallon, and the bushel is 6 corn-gallons. - -The word Denerel means ‘standard’ in the sense of the standard coin or -pattern piece, the Denerial or Deneral, to which the French moneyers had -to strike deniers or silver pence. We may confer with this term the -Marseilles Escandau, meaning ‘standard,’ a measure = 3·54 gallons, the -basis of a whole system of measures. - -But if the bushel were based on another measure than the obsolete pot—on -a standard still extant in the Sheriff’s Office, the - - _Quinte, grande mesure du marché de Guernesey 1615_, - -it would be of larger capacity. For the Quinte, I found when I measured -it in 1885, is approximately 54·7 cubic inches, and it is stated to -contain fully 32 ounces of water. As it happens to be equal to a fifth -of the imperial gallon, the Denerel should be equal to an imperial -gallon, and the bushel to 6 gallons. - -There are two other bushels: - -The Coal-bushel (1611) of 18-1/2 inches diameter, by 8 deep, then stated -to be equal to 16-3/4 pots (an evident mistake, in Roman numerals, for -17-3/4 pots) and containing an English corn-bushel. - -The Barley-bushel, 1625 and 1673, to contain 17-1/2 pots; of such size -that it should hold, striked, as much as the wheat-bushel held when -heaped. Its calculated capacity is 2117·5 c.i. = 7·63 gallons. - - - _Wine-Measures_ - -These have assimilated themselves in the course of trade to those of the -countries of exportation, but the fluid measures of the islands still -subsist for cider and other liquors. The Jersey gallon is, or was, 2 -pots = 247 c.i. The Guernsey gallon is, or was, 1/8 of the bushel = 252 -c.i. or perhaps 2 pots = 242 c.i. - -Both are somewhat over the old English wine-gallon. - - - _Weights_ - -The Jersey pound, = 7561 grains, is 7 grains over the old French pound; -104 pounds make a cwt. = 112·3 lb. - -The Guernsey pound, = 7623 grains, differs by only 2 grains from the -Amsterdam pound; 100 Guernsey pounds = 108·9 lb. - -There is a tradition that this pound was originally 18 ounces of Rouen -weight, reduced in 1730 to 16 ounces. But it is not 16 ounces of any -weight but that of Amsterdam. It may have been originally 16 ounces of -some heavy pound with an ounce of about 530 grains, akin to the Austrian -and Russian ounce; then converted into 18 lighter ounces, and afterwards -16 ounces were taken for the pound. In the seventeenth century it is -recorded as being 18 ounces of 471 grains, which is approximately the -Paris standard = 472·1 grains. In 1730 it was ordered to be of 16 -ounces, but of what standard there is no evidence. And in the nineteenth -century it is 16 ounces of 476·6 grains, almost exactly the Amsterdam -standard. It looks as if the change in 1730 was to 16 ounces of another -standard, Amsterdam Troy, instead of French Troy. - -I have given some space to these Channel Island measures, so interesting -as a survival of Norman measures and as a link between the measures of -old France and of England. The peculiar monetary system of Guernsey will -be given in Chapter XIII. - - - 2. SOUTH AFRICA (CAPE COLONY) - -Here we find two systems, those of Holland and of England, used -according to public convenience, and combined as far as possible. The -linear standard is Rhineland; the foot = 12·356 inches. The rod is 12 -Rhineland feet; the English mile is reckoned as 426 rods. - -The land-unit is the Morgen = 2·12 acres, of 600 square rods. - -Weights are now Imperial; with a cental-cwt., and a ton of 20 centals or -2000 lb. - -For corn measures, Imperial and Dutch measures are combined in the Mud -of 3 bushels or 4 Schepels. - -For fluid measure the unit is the Anker = 7·95 gallons, a lower standard -than the Amsterdam anker = 8·5 gallons, probably through the influence -of English measure. The Legger (leaguer) is 126·6 gallons, in 4 Aam, 16 -Anker and 80 Velts. This gives the Velt somewhat a lower standard than -in Java, where the legger = 127·34 gallons, and the velt = 1·59 gallons. - - - 3. INDIA - -Of the measures and weights of India, a country containing one-fifth of -the population of the world, divided into many nationalities, only a -slight sketch can be given, and that chiefly of the measures used in -British India as distinguished from the tributary states. The measures -of the Aryan population of Hindustan, and those of the Dravidian peoples -of peninsular India, are different; moreover the influence of the Moslem -conquerors, Mogul and Pathan, of the Portuguese in the sixteenth and -seventeenth centuries, of the English in more modern times, has modified -these measures. - -As in other Eastern countries the linear unit is usually a cubit, the -_hástha_ or _háth_, divided into 24 digits. Traces of the Egyptian -increased cubit are to be found. In a classical work on architecture, -the Mánasára, the Hástha, of 24 digits for timber, is increased to 25 -for temples, to 26 for houses, to 27 for municipal buildings and land. -The addition of 3 digits to the 24 of the Egyptian common cubit would -give 27 digits, approximately equal to the 28 smaller digits of the -royal cubit. - -In Southern India the cubit is sometimes the _mūyangál_ (_mūyam_, cubit; -_kál_, leg), the length from the knee to the ankle. - -In Malabar the unit is the Kol = 28-1/4 inches as used for timber; but -for land it seems to have increased to 30 inches. - -The kol was probably 3 spans or half-cubits of 9·41 inches. - -A guz brought by the Moslems, = 33 inches, has established itself in -Bengal. It was probably 3 Beládi feet of 10·944 inches. - -The Portuguese Covado of 3 spans = 27·17 inches, usually taken as 27 -inches, has established itself in Western India. It is divided into 48 -digits, of which two-thirds, i.e. 32 digits = 18 inches, are the usual -cubit; 1/8 of this = the English nail. - -All these measures appear to have been modified by the English foot and -inch. - -Native itinerary measures are rough and variable; the Koss of 100 -fathoms is the usual standard. - -Land-measures are of course very variable. - -12 guz, usually = 33 feet, make a cord or chain, and 5 cords make a -Jarib = 10 rods. A square jarib = 100 square rods, is the usual Bigha of -Northern India = O·625 acre. - -Another unit is the Mah of 100 rods 12 × 12 feet = 1600 square yards, -about half the above bigha. - -Land-units, like most other units, can be divided into 16 annas, so that -the anna of the bigha is 200, that of the Mah is 100, square yards. - -In Madras the unit of land measure is the Káni (cawny) = 1-1/3 acre of -24 grounds = 6400 square yards. So there appears to be a common unit of -about 1600 square yards, with its anna or sixteenth = 100 square yards -or 10 yards square. - -Five káni make a Véli, the usual extent of arable land which can be -cultivated for rice or other wet crops by a peasant with a yoke of oxen. - -Everywhere there are seed-measures of land, as in other countries. - - - _Weights_ - -These are derived from a coin-weight basis, the silver rupee-weight or -Tola in most parts, the golden pagoda-weight or Varahan in the south of -India. In each case 80 of these coin-units made a Sér. (See Indian -Coinage, in Chap. XIII.) - - The Bengal sér, 80 tolas of 180 grs. = 14,400 grs. - The Madras sér, 80 varahan of 54 „ = 4320 „ - -The Bombay sér was based on another gold coin, the _tanc_ (gold) of a -little over 68 grains, 72 of which = 4900 grains. - -The Bengal sér is, curiously enough, = 2 Cologne pounds of 7200 grains. -It is divided into 16 chittaks or double ounces of 5 tolas. The tola is -divided into 12 mashas (= 15 grains) of 8 ráti (the red seed of _Abrus -precatoria_): 40 sér make a mánd = 82·28 lb. - -This sér (Ang. seer), the Government standard, is really a Troy weight. -The rupee of different standard in the three presidencies was fixed in -1833 at 180 grains, 3 drachms of the Troy ounce; this being so, the sér -of 80 rupees weight is = 30 Troy ounces and the mánd of 40 sérs is = -1200 Troy ounces or 100 Troy pounds. - -About 1870-72 the metric propaganda was epidemic among Indian Government -Engineers; light railways were made on metre-gauge, and a nearly -successful attempt was made to get the sér fixed at one kilogramme. An -Act was about to be passed to this effect when the death of Lord Mayo -stopped it, and the Act fell through. - -The Bengal sér and mánd[34] are the usual weights for official purposes. -Some other sérs are used, often of low standard known as Kucha sérs -(unripe, half-baked) in regard to the pukka (ripe, full-measure) sér of -80 tolas. - -Footnote 34: - - The difficulty in representing the sound _á_, _ah_, in English letters - led to a general substitution of _aw_. Hence ‘cawny, maund, ghaut - (steep), pawni (water), cawn (khan),’ &c.; all these words having an - _a_, or _ah_, vowel. The Anglo-Indian also says _seer_ for sér. - -The Madras mánd was = 24·68 lb.; 20 mánd = 1 kándi, 493·7 lb.; but -English trade considered the mánd as 25 lb. and the ‘candy’ as 500 lb. - -Madras had also a weight called the Vísham (Ang. Viss) of 120 tolas = 5 -of its sérs, or 3·086 lb. divided into 40 pollams. - - - _Capacity_ - -To this Madras weight corresponds the Adangáli, dangáli or puddi, or -measure containing a vísham of grain, and therefore a pound-pint measure -= about 3 pints. It is the usual measure of the daily grain-wage of -agricultural labourers. - -Similarly in other parts of India, the sér measure contains a sér weight -of the usual food grain. - -The measure is usually heaped, and whether sér or dangáli it delivers -approximately either a sér or a vísham of the usual grains, rice, wheat, -millet, pulse, &c. It is a pound-pint measure, avoiding the use of the -balance. The Madras Government wanted to fix the dangáli at 100 cubic -inches, but this would have been useless as not delivering a vísham. The -necessary capacity to deliver a vísham of water is found by 3·086 lb. × -27·725 to be 85·76 cubic inches. Increased in the Southern water-wheat -ratio of 1 : 1·22, we have 104·62 cubic inches as the true dangáli -measure. So Government allowed 104-1/4 cubic inches, and this was about -the capacity of a dangáli 8 inches high by 4 inches diameter, often a -section of bamboo cut down to the proper capacity. - -In Madras, the dangáli, puddi or measure is then = 104-1/4 c.i. divided -into 8 ollocks; and 8 dangáli = 1 Mercál; 424 mercáls, = 120 Bengal -mánds, made a Garce, which is a Government measure for salt = 4·4 tons. - -The cubic measure used in Southern India for dry goods, such as lime, is -the Parah = 5 mercáls = 5 × 8 dangáli, or 4000 cubic inches at 100 c.i. -to the dangáli: but 4184 c.i. at the customary capacity of that measure; -so the parah is = 15 gallons. - -The Bombay parah = 4-1/2 gallons. - -The Ceylon parah = 5·6 gallons; 8 parah = 1 amómam = 5·6 bushels. - -To the amómam of grain corresponds the amómam of land, which, at 2 -bushels seed to the acre, = 2·8 acres. By measurement it is 2·74 acres. - - - 4. BURMA AND THE STRAITS - -In Burma, as in the ancient Eastern Kingdoms, there was a common cubit -and a royal cubit. The former, = 19-1/2 inches, was of 24 digits, in 3 -taim or handshafts; the latter = 22 inches. Here we have repeated the -two Hindu _hástha_ of 24 and 27 digits; the royal cubit being almost -exactly 27/24 of the common cubit. - -The basis of weight is the Tikal (shekel), = 252 grains (= 1 cubic inch -of water), divided into 4 moo, = 63 grains, and 16 gyi of 15-3/4 grains -(corresponding to the Indian masha), of 8 rati. - -100 tikal = 1 piet-tha = 3·6 lb., corresponding to the Indian vísham. - -The principal measure of capacity is the teng or basket, somewhat less -than a bushel; it contains 16 piet of rice = 57·6 pound-pints. - -The tikal of Siam = 234 grains; 80 tikal = 1 catty = 2-2/3 lb.; 50 catty -= 1 pikal, = 133-3/4 lb., or about 2 bushels of rice. - -The Pikal (i.e. man’s load) of Singapore (and of China) = 133-1/3 lb., -is of 100 catty; the catty = 1-1/3 lb. of 16 taels = 1-1/3 oz. The tael -is of 10 mace; the mace is a Chinese coin-weight = 58-1/3 grain, the -representative of the Greek and Asiatic drachma in the Far East. - -The pikal of Java = 135·63 lb., similarly divided. - -The hyak-kin or pikal of Japan = 132-1/2 lb. It is also of 100 catty or -kin = 1·325 lb. of 16 × 10 momme, the latter a weight equivalent to the -mace = 58 grains; and 10 × 10 momme make another unit, the hyaku-me = -5797 grains. - -I refrain from doing more than giving a glance at the weights and -measures of the Far East; suffice it to say that most of them have every -appearance of being Arabic in origin. - - - 5. CANADA AND MAURITIUS - - - _Canada_ - -The Imperial system is used, but the Cental replaces the long Cwt. and -its stone divisions. - -In the old French districts of Quebec certain old French measures are -lawful: the Paris foot, the perch, usually of 20 feet, the Arpent of 100 -perches. - -The Minot, of 3 boisseaux = 1·073 bushel, is still used. - - - _Mauritius_ - -This island, formerly a French colony, retained the old French measures -and weights: the Paris foot, the Toise, the Mille of 1000 toises = 1·21 -mile, the Perch, usually of 18 feet, the Arpent of 100 perches, the -French livre, the corn-setier, the wine-setier or Velte = 1·639 gallon. - -The Metric system was substituted in 1876, notwithstanding that ‘the -feeling of a great portion of the community was so strongly against it -that in 1882 it was thought to be not improbable that the British -Imperial weights and measures might be reverted to’ (‘Merchants’ -Handbook,’ by W. A. Browne, 1899). It is added that this antagonistic -feeling gradually died out, but evidence on this point would be -desirable. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - - MEASURES OF VALUE - - - 1. ENGLISH MONEY - -In all times money has been the weight of a certain amount of copper, -silver or gold, in the form of coins the fineness of which is guaranteed -by the stamp of the State. The weight of coins used in payments may -change in course of time, but the nominal unit of weights often -continues, the pound, or livre, or marc, &c. Thus, the original Roman -unit, the As, or mint-pound of copper or bronze, reduced gradually to -1/24 of its primitive weight, persisted as a money of account long after -it had been replaced in the currency by the silver Denarius. This was -originally coined at a time when it represented the value of 10 As; -hence its name deni-aris, ten of copper. - -The French livre, or livre d’estelins, reduced gradually to a coin about -1/74 of a 12-oz. livre, retains its name as a synonym of the franc. - -The English pound of silver, once a Tower pound = 5400 grains, reduced -long ago to 1745 grains, in 20 shillings, persists as a money of -account, though the silver is superseded in payments over 40 shillings -by a gold coin weighing 123-1/4 grains. Prices over 40_s._ are still -often stated in shillings. - -The Roman denarius originally weighed 60 grains, afterwards reduced to -52-1/2 grains. A golden denarius was also coined, which afterwards -became the Arabic dinar. - -Under Charlemagne the mint weight of France was heavier than the marc of -Troyes afterwards adopted as a standard. Adapting the Roman system to -the customs of his Teutonic subjects the emperor Karl divided the pound -of silver into 20 silver solidi or sols, each equal to 12 silver penings -or pennies of about 25 grains which, assimilated to the Roman denarii, -were called deniers, also estelins or sterlings. The solidus appears to -have corresponded to a Teutonic monetary unit, the shilling, equal to a -variable number of penings, which coins were not of uniform value until -about Charlemagne’s time. - -The Carlovingian systems of coinage had passed to England long before -the Norman Conquest, displacing the old Norse and Saxon systems—the -Norse, in which the Ore was of 20 silver penings = 1/8 marc or 1/12 lb., -and the Saxon Sceatta of 40 Styca, usually equivalent to pence. The -shilling, = 1/20 pound of silver pence, became established—‘xxx -scyllinge penega,’ thirty shillings of pence (‘Saxon Chronicle,’ 775). -The Norman Conquest made no appreciable change in the English customary -coinage. The Tower pound of silver which the Normans found established -was coined into 240 of the ‘English peny called a sterling,’ each -weighing 22-1/2 grains instead of the 25 grains of Charlemagne’s -sterlings. Twelve pence made a shilling of 20 to the pound, and twenty -pence or pennyweights made an ounce of 12 to the mint-pound. - -England soon followed France, but much more slowly, in the usual -dwindling of the weight of coins, as the king, pushed for money, ordered -his moneyers to melt down the silver pennies and recoin them of lower -weight. They remained at 22-1/2 grains down to the time of Edward I. -Edward III’s first pennies were of 22-1/4 grains, but in the 18th year -of his reign they weighed 20-1/4 grains, in the 20th year 20 grains, and -after the 27th year he made the pound of silver yield 300 pennies at 18 -grains. He also coined groats (great sterlings or grosses). Silver -halfpence (mayles) and farthings (ferlynges) were coined, and a statute -specially ordered that no sterling halfpenny nor farthing be molten ‘for -to make vessel or any other thing by goldsmiths nor others.’ - -At this time, if we may believe the Statute of Labourers, one penny was -the usual daily pay of the farm-labourer, but mowers were to have -fivepence by the acre or the day. Prices of farm-produce were fixed. A -penny would buy a chicken or six pounds of bread, 2 pence a fowl, 4 -pence a goose. - -The diminution in the weight of the penny was slow and did not affect -wholesale dealings in which payment was usually made by weight.[35] - -Footnote 35: - - Clipping the pennies, against which crime frequent statutes threatened - punishment, affected the poor who paid and were paid by tale, not by - weight. It afforded a pretext for occasionally raiding the Jews and - plundering their store of coin, always found of course to have been - clipped. - -In all but retail transactions payment might be agreed to be by weight. -In Stephen’s reign the land-revenue of countries was farmed out. The -sheriff or ‘fermour’ of Wiltshire and Dorsetshire paid into the treasury -£454 10_s._ by weight (ad pensum) and £262 4_s._ by tale (numero). He -probably picked out the full-weight coins for payment by tale, and had -to take (as perhaps he received) weight-value for the rest. - -Under Henry IV the sterling had fallen to 15 grains; under Edward IV it -fell to 12 grains, at which weight it stood till Henry VIII brought it -down to 10-1/2 grains, and also debased it to only one-third its weight -of silver. His father had coined shillings, hitherto only a money of -account; his own mint continued this coinage, but got 48 of them, -instead of 20, from the Troy pound of silver, and subsequently by -debasement nearly 150. - -In Edward VI’s reign the Protector Somerset continued this system, but, -at his fall, efforts were made by the Council to restore honesty to the -coinage, at least as regards the shillings and crowns. The pennies -remained debased until the wisdom of Elizabeth restored the standard, -and since that time our silver coinage has remained of true standard and -at the weight of 7-1/2 grains for each penny value, or one-third of its -weight at the time of the Norman Conquest. The Scots silver coinage fell -much lower than that of England; by the time of the Union it had fallen -to 1/36, the pound Scots being worth 20 pence English, instead of 20 -shillings. - -It is curious that the kings, so ready to make a profit by lowering the -silver coins, appear to have disdained the evident profit of a copper -coinage. Penalties were repeatedly threatened by statute against the -copper coins which necessity of ‘change’ caused to be made or imported. -These were unlawful coins called galyhalpens, saskyns, dodekyns and -dotkins (probably Scottish ‘doits’). James I granted a patent for the -making of copper farthings. Halfpennies were first coined in Charles -II’s time, but it was not till near the end of George III’s reign that a -copper penny was struck, probably because the tradition of the silver -penny weighing 32 wheat-corns, albeit shrunken, was against the penny -being other than silver. - -The penny was at first a full ounce of copper. Twopenny pieces were also -struck weighing two ounces. - -The present bronze coinage was made in 1860 after the example of the -bronze coinage of Napoleon III, the reformer of the French currency; it -was he who established a gold standard in France, hitherto a ‘silver -country.’ - -A bronze penny not much worn weighs 1/3 oz., the halfpenny 1/5 oz. The -latter is one inch in diameter. The silver penny of early Plantagenet -times was the size of the present sixpence but thinner, so that, at the -full weight of 22-1/2 grains, it was slightly heavier than our -threepenny piece = 21·8 grains. It bore the effigy of the king with -‘Henricus Rex’ or suchlike inscription; on the reverse was a cross, with -pellets or other ornaments in the intervals, and the name of the moneyer -and city, as ‘Edmund on Lin(coln).’ The cross gave rise to the idea that -it indicated where the penny could be broken or cut into halfpence or -farthings. Doubtless it was so cut where change was scarce; and the -first silver farthing was coined by Edward I, 1279, to prevent this -cutting up of the pence, but equally with a cross. - -At present silver pence and twopences are only coined for Maundy money. - -The groat of four pence, grossus sterlingus, first coined about 1279, -discontinued from the time of Elizabeth, who first coined sixpences and -threepences, was revived in 1836 at the instance, or insistence, of -Joseph Hume, an M.P. who, it is said, found it convenient for the exact -payment of an 8_d._ London cab fare not exceeding a mile in the days -when copper pennies weighing an ounce were inconvenient to carry in the -pocket. He died in 1855, and in 1856 the Joey was discontinued. - -The threepenny piece was revived in 1845. - -The florin was first issued in 1849, an ill-advised attempt at -decimalising the pound; it bore the inscription ‘one tenth of a pound,’ -but it has utterly failed to take the place of the convenient -half-crown, an important unit in the binary division of the pound. -Public convenience appreciates the gold sovereign and half-sovereign, -the silver half-crown, shilling, sixpence and threepence. The florin is -a disturbing coin offering no advantage over two separate shillings; and -the double florin is worse. - -No one wants the pound decimalised except a few decimal unpractical -persons. A properly taught schoolboy adds up sums of money duodecimally -for the pence, decimally for the shillings, converting these by twenties -into pounds. It is quite easy to add up a column of pence thus: 8 and 5, -1_s._ 3_d._; and 10, 2_s._ 1_d._; and 8, 2_s._ 9_d._; and 5, 3_s._ 2_d._ -With the shillings column the units are put down and the tens carried to -the column of tens; an odd 1 is put down and half the remainder carried -to the column of pounds. - -English silver coins are 37/40 = 0·925 fine, i.e. 11 oz. 2 dwt. of the -now obsolete 12 oz. mint-pound. - -French five-franc pieces are at 0·900, other silver coins are 0·835 -fine. - - - _Gold Coins_ - -Of the two precious metals, only one can be the standard of value. In a -gold-standard country, as England has been since 1816, the golden -sovereign of lawful weight is the standard of value. As the price of -silver, like that of every other commodity, varies with demand and -supply, it would be futile to attempt to make silver coins correspond in -actual metal value to gold coins; especially as, since the great fall in -the price of silver from its demonetisation in many countries and its -large production, silver coins are really tokens; tokens of value, but -still tokens, not legal tender above a certain amount. A shilling melted -down is only worth fivepence or less; while sovereigns melted down can -be exchanged, at a trifling charge, for their weight in minted gold. - -In silver-standard countries it is gold which varies in price. Thus in -India, where for centuries the standard of value has been the silver -rupee now weighing 180 grains and worth fifty years ago a little over -two shillings, gold coins of the same weight called ‘mohurs’ were -current at market price, about 16 rupees more or less. Sovereigns were -worth about 10 rupees in 1860; they would exchange now for double that -price did not the Government of India, by restricting silver coinage and -other legitimate devices, keep the gold price of the rupee at about -1_s._ 4_d._, so that 15 rupees will buy a sovereign for transactions -with England and other gold-standard countries. - -Gold was coined in ancient Rome. The gold solidus or aureus of -Constantine was 1/72 of an As or mint-pound; so that it weighed 70·14 -grains. It was called ‘solidus,’ entire, as distinguished from the -semissis and tremissis, its half and third. The original French sol, or -shilling, was an ‘entire’ of 12 deniers; hence the £ _s._ _d._ we use -were once the current signs, in France and elsewhere, for libræ, solidi, -denarii. - -There were some gold coins of the early Saxon kings. Under the early -Norman kings foreign gold coins were current, but the first regular gold -coinage was that of Edward III; his Noble of fine gold, 1/50 of a Tower -pound, weighed 108 grains, the weight of two golden florins of Florence -or of two ducats or zechins of Venice. He afterwards coined nobles at -the rate of 42 to the mint-pound; these weighed 119 grains, and, as they -were of 23-7/8 carats fine, contained almost exactly the same weight of -pure gold as the modern sovereign of 123-1/4 grains. Their value was -about half a marc or 80 sterlings of full weight, and as the proper -weight of silver in English coins was then three times that at present, -the 6_s._ 8_d._ equivalence of the noble then is that of the sovereign -now. - -The weight of gold coins mattered little in practice; they were always -weighed, and represented an amount of sterling varying according to the -state of the money-market and to the condition of the silver coinage. - -Edward IV’s noble was called a Rial; and the Angel, 2/3 of its weight or -about 80 grains, was also coined. Henry VII coined a double Rial of half -a Troy ounce. Under Henry VIII this was called a Sovereign. - -The fineness of gold coins, originally of 23 carats 3-1/2 grains = 994·7 -gold in 1000, was reduced to 22 carats under Henry VIII and, after some -variations, this standard = 916·6 gold in 1000 was finally adopted.[36] - -Footnote 36: - - ‘Twenty-four carat’ was taken as the standard of pure gold because the - Roman gold solidus weighed twenty-four carats (each 1/144 of an - ounce). The assayer’s carat is 1/24 part divided into four - assay-grains. Medieval gold coins such as Edward III’s noble and the - Venetian zechin, always of the same quaint pattern, were generally - twenty-three carat 3-1/2 grains fine, = 995 parts in 1000. But this - nearly pure gold being very soft, it became customary to alloy the - metal with a certain amount of copper to give it the hardness - necessary for trade purposes in modern times. - -Sovereigns or Unites were coined under James I at 172 grains, under -Charles I at 141 grains. Their value in silver varied of course -according to market-rates for gold. Coined under Charles II at 130 -grains they were henceforth called Guineas, varying in value from 30 to -20 shillings. Repeated attempts to fix their value by law utterly -failed. In the eighteenth century it was generally above the 21_s._ -standard at which the guinea is still reckoned as a polite coin. In -1816, on the adoption of a gold standard, the name of Sovereign was -revived for the coin which is its basis. - -The sovereign weighs 123·274 grains, of which 113·006 are pure gold. It -is light if it weighs less than 122-1/2 grains, that is if it has lost -more than 1-1/2_d._ in value. Its life of current weight is about 20 -years in ordinary circumstances of circulation. - -The mint value of gold is £3 17_s._ 10-1/2_d._ an ounce Troy; that is -2·1212 pence a grain pure, or 1·7676 penny at the standard fineness of -22 carats = 916·6 in 1000. - -France adopted a gold standard in 1855; other countries followed. - -The United States adopted it in 1900. - -The sovereign is coined at full value without ‘seigniorage.’ In France -and other gold-standard countries a charge is made for coining. In -France this charge is 6 fr. 70 c. on the kilo of standard gold, 0·900 -fine, value 3100 francs; this is equal to 0·216 per cent., so that -20-franc pieces lose 4·4 centimes or nearly a halfpenny each on being -melted, besides assay charges. - -The history of mint-weight will be further told in Chapter XX, section -‘The Carat and the Grain.’ - - - 2. GUERNSEY CURRENCY - -In this curious relic of the old French monetary system the Livre is the -equivalent of the _louis d’or_ of 24 francs; the Sol or sou is a -shilling, 1/20 of the livre; the Denier is a penny, 1/12 of the -shilling, and it is divided into 8 doubles, each equal to the old French -_liard_ or quarter-sou of 3 deniers, not to the old French double of 2 -deniers. The only Guernsey coins are the bronze pieces of 8, 4, 2, 1 -doubles; that of 8 doubles being the penny. - -The silver coins are French, counted 10 pence to the franc; so that the -five-franc piece passes for 4_s._ 2_d._ Guernsey. - -The Guernsey pound is either a bank-note for this amount, or 24 francs -in French silver, equal to 240 Guernsey pence. Sovereigns are current, -taken at the usual rate of 25 francs and 2 pence = 252 pence or 21 -shillings Guernsey. So the English sovereign becomes a guinea in French -silver and Guernsey bronze. - -The people of Guernsey hold by their old system; they find no -inconvenience in it; and it is decidedly advantageous to the English -resident in the island. - - - 3. INDIAN MONEY - -The East India Company made little change in the monetary system of the -Mogul Empire. In the greater part of India the silver rupee was the -standard of value, and the E.I.C. struck Sicca rupees (_sikkah_, coined) -in the name of Shah Alam, the Great Mogul reigning at the end of the -eighteenth century. These weighed 192 grains, but they were superseded -in 1836 by the present standard of rupee, 180 grains, of which 165 fine, -bearing the English sovereign’s head. The rupee is divided for account -into 16 annas, each of 12 copper pies, though the coin so called bore -until recently the Persian inscription _salas pai_, one-third of a pie; -the real pie, inscribed _ek pai_, one pie, being the quarter-anna. - -There are silver coins of a half, quarter and eighth of a rupee, but no -anna coin. The copper or bronze coins are half, quarter and twelfth -annas. - -The monetary system of the Madras Presidency (the people of which are a -different race, speaking Dravidian languages, not the Indo-European -languages of which Hindustani is the _lingua franca_) was different from -that of the rest of India. It was a gold-standard country, the monetary -unit being the ‘Varahan’ or ‘pagoda,’ a small thick gold coin of 53 -grains, reckoned as equivalent to 3-1/2 rupees or nearly 8 shillings. -There were also gold Fanams of about 6 grains, and still smaller gold -coins, used principally for largesse at festivities. - -The Star-pagoda, the usual gold currency, was of button-shape, with a -star on the convex surface, a Hindu deity on the flat. It weighed 52-1/2 -grains, the same weight as the Roman denarius, the Arabic dinar, and the -Venetian zechin, but it was only 19-1/2 carats fine. The E.I.C. coined -pagodas of lesser weight, about 46 grains, but of English standard -fineness. They also coined silver fanams, 42 being nominally equivalent -to the pagoda. These weighed 15 grains, so that they were equivalent to -1/12 of the 180-grain rupee, to 1-1/3 anna, or to 4 copper pysa. So -there was in the Madras Presidency a double monetary series, based on -the gold pagoda and on the silver rupee, the relative value of these -coins being of course inconstant. Gradually during the nineteenth -century the gold standard was replaced by silver, the change taking the -following order: - -1. The Pagoda of 42 fanams of 8 pysa of 4 kásh. - -The Rupee of 12 fanams. - -2. Then the two-anna piece replaced the fanam, taking its name. - -The Rupee of 8 fanams, of 6 pysa, of 4 kásh. - -3. The Rupee of 16 annas, of 3 pysa, of 4 kásh. - -4. The Rupee of 16 annas of 4 quarter-annas (called 3/4 pysa by the -natives) or of 12 kásh improperly called ‘pies.’ - -The division of the rupee into 8 fanams of 24 kásh survives, or did -survive till quite recent years, in the French settlements of -Pondichery, &c. The reason alleged was that the anna is non-existent as -a coin. But it is curious that the French administration did not -discover that there was a decimal system connected with the rupee. For -in Southern India thirty years ago, and perhaps at the present day, the -pysa was = 1/3 anna and the half-pysa 1/6 anna, but these were always -reckoned among the people as 1/50 and 1/100 rupee.[37] To the people of -the South the rupee is divided into 5 fanams each of 10 pysa each of 3 -kásh. But the term kásh (kássu) is merely a name for the lowest coin. -The E.I.C.’s pysa of 1808 bears the Persian inscription _Bis kás chhar -fleūs ast_ (It is 20 kásh, 4 filūs), followed by ‘XX cash.’ So this -coin, so dear to the people of Southern India that they cannot look on -the modern quarter-anna (the Anglo-Indians’ ‘pice’) otherwise than as a -_mookal_, a 3/4 pysa, is really 20 kásh, and the rupee is 200 filūs or -1000 kásh. Here is a decimal division ready for the rupee, for the -half-pysa, nominally 1/96 rupee (in 1797 coins it is so inscribed ‘96 to -one rupee’), but 1/100 rupee in the bazaar, is similarly inscribed as of -‘10 kásh 2 filūs.’ So the rupee could easily be made of 10 fanams, 100 -lesser pysa, 1000 kásh. But the sexdecimal division into annas, and the -duodecimal division into pies, are too convenient to be given up for a -decimal system. - -Footnote 37: - - This obvious decimal system of a rupee divided into 10 lesser fanams - and 100 pysa would not have appealed to French officials. It is not a - decimal system, but the Metric system, that the French scientist - requires; the decimal series of measures is only a stalking-horse for - the French system abroad. The French do not as a rule care about using - it themselves. - -The 2 filūs of the half-pysa show that the pysa was once divided into 4 -of a small coin (the present pie), the _fils_, an Arabic word probably -representing the L. follis.[38] - -Footnote 38: - - 1638. Fluces are 10 to a cozbeg (one halfpenny).—_N.E.D._ In this - quotation it seems as if Sir T. Herbert had mistaken the filūs for the - 10 kásh of the half-pysa. - - - _Indian Gold Coinage_ - -Northern and Central India, the parts more immediately under the Mogul -empire, were silver-standard countries. The silver rupee (sicca, = 192 -grains) was the standard; and the golden rupee of the same weight, -called an Ashráfi, or gold mohur, was valued at 16 rupees, though -generally more, according to the market-value of gold. The E.I.C. -continued to strike gold mohurs, with halves, thirds and quarters. Other -gold coins were current, notably the Venetian zechin, and the -approximate correspondence of this coin to the quarter-mohur caused the -latter to be commonly known as a ‘chick.’[39] - -Footnote 39: - - At whist, high play was for ‘Rupee points and a chick on the rub.’ - -Southern India offers the curious instance of a gold-standard country (a -century ago) having changed to a silver standard. The pagoda has -disappeared in currency. The beautiful Farūki pagoda of Tippoo is still -to be found; and the Venetian zechin with its archaic design, never -changed since it was first struck in the thirteenth century, is highly -esteemed in the household treasuries of affluent Indians for its great -purity. The word zechin or sequin is derived from sikkah, ‘coin.’ The -usual Persian inscription on the Mogul coinage, continued by the E.I.C., -is _Shah Alam, bádshah gházi, sikkah mubárak_ (Shah Alam, king -victorious, coin auspicious).[40] - -Footnote 40: - - The E.I.C. continued the custom of inscriptions on coins being in - Persian, the polite language of Moslem India. - - - 4. DECIMAL CURRENCY - -It is scarcely necessary to describe the decimal systems of which the -Dollar currency is the type. They have some advantages in numeration -with the counterbalancing defects of all decimal series. Division of the -dollar stops at a quarter; then there is a drop to 10 cents, and that -coin has no quarter. Any thirding can only be approximate. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - - MEASURES OF TIME - - -The primitive divisions of time were the day (the civil day between two -sunrises or sunsets), and the lunar month taken as 30 days instead of -the actual 29-1/2. Twelve lunar months made a calendar year of 360 days, -to which were added, in ancient Egypt, five intercalary days. The -additional day required every fourth year was called by the Romans -_bissextum calendis_, as it was introduced by repeating the sixth day of -the calends of March (our February 24). - -From the 360 calendar days of the year was derived the division of the -sun’s apparent path on the ecliptic (and of every other circle) into 360 -degrees. The ecliptic was divided, like the year, into twelve equal -parts named from the constellations to which they corresponded; each of -these was of 30 parts. - -To avoid the intercalary days at the end of the ordinary year, these -were afterwards distributed among the months in various ways. The number -of days to each modern month is inherited, with some changes, from the -arrangement adopted by a Greek-Asiatic nation. The names of the months -are those given by the Romans; their year originally began with March -(as indeed did ours, on Lady Day, down to 1751), and the original names -were: - - _Martius_ from Mars. - _Aprilis_ from Aphrodite (Venus).[41] - _Maius_ from _dü maiores_, the elder gods. - _Junius_ from _dü juniores_, the younger gods. - Quintilis the 5th month, afterwards Julius. - Sextilis the 6th „ „ Augustus. - Septembris the 7th „ - Octobris the 8th „ - Novembris the 9th „ - Decembris the 10th „ - Januarius from Janus or Dianus, the sun-god. - Februarius from februum, the expiation month. - -Footnote 41: - - In the Bithynian calendar were a couple of months, _Areios_ and - _Aphrodisios_ (once _Artemisios_), the Greek forms corresponding to - Martius and Aprilis. - -The week is of astrological origin. Even in Europe there are still many -people who believe that the seven planets of the pre-Copernican system -rule, each in its turn, the successive hours of each day; the planet -ruling the first hour gives its name to the day, and influences it -astrologically. Thus the week is the series of seven days ruled -successively in the first hour by one of the seven planets. From the -series of planets arranged in the order of their periods—Saturn, -Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon—the order of the day-names -comes about in the following way: - -Sunday (_dies Solis_) was so named from the Sun ruling its first hour. -The following six hours being ruled by the other planets, the Sun again -rules the eighth hour, also the fifteenth and the twenty-second; the -twenty-third hour is ruled by the next planet in the series, Venus;[42] -the twenty-fourth by Mercury, and the first hour of the next day by the -Moon, hence this will be Monday (_dies Lunæ_). The Moon ruling the -first, eighth, fifteenth, twenty-second hours of Monday, the -twenty-third hour will be ruled by Saturn (beginning the series again), -the twenty-fourth by Jupiter, and the first hour of the next day by -Mars; hence this day will be _dies Martis_ or Tuesday, from the planet -Tiw = Mars. And so on with the remaining days, the names of the planet -ruling the next day being obtained by passing over the name of the two -planets ruling the twenty-third and twenty-fourth hours. Thus beginning -with the first planet of the series we get: - - Saturn ruling Saturday _dies Saturni_ - Sun „ Sunday „ _Solis_ - Moon „ Monday „ _Lunæ_ - Mars (Tiw) „ Tuesday „ _Martis_ - Mercury (Woden) „ Wednesday „ _Mercurii_ - Jupiter (Thor) „ Thursday „ _Jovis_ - Venus (Frigu) „ Friday „ _Veneris_ - -Footnote 42: - - In the _Knightes Tale_ (Chaucer) Palamon visits the temple of Venus at - her hour, then the temples of Diana (the Moon) and of Mars at their - respective hours. - -Latin Christianity made only two changes: _d. dominicus_ for Sunday, and -_d. sabbati_ for Saturday; but the latter still retains its old name in -several countries, thus: - - Provençal. Welsh. - - Dimenche Dydd Sul - Dilun „ Llyn - Dimars „ Mawrth - Dimècre „ Mercher - Dijòu „ Jau - Divèndre „ Givener (Wener) - Dissate „ Sadwrn - -The unit of time is the mean solar-day, the time between the noons of -two successive days, noon being taken as the moment of the passage of -the sun over the local meridian, corrected by the equation of time or -daily correction required to reduce the varying solar days to a mean of -all the solar days. So ‘mean time’ is that of a well-regulated clock -dividing the year into mean solar-days of 24 hours; there being 365 -days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 46 seconds, in the astronomical year. - -It is probable that everywhere, in primitive times, both day and night -would be divided, in southern countries at least, or at the equinoxes, -into three watches of fairly equal length: the morning, midday, -afternoon; and the evening, midnight and dawn. Each of these would -become divided, with the rise of astronomical observations and the use -of sun-dials, into fourths, making twelve hours for either day or night; -twelve hours corresponding to the twelve months of the year or to the -uncial divisions of other measures. The civil day would thus be of -twenty-four hours, grouped into watches of four hours or into the eight -canonical divisions of the day. In medieval times midday was properly -the hour of sexte, the sixth hour from prime, the third from tierce; but -in course of time the ninth hour, nones, was shifted from 3 P.M. to -midday, which thus became ‘noon.’ - -But the original division of the day, probably Chaldæan, was strictly -sexagesimal. It was divided into 60 parts (= 24 minutes), each part into -60, and this again into 60. - -In medieval times the Sun’s daily path was divided into 24 hours, each -of 15 degrees; and each hour was also divided into 3 miles or mileways -of 5 degrees (= 20 minutes). This division was connected with the -popular concrete idea of time in which 20 to 24 minutes was the common -unit. In India the popular unit is still the time required to boil a pot -of rice (20 to 24 minutes) or do some similar domestic task. In the -Middle Ages the Western unit was the time required to walk a mile, on -medieval roads. - -‘And thogh I stonde there a myle’ (Gower, 1390). - -‘And maketh every minute seem a myle’ (Spenser, 1594). - -Then the degree was divided sexagesimally into 60 minutes each of 60 -seconds, as at present. These divisions were at first called scruples, -from the above-mentioned division of the day into 60 scruples of 24 -minutes (the ounce being divided into scruples each of 24 light grains). -Here the scruple-sense of 1/24 passes to 1/60. - -‘1610. The latitude fiftie degrees and fortie scruples or minutes’ -(Quot. _N.E.D._). - -The hour was also divided similarly into 60 scruples or minutes, each of -60 second scruples or seconds. - -The ounce and scruple division of time is shown in the following passage -from ‘Le Breviari d’Amor,’ a thirteenth-century poem by Ermengaud, a -monk of Beziers. I have freely translated it from the Languedocian. ‘The -day is divided into quarters, each of 6 hours; and the fourth part of an -hour is a point, the tenth part of which is a moment; the moment is -divided into 12 parts called ounces, and each of the ounces yields 47 -atoms, which time called an atom cannot be further divided.’ It seems -almost certain that ‘atomus xlvij’ is either a mistake for xlviij or -deliberately put for _set_ (7), to rime with _ret_ (yields). The ounce -of time, = 7-1/2 seconds, would be divided into 24 scruples and 48 -oboli, called atoms as being the end of the division. Similar dropping -of a unit from Roman numerals is to be found in medieval Acts of -Parliament and Ordinances. - - - _The Lunar Year_ - -In the lunar year used by Moslems and Jews, and also recognised by law -in the movable date of Easter and some other feasts, the month is -approximately of 29-1/2 days, so that the year is 354 days, less than -the solar year by 11 days, or 12 in leap years. Hence Moslem feasts or -fasts, such as the Ramadán and the times of pilgrimage, are that number -of days earlier each year. - -The age of the Moon is found by the Epact, its age on the first day of -the year. It is about the same on March 1 as on January 1, owing to -January and February being together equal to two lunar months. So the -increase of the Epact during the year, at the rate of about one day in -the month, begins March 1; and September is, for this purpose, the -seventh month. - -To the day of the month add the Epact and the number of the month, -beginning March 1. The total, over 0 or over 30, is the age of the moon. - -_Example._—September 10, 1910 (7th Month), Epact for 1910 being xix. - -10 + 19 + 7 = 36. The Moon was 6 days old. - -What will be the date of full moon, its fifteenth day, in November 1912? -November is the ninth month and the Epact for 1912 is xi. - -11 + 9 = 20. 45 (= 30 + 15) - 20 = 25. _Ans._ November 17. - -Agriculturists who believe that certain seeds should be sown, trees -planted, and pigs converted into bacon during the waxing of the moon, -while trees are felled during the waning, find the Epact useful in -reckoning the moon’s age. It is also useful in calculating whether -country-roads will be moonlit during certain nights. - -The Epact increases 11 days annually: 1911, 0; 1912, xi; 1913, xxij; -coming back to 0 in 31 years. - - - _The Compass Card_ - -While the circle of the horizon is divided into 360 degrees for -astronomy and for accurate navigation, the steersman has always divided -it sexdecimally. The temple of the Winds at Athens was octagonal; and -the points of the horizon were named after the eight winds, a number -increased to sixteen about the time of Ptolemy. The Romans tried in vain -to substitute an uncial division; their 12 winds and points could not -supersede the 8 winds and points of the Greeks. And to this day in the -Mediterranean there are 8 principal points, named after the sun and -winds: - -Tramontano, Levant, Mezzodi, Ponente. - -Greco, N.E.; Scirocco, S.E.; Libeccio, S.W.; Maestralo, N.W. - -Amerigo Vespucci sailed for the ‘_Ponente una quarta di Libeccio_,’ -West, one point S.W.; and afterwards for the ‘_Libeccio una quarta del -Mezzodi_,’ S.W. one point S. - -[Illustration: - - DIAGRAM INDICATING THE PLANET RULING EACH HOUR, - FROM - DE TEMPORUM COMPUTATIONE ATQUE DIVISIONE, - Joannis Padovanii, Veronæ, 1577. - -] - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XV - - MEASURES OF HEAT AND OF DENSITY - AND COMPOUND INDUSTRIAL UNITS - - - 1. MEASURES OF HEAT - - _Thermometric Scales_ - -About 1595 Galileo made a thermometer, probably one with an air-bulb in -which expansion of the air forces water down the tube. - -Isaac Newton made an oil-thermometer with a scale of 12° between -freezing-point and body-heat. - -Fahrenheit, about 1714, made a mercurial thermometer, its 0 at the cold -produced by a refrigerating mixture and 24° at body-heat. On this scale, -freezing-point was 8° and boiling-point 53°. The quarter-degrees were -then made whole degrees, producing the Fahrenheit scale with 32° for -freezing-point, 96° (more correctly 98·4°) for body-heat, and 212° for -boiling-point at ordinary atmospheric pressure. There are 180° between -freezing and boiling points. - -Réaumur’s scale has 80° between these points. - -Celsius (of Upsala, 1742) used a scale of 100° between these points. -Hence it is usually called Centigrade. This is the scale of -international physical and chemical reports; and is generally used in -laboratory-work. - -The maximum density of water is at 4° Centigrade = 39·2° F. - -The Fahrenheit scale is generally used in English-speaking countries. It -is convenient for meteorological purposes as there is rarely any need to -use ‘minus’ degrees for winter temperatures as in the Centigrade and -Réaumur scales. For medical purposes it is also more convenient to have -the normal body-temperature at 98·4° F. (close to 100°), than at 36·9° -C. or at 29·5° R.[43] - -Footnote 43: - - Normal body-temperature is taken in France as 37° C. In Germany it is - taken as 29·3° Réaumur = 97·9° F. - -To convert Centigrade degrees into Fahrenheit: - -Double the degrees; deduct 1/10; add 32°. - -E.g., 20° C.; 20 × 2 = 40; 40 - 4 = 36; 36 + 32 = 68° F. - -To convert Fahrenheit degrees into Centigrade: - -Deduct 32°; halve the degrees; add 1/9 (roughly 1/10 or a little more). - -E.g., 100° F.; - 32 = 68; 1/2 68 = 34; 34 + 3·4 = 37·4 (37·75 correct). - - - 2. MEASURES OF DENSITY - -Specific gravity and the density of fluids at different temperatures -were known in very ancient times. The ‘Eureka’ experiments of Archimedes -are well known. Al-Khazini (1121)[44] determined the specific gravity of -metals and of fluids at different temperatures as accurately as modern -physicists have done. - -Footnote 44: - - _Book of the Balance of Wisdom_ (H. Carrington Bolton). - -The hydrometer, divided into 24 qiráts, was well known in the East, even -before the time of the Caliphates. - -The density or specific gravity of solids and fluids is usually referred -to that of distilled water at 62° F. = 16·6° C. - -It is sometimes referred to 4° C. = 39·2° F. There is no advantage in -this temperature, that of water at its maximum density; corrections for -temperature will always have to be made in exact determinations, while, -in the approximate determinations of trade, the indoor standard of 62° -F. requires no correction. - -The specific gravity of gases being in the ratio of their molecular -weight, which is referred to that of hydrogen, this gas is taken as the -standard. - -The density of solutions of salts, sugar, acids, &c., is referred to -that of water or stated on a trade-scale usually indicating the -percentage in solution. - -The density of spirits is referred to that of water, but their alcoholic -strength to: - -(_a_) A scale indicating the volume of alcohol per cent. (Gay-Lussac and -Tralles). - -(_b_) An arbitrary scale (Cartier and Baumé). - -(_c_) An excise-scale on the basis of proof-spirit (Sykes). - -Proof-spirit meant originally a spirit sufficiently strong to take -light, and which, if poured on gunpowder and lighted, would cause the -powder to explode. This was the ‘Holland-proof,’ By a statute of 1816 it -was defined as of specific gravity 12/13 that of water at 51° F., which -is = 0·923; but at the present standard temperature of 60° = 15·5° C. it -is 0·920. - -With Sykes’s hydrometer, used in England: - -_Under Proof_ (U.P.)—each degree means 1 per cent. of water, the rest -being proof spirit. - -_Over Proof_ (O.P.)—each degree means 1 per cent. of water required to -be added to bring the spirit down to proof. - -The scale of Tralles’s alcoholometer only differs from Gay-Lussac’s by -water being taken at 39·2° and pure alcohol as of sp. gr. 7939 at 60°. - - Alcohol Sykes° Baumé° - Sp. Gr. Vol. per cent. (Excise) (French) - - 1·000 0 100 U.P. 10 - 0·920 57·05 Proof 22 - 0·848 85·2 49·6 O.P. 36 Fr. Rect. Spirit Troix-six. - 0·838 88·8 55·8 „ 38·2 Rect. Spirit, Brit. Pharm. - 0·821 93·75 64·3 „ 41·8 Strongest Rect. Spirit. - 0·794 100 —— 48 Absolute Alcohol. - -The approximate relation of the five usual scales for proof and French -rectified spirit are as follows: - - Proof 0·920 Fr. Rect. Sp. 0·848 - - Gay-Lussac 58° 86° - Tralles 56·3° 85° - Cartier 21·6° 34° - Baumé 22·6° 36° Trois-six - Sykes Proof 49·6° - - - _Compound Industrial Units_ - -Units of Power, of Electricity, of Caloric, &c., are abstract compound -units based on units of time, weight, length, &c., combined for -industrial convenience, e.g. a certain weight moved a certain distance -in a certain time. - -The H.P., engine horse-power, is 550 lb. raised one foot in one second. -In France this becomes 75·9 kilos, raised one metre in one second, = -about 3/4 of the kilo-watt unit of electric power. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - - THE ELLS - - -The Ells are the Cubits of the modern West. They are of two kinds: the -Foot-Ells, of which the Persian cubit and the Beládi cubit, divisible -into 2 feet, were the types, and the Span-Ells, of 3, 4, 5 or 6 spans. - - - 1. THE FOOT-ELLS - -In France the Aune was 4 Roman feet. - -In the Italian states the Braccio was usually 2 local feet, but -sometimes an Eastern cubit. - -In the German and Norse states the Eln was 2 local feet. - -In Spain the Covado, of 2 Burgos feet, was the Beládi cubit. - - - 2. THE SPAN-ELLS - -The Span-Ells of Western Europe are of two types, derived either from -the English foot, or from a Netherlands foot which has disappeared and -which was probably the Olympic foot. (See Holland, in the next chapter.) - -The Netherlands Ell appears then to be 3 spans of an Olympic cubit = 3 × -18·24/2, which is equivalent to 2-1/4 Olympic feet: 2-1/4 × 12·16: both -= 27·36 inches. The Antwerp Ell was formerly = 27·396 inches, and that -of Amsterdam = 27·216 inches. There has been shrinkage, probably through -the influence of the English standard of the Flemish Ell, we having -taken 3 of our own spans, = 27 inches, for this largely used -trade-measure, and our standard having prevailed in foreign trade. So -the Flemish Ell has tended more and more to the English standard. In -Holland and its colonies it is = 27·08 inches. This is also the standard -in Portugal. The lesser _pík_ or _drá_ of Constantinople, = 27 inches, -was probably = 26·8 inches as in Egypt; it may have increased under the -influence of the English or Flemish Ell. The Venetian braccio, = 26·9 -inches, probably comes from this Turkish _pík_. - -In Northern France there was an Aune = 27·1 inches and another of 27 -Amsterdam inches = 27·36 inches (the Amsterdam foot being of 11 inches). - -In Prussia there is, or was, an Ell = 26·257 inches. It was described as -of 2-1/8 Rhineland feet; but it was almost certainly 3 Roman spans = -2-1/4 Roman feet (11·67 × 2-1/4 = 26·257 inches), brought into the -Rhineland system by representing it as 2-1/8 Rhineland feet, which it is -only approximately; 2-1/8 × 12·3563 being = 26·2617 inches. - -Nowhere out of England and Scotland is there found any Span-ell other -than of 3 spans. The apparent exceptions are in Spain, where the Vara of -3 feet, = 1-1/2 Beládi cubit, is a 4-span ell, like our Yard, and in -Occitania (Southern France), where the Cano is an 8-span fathom. - -‘Ell,’ formerly Elne, meant at first the natural cubit or length of the -forearm (L. _ulna_) from the finger tips to the bend of the arm or -‘el-bow.’ Originally of 2 spans, it came to mean a greater multiple of -the span, or, as in the case of the German ells and the French aune, a -multiple of the foot. - -Our Ells were: - - Flemish Ell 3 spans = 27 inches - English Yard 4 „ = 36 „ - Scots Ell 4 „ = 36 „ (Scots) - English Ell 5 „ = 45 „ - Long English Ell or Cloth-goad 6 „ = 54 „ - -The Flemish Ell was that of the Netherlands, brought to the standard of -our inches. - -The Long English Ell or cloth-goad of 6 spans was a double Flemish ell. -It has long been extinct. - -The Yard has survived, from its convenience as either of 4 spans or of 3 -feet. - -The Scots Ell = 37·058 inches corresponded to the English yard; it was 3 -feet Scots, i.e. of Rhineland standard, = 12·353 inches. - -The Common English Ell, the tailor’s yard, ‘taylors yerde, virga -cissoris,’ was probably the French aune = 46·6 inches, introduced under -the Plantagenets from their French dominions and cut down to fit our ell -system. This ell appears to have been carried abroad by trade. Both the -3-span Covado and the 5-span Vara of Portugal are identical with our -ells, their spans being longer than the ordinary Portuguese spans and -called _palmos avantejados_, long spans. - -The four-foot Ell of Jersey and Guernsey was probably the French ell -increased from 4 Roman feet to 4 English feet. - -Of the foot-ells of Italy and Germany, several were exactly half our -ell, while quite foreign to the native standards. - -Both our Ell and our Yard were divided into 4 quarters and 16 nails. The -Elizabethan standards, still extant, are so divided. - -Of the English span-ells the Yard alone remains. The 5-span Ell, -maintained by the statute authority which prescribed the breadth of -cloth, lived only as a royal measure and, like the royal pound, was -gradually superseded by the more popular measure. The ell was obsolete -nearly a century before the royal pound silently disappeared. It seems, -however, to have survived in Wales for a long time. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - - FOREIGN LINEAR MEASURES - - -Only a sketch of these can be given, for in some countries so various -are the local standards that each petty state, each district sometimes, -would require a long study. - - - I. THE TEUTONIC COUNTRIES - - _Sweden_ - -The Roman foot = 11·67 inches. This is, or was, also used in Oldenburg -and in some parts of Holland. - - - _Denmark and Norway_ - -The Rhineland foot = 12·356 inches, divided into 12 Tomme (thumbs), 12 -feet = 1 rode (rod). - -_North Germany_ - -The principal types are: - -1. The Rhineland foot, in Prussia, &c. - -2. The Hanoverian foot = 11·5 inches more or less, used in Hanover, -Pomerania, part of Holland and Belgium, Bavaria, Mecklenburg, and -Geneva. - -3. The Hanseatic foot, 11·32 inches more or less, used in Lubeck, Bremen -(11·39), Hamburg (11·276), Dantzig, also in Hesse, Saxe-Coburg, and -Poland. - -The length of 11·32 inches points to the probability of the Hanseatic -foot being a reduced Rhineland foot, 11/12 of 12·356 inches = 11·3264 -inches. There are several instances of the popular objection to a long -foot and of the artifice which reduces it to a more convenient length by -taking 11 inches of the government standard, and making from them a foot -of 12 short inches. - -4. The Amsterdam foot = 11·146 inches, also used in the Dutch parts of -New England. This foot is divided into 11 inches, an evident instance of -a reduced foot, unconcealed by any division into 12 new inches. The -practice of making a reduced foot stands revealed, and is confirmed by -the Amsterdam rod (roede) being 13 of these reduced feet, evidently to -make up in land-measure for the reduction in the foot in the home and in -the workshop. This compensation is of the same kind as that now used in -English agricultural weights where, to compensate for the statute -reduction of the ancient 16 lb. stone, of which 16 made a wey or load of -256 lb., the custom arose of taking 18 statute-stones of 14 lb. to make -a load of 252 lb. approximately the same as the old load. - -The question now arises: What was the foot of 12·16 inches which the -Hollanders reduced to 11/12 = 11·146 inches? Was it the Olympic foot? - -The seafaring Netherlander, to whom the nautical mile and its 1/1000 -part = the Olympic fathom, were familiar, would very possibly take its -sixth part as their foot, just as the seafaring Greeks had taken it. But -landfolk accustomed to the short Roman foot, which is still to be found -in the land-measures of Holland, would reduce the longer foot to 11 -inches for popular use. - -Yet the longer foot has left traces in the Netherlands. The Amsterdam -roede of 13 Amsterdam feet is = 12·07 feet, i.e. 12 feet of 12·07 -inches. The Amsterdam Ell, = 27·08 inches at present (= 3 spans of 9·023 -inches), was, in 1647, according to John Greaves, = 27·216 inches, -giving a foot of 12·1 inches, and he gives the Antwerp Ell as = 27·396 -inches, which gives an Antwerp foot 12·176 inches, a length very close -to that of the Olympic foot of 12·16 inches. There appears to have been -a slight shrinkage in the Amsterdam ell. - - - _Austria_ - -There are two standards of foot. While the ordinary foot, 1/6 of the -Klafter or fathom, is = 12·441 inches, that of the ell (which is 2-1/2 -feet) = 12·245 inches. It looks as if the one were increased, and the -other equally decreased, from the Rhineland foot, = 12·356 inches. - - - 2. THE LATIN COUNTRIES - - _Italy_ - -Here every state, almost every city, had a different standard of length. -The foot was generally of Roman type = 11·67 inches, or of a very short -type, = about 10·3 inches, referable possibly to half an Egyptian royal -cubit, = 20·64 inches, a measure still extant in Egypt. There was -usually also a braccio or cloth-ell of 23 to 26 inches, probably of -Eastern origin. - -In Lombardy the standard was the Luitprandi foot (pié Aliprandi) = 20·28 -inches, with a corresponding pertica or rod of 12 _piedi_, usually = -20·23 feet. Legend refers this measure to the foot-length of a giant -Lombard king; but it is evidently a cubit, probably a variant of the -Egyptian royal cubit, for 2/3 of it gave the Lombard foot, = 13·52 -inches; and this, as also the Venetian foot, = 13·69 inches, seems -referable to the Egyptian royal foot, = 13·76 inches. - -But everywhere and always the people object to a long foot-standard. -Whether in ancient Egypt or in modern Italy, they will take a more -convenient length; they will halve the cubit so as to get a short foot, -or take some span, or some ell divisible into spans. So in Italy there -was generally a local foot and also a span. Sometimes the span was 3/4 -of the foot, at other times it was a fraction of a braccio or ell; and -both foot and span might be called a _palmo_. This term was equivalent -to the L. _palmus major_ as distinguished from the ordinary _palmus_ of -4 digits. In Rome there is, or was till recently, a series the same as -that of ancient Rome, on the basis of a foot = 11·72 inches, slightly -longer than the ancient foot = 11·67 inches; 5 feet made a _passo_, and -1000 _passi_ a mile. - -The foot was of 16 digits, usually called _oncie_, inches, and 12 of -these digits were taken for a palmo = 8·79 inches. Three of these palmi -made the braccio, the cloth-ell, = 26·38 inches. - -The Roman field-measures were a mixture of decimal chain-units and of -lengths derived from seed-measures of land. - -In Tuscany the standard was the braccio, = 22·98 inches, half of which -was the palmo, = 11·49 inches. The braccio was divided, as if it were a -money-pound, into 20 soldi, of 12 denari. - -In the kingdom of Naples, with its population of Greek origin, the -standard of length was the meridian mile, divided into 1000 Olympic -fathoms or passi. But the passo was divided, not into six long feet, -but, like the Egyptian royal cubit, into 7 palmi, = 10·4 inches. The -usual standard was the Canna of 8 palmi, a reversion to the common -Mediterranean measure of the reed of 8 spans. - -In Genoa there was, and perhaps is still, a palmo = 9·764 inches, a -length exactly that of the pán in several cities of Provence. It has -changed but little since the time of Recorde’s ‘Pawn of Geans’ (1543) or -since John Greaves (1647) gave it as = 9·78 inches.[45] - -Footnote 45: - - In this ‘pawn’ (the spelling of which shows that English had already - lost the _a_ sound of the first vowel and had to represent it by _aw_) - I see the fusion of two words etymologically different, the Italian - _palmo_, L. _palmus_, and the Provençal _pán_, side, panel. See, in - Chaps. IV and XXI, ‘The Pán of Marseilles.’ - -Genoa, the language of which district is a dialect of Provençal, has -measures of the Provençal type. The measures of Provence will be -described at length in Chap. XXI. - - - _Spain_ - -The standard is the Burgos foot = 11·127 inches, 3 feet making a Vara. -This foot was originally = 10·944 inches,[46] i.e. half the Beládi -cubit, brought by the Moors. This original standard has been preserved -very nearly in the two-foot _Covado di ribera_, the shore-cubit, = -21·9157 inches, its half = 10·9578 inches. - -Footnote 46: - - As pointed out by Don V. V. Queipo (_Essai sur les Systèmes - Métriques_, 1859), but not quite accurately. His values are often - confused or obscure, but his work is most useful. - -That the Burgos foot has deviated, like most Spanish weights and -measures, from the accurate standards of the Moors, is shown by the -length of the Spanish _Legua maritima_, the league of 3 meridian miles, -or 6653·36 varas. At the modern standard of the Burgos foot this is - -6653·36 × 3 × 11·127 inches = 220,958 inches, while 3 meridian miles are - -2026·66 yards × 3 × 12 inches = 218,880 inches, showing an error of 2078 -inches = 57·7 yards. - -Taking the original standard of the Burgos foot at 10·944 inches, - -6653 varas × 3 × 10,944 = 218,880 inches, - -exactly corresponding to the Parasang, = 10,000 Beládi cubits of 21·888 -inches, or to 20,000 Burgos feet as instituted by the Moors. - -The erroneous standard of the Burgos foot appears to have been -corrected. The tables of A. de Malarce, approved by the French -government in 1879, give the Burgos foot as = O·27833 metre = 10·938 -inches. - -That Spain also once had the Roman foot is shown by the survival in -Tunis of the Drá Andalussi, the Spanish Ell, of 3 Roman spans of 8·753 -inches = 26·25 inches. - - - _Portugal_ - -Here the Roman standard is seen in the Palmo or span = 8·749 inches, 3/4 -of a foot = 11·665 inches. The palmo is divided into 8 _polegadas_, -inches, of 12 lines, or into 12 _dedo_, digits, of 8 lines. - -The Vara, = 43·7 inches, is of 5 spans; the Braça, or fathom, is 2 varas -or 10 spans; 3000 fathoms make a league, = 3·89 miles, divided into 3 -_milhas_ of 8 _estados_, stadia or furlongs. In land-measure 4840 square -varas make a _geira_ (= 1·47 acre) exactly, as 4840 square yards make -our acre. One may infer that the form and division of the geira was -similar to that of our acre; that it is, or was, 220 × 22 varas, a 1/10 -strip of some ‘acreme’ measure. This view is supported by the use in -Brazil of a land-unit, the _quadro_, officially 150 × 1 metres; a strip -of an original square quadro corresponding to the 10-geira field. In -Argentina the _cuadra_ is 150 varas, and the _cuadra cuadrada_, 4·17 -acres, is that measure squared. - -Portugal has another span, the _palmo avantejado_ = 9·0256 inches, of -which 3 make a covado or cubit = 27·078 inches, virtually the Flemish -ell of English standard. - - - 3. RUSSIA AND THE EAST - - _Russia_ - -The standard of length is the English foot, introduced by Peter the -Great. There is another and older measure, the Arshīn = 28 inches, i.e. -the Turkish arshīn of 27·9 inches varied to a simple relation with the -new foot; and like the Turkish measure it is divided into 16 nails -(Verstok). See ‘Arshīn,’ further on. - - 3 Arshīns = 1 Sajeng = 7 feet. - 500 Sajeng = 1 Verst = 1166·6 yds. (1·06 kilometre). - - - _Turkey_ - - The Arshīn or Halebi pík = 27·9 inches. - 5-1/2 Arshīns = 1 Qasáb. - -The Hendázi or Stambūli _drá_ = 25·688 inches, very nearly the Hashími -cubit = 25·56 inches. - -The Cloth-drá = the Flemish ell. - -All these are divided into either 16 nails or 24 qirát. - - - _Egypt_ - -The Hendázi drá, as above. - -The Nile pík of two standards: - - 1. That of the Black cubit = 21·28 inches. - 2. That of the Royal cubit = 20·65 „ - -There is also a commonly used pík = 26·8 inches, probably a low standard -Flemish ell. - - - _Persia_ - -The geodesic traditions of the ancient Oriental monarchies maintain many -of their standards. The principal is the Guz or Yard of 2 common -Egyptian cubits 2 × 18·24 = 36·48 inches. It is 1/6000 of the Farsakh, -the ancient Parasang or league of 3 meridian miles. - -There are also amongst others: - - A Cloth guz = 1-1/2 Hashími cubits = 38·3 inches. - Another guz = 1-1/2 Persian cubits = 37·9 „ - „ „ = 1-2/3 Hashími cubits = 42 „ - - - _Roumania_ - -The measures differ little from those of Turkey. - - The Halebi pík = 27·6 inches. - The Hendázi „ = 26·03 „ - - - _Greece_ - -The Hendázi _píchus_, of Hashími standard = 25·51, is the usual measure. - - - _Tunis, Tripoli, Algeria_ - -The Moorish drá = 18·94 to 19·2 inches (3/4 of the Hashími cubit), the -usual standard. The multiples by 8 show the influence of the Cano of 8 -spans from Southern France and Italy. - -The ancient Roman mile still exists in Tunis, with a length = 1610-1/4 -yards. - - - 4. THE HASHÍMI CUBIT - -After the Moslem conquest of the countries of the Eastern great -monarchies, the 25·26 inch standard of the Persian cubit was raised to -25·56 inches. This is the Hashími, or Hashemic cubit, named after -Hashim, the chief of the Arab tribe to which the prophet Mahomed -belonged. It is the cubit mentioned in the ‘Arabian Nights’ (524th -night). But the cubit or the foot of the Nights, when not specified, is -usually either of the Olympic or of Al-Mamūn’s standard. The increase of -the Persian cubit was probably to bring it, together with the Beládi -cubit and the Arshīn (to be described presently), into simple relation -with a Qasáb of length slightly increased so that this should, for -building and land measurement, be a common multiple of the three cubits. -This is the Turkish qasáb, the qasáb qabáni = 153·45 inches. - - 7 Beládi cubits at 21·888 inches = 153·216 inches. - 6 Hashími „ „ 25·56 „ = 153·36 „ - 5-1/2 Arshīns „ 27·9 „ = 153·45 „ - -By taking the 7 Beládi cubits at the equatorial standard of the Jewish -cubit, 21·914 inches, they would give 153·34 inches, and taking 5-1/2 -arshīns at the slightly diminished length of 27·88 inches, the qasáb -would be an exact common multiple of them at 153·36 inches. - -This qasáb can be divided into 6 Hashími cubits, or 12 feet, or 24 -kubdehs (handshafts), or sexdecimally into 2 fathoms, 4 guz, 8 cubits, -16 spans. It is a mere coincidence that the old French foot, = 12·789 -inches, was very approximately half a Hashími cubit. - - - 5. THE HALEBI PÍK OR ARSHĪN - -The date of this measure is as uncertain as its source. It is a Turkish -measure = 27·9 inches or thereabouts, divided into 16 qirát. This -division points to it being 2/3 of a Persian guz of 24 qirát. - -Among the guz of Persia there is one = 1-2/3 Hashími cubits = 42 inches, -of which 16/24 = 28 inches. If this length were taken, it might have -been somewhat lessened to make it an aliquot part of the Turkish reed or -qasáb, 6 Hashími cubits = 153·36 inches. At the length of 27·9 inches, -5-1/2 arshīn = 153·45 inches or within 1/10 inch of the qasáb. - -It is curious that the Reed should be 5-1/2 arshīns, as our Rod is 5-1/2 -yards. - -While the Turkish qasáb is— - -7 Beládi cubits, 6 Hashími cubits = 5-1/2 arshīns, the Egyptian qasáb, -somewhat less, is— - -6 Assyrian cubits of 25·26 inches = 151·56 inches, or 5-1/2 double royal -feet of 13·76 = 151·36 inches, and is divided into 10 ‘belendi’ feet of -15·156 inches. - -There is a lesser Egyptian qasáb of 5 arshīns = 139·65 inches and a -third still less, of 4 Assyrian cubits = 101 inches. With each of these -qasáb 20 × 20 make a Feddan of land. - -The word Pík is the Greek pichūs, a cubit. - - - _Note of Acknowledgment_ - -In this and the next two chapters I have necessarily had to work largely -on materials gathered by others. The equivalents of foreign measures and -weights are in many cases taken from— - -Kelly’s ‘Cambist,’ 1816. - -Woolhouse’s ‘Measures, Weights and Moneys of all Nations,’ 1890. - -De Malarce, ‘Poids et Mesures,’ 1879. - -Browne’s ‘Merchants’ Handbook,’ 1899. - -The information in the last of these is excellently compiled and very -trustworthy. - -My object is to give, not tabulated series of measures but their history -and rationale, to apprehend the ways of thought which have given rise to -them, to seek their relations. No country has an isolated system, or -even an isolated measure, and unity underlies the infinite variety of -measures and weights. - - TABLE OF SOME EUROPEAN ITINERARY MEASURES - - - Yards Miles - 1. Meridian mile—Naples 2026-2/3 1·1515 - „ league, 1/20 degree — 4·54 - - 2. Ancient Roman mile 1621-1/3 0·921 - - 3. Roman mile, modified— - Venice, 1000 paces of 5 feet 1901 1·08 - Sicily, 720 rods of 8 palmi 1625 0·924 - Spain, 1000 paces of 5 feet 1520 0·863 - Portugal, 8 stadia of 234-2/3 varas 2281 1·296 - England, 8 furlongs of 220 yards 1760 1·0 - France, 1000 toises 2131 1·21 - - 4. German Meile, about a meridian league— - Austria, 4000 fathoms of 6 feet — 4·71 - Prussia and Denmark, 2000 rods of 12 feet — 4·68 - Hanover, 1587 rods of 16 feet — 4·66 - Brunswick, 1625 rods of 16 feet — 4·61 - - 5. An ‘hour-walk’ league— - Holland—Uur gaans — — - Switzerland—Stunde, 1600 rods of 10 feet — 2·98 - - 6. Russia—Verst, 500 sajeng of 7 feet 1166·6 0·663 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - - FOREIGN WEIGHTS - - - 1. TEUTONIC SYSTEMS OF WEIGHT - -The German and Norse pounds are of three types: - -1. The pound of the Cologne mark, the double marc, = 7216 grains, its -ounce = 451 grains. This was the standard of the old Tower weight of the -English mints. It coincides with the Arabic lesser rotl, 1/100 of the -Cantar of Al-Mamūn (= 102·92 lb.). - -Its modern type is, or was, the pound of Prussia and Hanover = 7218 -grains, 1/100 of the Centner = 103·11 lb. It was defined as 1/66 of the -weight of a Rhineland cubic foot of water (see next chapter). - -2. The Troy pound, of variable standard, from 7705 grains (ounce = 481·5 -grs.) in Denmark, and as high as 483 grains in Sweden, to 7595 grains -(ounce = 474·7 grs.) in Holland. Even in Holland there is another -standard, that of the Amsterdam pound, 7625 grains (ounce = 476·7 grs.), -the medium standard of Troy weight, = 10 Egyptian dirhems of 47·6 -grains. - -3. The Nuremburg pound = 7390 grains, its ounce = 462 grains. As the -12-oz. pound of apothecaries’ weight, it is = 5522 grains, its ounce = -460·2 grains. This pound is derived from the 8-ounce _peso di marco_ of -Venice = 3695 grains. The Venice ounce, = 460·2 grains, was divided into -144 carats of 3·19609 grains. This ounce was 8 centesimal drachmæ of the -Arabic lesser rotl = 5763 grains, when divided on the Greek system into -100 drachmæ of 57·63 grains, instead of on the uncial system, so that 8 -× 57·63 = 461·04 grains. This is the apparent basis of the Venetian -marc-ounce and the Nuremburg ounce. - -As the Marc was 2/3 of the classic 12-oz. pound, the word came to mean -2/3 of a pound, either weight or coin; it probably came from ‘San Marco’ -of Venice. - -German and Scandinavian ounces were usually divided into 2 loths or -half-ounces, 8 quentchen and 16 Pfenning. - -In Holland the mint-ounce was of 20 Engels, each of 32 Azen. ‘Engel’ is -the English sterling or dwt.; the Aas is an ace, a light grain = 0·7417 -grain. - -_The Baltic Skippund._ This ship-pound was 20 lispund, of either 20 -light or 16 heavy pounds: - - Denmark & Norway—20 lispund of 16 skaalpund = 352 lb. - Sweden—20 lispund of 20 skaalpund = 375 lb. - Russia—the berkowitz, 10 pūd of 40 fūnt = 361 lb. - - - 2. EAST-EUROPEAN SYSTEMS OF WEIGHT - -The Pounds of Poland, of Russia, of Austro-Hungary and Bavaria (also a -mint-pound in Sweden), appear to have developed from the Arabic pounds -on a dirhem-basis. - -1. The Polish pound, 16 × 8 dirhems of 48·9 grains, = 6258 grs. It is -divided into 16 ounces; the oz. = 391 grs. (Cf. the lb. of Sardinia and -of Languedoc; the oz. = 392 grs.) - -2. The Russian pound or fūnt, of 12 ounces. The ounce (lana) = 526·6 -grains is almost exactly 10 greater dirhems of 52·6 grains. - -This ounce is exactly that of the rottolo attári or Assyrian rotl of -8426 grains (the Greek-Asiatic miná) still extant in Bássora (Chaldæa) -and in Algeria. The relationship is evident, since the Roman As was -1/100 of the Greek-Asiatic talent, and the greater dirhem was 1/9 of the -As-ounce = 420·75 grains. - -3. The Austro-Hungarian pound, also used in Bavaria, is 16 × 8 dirhems -of 50·6 grains = 6482·3 grs. - -4. The Swedish mint-pound. - -This pound, = 6503 grains, was divided into 2 mint-marcs, divided again -into 8 ounces of 406·3 grains. Of the same type is the commercial -skaalpund = 6536 grs.; its oz. = 408·5 grs., a weight exactly the same -as that of the ounce of Genoa, which belongs to the dirhem-system, being -8 dirhems of 51 grains. - -The Swedish medicinal weight is Nuremburg. There are two miner’s pounds -showing the extremes of Troy weight; the ounces being 483 and 471 -grains. - - - 3. THE MEDITERRANEAN SYSTEMS OF WEIGHT - -In Egypt the dirhem-system gives rise to two series of weights: that of -the Oka and that of the Rottolo. In the latter word the Arabic ‘rotl’ is -Italianised, the Arabic weights having come under Roman influence; an -influence of long standing, since Al-Mamūn divided the Cantar after the -Roman plan into 125 lesser rotl as well as into 100 greater rotl, when -the Arabic gold Mithkal, 1/72 of the Egypto-Roman libra, took the place -of the exagium solidi or aureus, 1/72 of the Roman mint-As. - -The Mithkal, or Miskal, = 72·74 grains, was divided into 24 Egyptian -qirát = 3·03 grains, as the Aureus had been divided into 24 Roman -Siliquæ = 2·92 grains, and 16 of the 24 qirát was the standard of the -silver dirhem = 48·5 grains, _the lesser dirhem_. - -The golden Dinar, 21-3/4 qirát, was of the weight of the Attic -commercial drachma = 65·6 grains; it displaced the Roman golden -denarius. But the lesser dirhem, 2/3 the weight of the Mithkal, did not -succeed in displacing an old-established drachma, which became a greater -dirhem. For, as the Mithkal had a dirhem 2/3 of its weight, so the Roman -Aureus, 1/6 of the As-ounce, had a silver drachma 3/4 of its weight. The -As, originally 1/100 of the Greek-Asiatic talent, had its ounce divided, -after the Greek system, into 8 drachmæ each 5049/(12 × 8) = 52·6 grains. -Apparently this _greater dirhem_ tended, in Arab times, to fall towards -the standard of the lesser dirhem = 48·5 grains. This is the probable -explanation of the variations of the dirhems, and of the pounds based on -them, along the Mediterranean coasts. - -In Tunis the dirhem = 48·58, almost exactly the original weight of the -lesser dirhem. But in Tripoli there are two standards, 47·075 and 50·1 -grains. The Ukyé or ounce is goldsmith’s weight, 10 dirhems of 47·075 -grains; but in commercial weight it is in dirhems of 50·1 grains, so it -is made the same weight by reckoning it as 150 kharūb or qirát instead -of 160 of these as in the goldsmith’s ounce of 10 dirhems of 16 qirát. - -So there are variations in the weight of the dirhem basis of the -Mediterranean pounds: - - In Egypt the dirhem = 47·66 grains - In Tripoli „ = ⎧47·07 „ - ⎩50·1 „ - In Tunis „ = 48·58 „ - In Morocco „ = 49 „ - In Turkey „ = 49·6 „ - -The qirát, 1/16 of the dirhem, varies with it. - - - _Egypt_ - -The Oka, = 2·723 lb., is 400 dirhems of 47·66 grs. - -The Rottolo, = 98 lb., is 144 dirhems of 47·66 grs. - -The Oka is a centesimal multiple of the dirhem. - -The Rottolo is an uncial multiple of it. - -100 Rottoli = 1 Cantar = 98 lb.; this is the modern Egyptian Cwt. which -has succeeded the Cantar of Al-Mamūn = 102·92 lb. - - - _Turkey_ - -There is a double series as in Egypt, but the Turkish series are based, -one on the Dirhem and the other on the Egypto-Roman ounce at the -standard of 436·45 grains. In modern Rome it is 436·26 grains, in -Tuscany 436·66 grains. - -The Dirhem, = 49·5 grains, is 16 qirát of 3·1 grains. - -The Cheké is of 100 dirhems = 4950 grains. - -The Oka is of 400 dirhems = 2·83 lb. - -The Cantar is = 2000 ounces = 124·7 or 44 Oke. - -The Cantar is divided into 100 Rottoli of 1·247 lb., = 20 ounces. - - - _The Libbra and the Rottolo_ - -Rottoli of over 16 ounces are not uncommon in Mediterranean countries, -whether Moslem or Christian. They form an alternate series with the -libbra series. Thus in Algiers there are 3 rottoli of 16, 18 and 24 oz., -each ounce, = 526·6 grains, being 10 greater dirhems, and coinciding -with the Russian ounce. There are— - - in Sicily a 12-oz. libbra, = 4897 grs., and a 30-oz. rottolo = - 12,244 grs.; - - in Malta a 12-oz. libbra, = 4886 grs., and a 30-oz. rottolo = - 12,215 grs.; - - in Genoa a 12-oz. libbra, = 4893 grs., and an 18-oz. rottolo = - 7378 grs.; - - in Naples a 12-oz. libbra, = 4950 grs., and a rottolo = 13,750 - grs. - -These Italian libbre belong to the dirhem system, their ounces being 8 -dirhems of slightly different weights; and the ounces are of much lower -weight than the ounces of the northern countries or of ancient Rome. -Though divided into 12 ounces, these libbre belong to the same class as -the 16-oz. pounds of Southern France; all having ounces of 8 dirhems. -But in North Africa the Oka and the rottolo have an ounce of 10 dirhems. - - OUNCES AND DIRHEMS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SYSTEM - - Lb. of Oz. Dirhem of - Genoa 12 oz. 408·5 grs. 1/8 = 51 grs. - Sicily „ 408 „ 1/8 = 51 „ - Malta „ 407 „ 1/8 = 51 „ - Sardinia „ 392·6 „ 1/8 = 49·1 „ - Majorca „ 392 „ 1/8 = 49 „ - Languedoc 16 oz. 400 „ 1/8 = 50 „ - Gascony „ 392 „ 1/8 = 49 „ - Provence „ 377 „ 1/8 = 47·1 „ - Turkey = 49·5 „ - Egypt = 47·66 „ - Morocco Rotl 20 oz. 392 „ = 49 „ - Tripoli Oka 40 oz.⎫ 470·75 „ 1/10 = 47 „ - Algiers Rotl 16 oz.⎭ - Tunis Rotl 16 oz. 485·8 „ 1/10 = 48·58 „ - -Everywhere there is a Cantar or Quintal, a hundredweight, divided into 4 -_rūba_ and into 100 pounds or rotl. - -In Tunis the Cantar = 111 lb., divided into 100 rotl of 16 ukyé or -ounces of 10 dirhems. - -In Tripoli it is = 107·6 lb., in 100 rotl of 16 ukyé, of 8 dirhems of -47·075 grains. - -In Morocco it is = 112 lb. of 100 rotl, each of 20 ukyé of 8 dirhems; -the ukyé or ounce = 392 grains as in Gascony (Foix, Albi, &c.), where it -was 8 ternau. - - - SUMMARY - -However differently the Mediterranean pound or the rotl may be divided, -its ukyé or ounce is always based on one of the dirhems. This -dirhem-basis is found in every pound used in Europe and the countries -colonised from Europe. - -The pound, whether of 12 or 16 ounces, found in Morocco, Majorca, -Sardinia, Gascony, is then an Arabic weight, with an ounce of 8 dirhems, -of 49 grains = 392 grains. - -The pound of Provence was 16 ounces, each 8 dirhems of 47·1 grains. - -The Troy pounds had ounces of 10 dirhems varying between 47·2 grains for -French Troy and 48·3 for northern Troy. - -The Spanish pound = 7101 grains, its ounce = 443·8 grains, was -originally at the Moorish standard of 6 mithkals to the ounce, that is -the Egypto-Roman ounce, the old averdepois ounce. But 6 mithkals being -equal to 9 lesser dirhems, this dirhem-basis appears to have been taken. -Then, for lesser dirhems of 48·5 grains, 9 heavier dirhems of 49·3 -grains, nearly the Morocco and Gascony standard, were substituted. - -The Nuremburg or Venetian pound. Its ounce, = 460 grains, was 12 drachms -of 57·6 grains, 1/100 of the lesser rotl. - -The Cologne pound of 7200 grains, its ounce = 451 grains, or at Tower -standard 450 grains, was the greater rotl. Or its ounce was 9 dirhems of -that rotl, dirhems of 50·03 grains. - -It is thus seen that every European pound is composed of ounces on a -dirhem-basis, of 8, 9, 10 or 12 dirhems; or, as in the case of the -averdepois ounce, coinciding with the ounce of 6 mithkals or 9 dirhems. -The ounce was— - - 8 dirhems in the light Mediterranean pounds. - 9 dirhems in the medium pounds of Spain and Cologne. - 10 dirhems in the Troy pounds. - 10 greater dirhems in the Russian pound. - 12 drachmæ in the Venetian pound. - - ORIGINAL WEIGHTS OF THE DIRHEMS - - 1. Coin-weights:— Grains. - Aureus, 1/6 of As-ounce 70·1 - 3/4 „ 1/8 „ „ greater dirhem 52·6 - Mithkal, 1/6 of Egypto-Roman ounce 72·74 - 3/4 „ 1/9 „ „ „ lesser dirhem 48·5 - - 2. Rotl-weights:— - 1/100 lesser rotl drachma 57·63 - 1/144 greater rotl medium dirhem 50·03 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XIX - - FOREIGN MEASURES OF CAPACITY - - - 1. THE TEUTONIC SYSTEM - -Measures of capacity are always either— - -(_a_) based on a certain cubed linear measure; - -(_b_) made to hold a certain weight of water or of corn. - -A measure of capacity for wine or other fluids may be increased in -water-wheat, or pound-pint, ratio to make a corn-measure. - -In England they were originally based on the measure of 1000 ounces of -water, which became a cubic foot. Many foreign measures are either a -cubic foot, sometimes increased in water-wheat ratio, or a cubed cubit. - -In Germany, amid a great diversity of measures, a chaos to anyone who -has not the key to the principle of unity underlying variety, apparently -aberrant measures often show by their names that, while their value has -changed, they were originally of a standard that can be traced. And it -will generally be found that they are related to a cubic foot, perhaps -increased in water-wheat ratio. Sometimes there is one measure for wine -and corn, and sometimes the increased corn-measure may have come to be -used for fluids while the corn-measure actually in use has been -imported. - -Taking three representative German feet, and evolving from them their -cubic measure, we have: - - Foot. Cubic foot. Gallons. × 1·25 - (_a_) Amsterdam 11·146 in. 1384·6 c.in. = (4·94) = 6·15 - (_b_) Hamburg 11·241 „ 1420 „ = (5·12) = 6·4 - (_c_) Rhineland 12·356 „ 1886 „ = 6·78 = 8·5 - -(_a_) In Holland there seems to be no measure of capacity corresponding -to the cubic foot, but this, increased in w.w. ratio, gives the Schepel -= 6·12 gallons, the Skipple of New England. - -(_b_) In Hamburg the cubic-foot measure is also absent, but the w.w. -increased measure appears as the Eimer = 6·375 gallons, now used for -wine, and this measure, again increased, appears as the Anker = 7·97 -gallons, both being now fluid measures. - -In Bremen and Lubeck, the Eimer = 6·4 gallons, and the Anker = 8 -gallons, the one of 4 and the other of 5 viertels, are both -wine-measures; while the corn-measure, the Scheffel, = 7·6 gallons, is -very nearly the old English corn-bushel. - -(_c_) Prussia and Hanover both had the Rhineland foot, but Prussia, -while recognising the cubic foot of water as 66 lb. weight, Cologne -standard, had no corresponding measure of capacity. In Hanover and in -Brunswick the Rhineland cubic foot of water, = 6·78 gallons, was -represented, not by a wine-measure, but by a corn-measure, the Himt = -6·852 gallons. And the increased measure, 6·85 × 1·25 = 8·56 gallons, -which should properly have been the corn-bushel, appears in Hanover as -the Anker, a second wine-measure. - -And yet a wine-measure corresponding to the Rhineland cubic foot did -exist, in the Viertel = 1·713 gallons, exactly one-fourth of the -capacity of the Himt. Five viertels make an Anker, which shows that the -Himt, presumably at first a wine-measure of 4 viertels or quarters, was -increased in water-wheat ratio to the Anker of 5 viertels. But their -original positions were reversed: the Himt became a corn-measure and the -Anker a wine-measure. - -The original wine-measure of 4 viertels, now the Himt corn-measure -(represented in Scotland by the Firlot), is important in this story. - -The existence of the Himt supports my hypothesis of the origin of the -Rhineland foot. The side of a Himt of quadrantal, or exactly cubical, -shape measures 12·385 inches, not 3/100 of an inch above the 12·356 -inches of the Rhineland standard foot. - -The Himt is then the Troy talent of 1000 ounces, 2/3 of the Arabic -kantar, which was 1500 Troy ounces, in just the same way that the -English wine-bushel = a cubic foot, the measure of 1000 old averdepois -ounces of water, was 2/3 of the Alexandrian talent of 1500 Egypto-Roman -ounces. - -The Himt being the Troy talent-measure, 2/3 of the Arabic cubic foot, it -should have to the Arabic cubic cubit a proportion 2/3 of the normal -proportion 1/3·375 of any cubic foot to its cubic cubit. So the Himt = -6·852 gallons × 3/2 × 3·375 = 34·688 gallons, almost exactly the Arabic -cubic cubit, which became the Cargo of Marseilles, or the Setier of -Paris. Now this standard of 34·73 gallons or thereabouts is not uncommon -in Germany. In Hanover and Hesse-Cassel the Ohm = 34·26 gallons is a -wine-measure, in Saxony the Malter = 34·7 gallons is a corn-measure, -divided into 12 scheffels. Corresponding to this in England was an -ancient measure, the Amber (Hamberboune, Hamberbarrel). In other parts -of Germany where the cubic foot is smaller, being derived, as in -Hamburg, from a foot = 11·24 inches (or at least corresponding to this -foot), the cubic foot there gives a measure = 5·12 gallons, and when -increased in w.w. ratio = 6·4 gallons. This latter measure × 5 gives 32 -gallons, and this number of gallons, either as an Ohm, wine-measure, or -× 8 = 32 bushels as a Malter, or corn-measure, is common throughout -Germany. There seems in many places to have been a double standard, the -smaller derived from a cubic foot, and the larger derived from the -Arabic cubic cubit and somewhat cut down to become a multiple of the -smaller measure. - -The Viertel, = 1·713 gallons, the quarter of the Himt, is also an -important measure, not only as giving the clue to the Troy talent, but -also as a very widespread wine-measure. - -It passed to France, there becoming the Velte = 1·62 gallons at -Bordeaux, 1·76 gallons at Paris, where its introduction into the series -of wine-measures broke the regular division of the Muid. At Bordeaux -this velte was probably the cause of the English wine-gallon increasing -from its original 216 cubic inches (1/8 of the cubic foot, or -wine-bushel of 1000 ounces) to 231 cubic inches. At the latter capacity -it became just half of the Bordeaux velte. - -The shrinkage of the Bordeaux velte to 1·62 gallons may have been the -effect of adaptation to an English double wine-gallon, or it may have -been from the velte, when passing to Holland, having to adapt itself to -the other wine-measures of that country. The Dutch Velt or Welt took a -place between the Stoop, = 0·5337 gallons, and the Steekan, of 8 -stoopen; and it thus became a measure of 3 stoopen = 1·601 gallon. - -It gave rise to the Legger, of 80 velts. This passed to English trade as -the Leaguer, but failed to establish itself, being soon only known as a -long cask of about 150 wine-gallons used for the lower tier of -water-casks in ships. Above the ‘leaguers’ came the ‘riders.’ - -The Velt and the Leggar are still used in colonies now or formerly -Dutch. The Leggar in Java = 127·34 gallons. - - The Velt = 1·6 gallons at the Cape & Java (approximately). - „ „ = 1·63 „ „ Mauritius. - „ „ = 1·66 „ „ Ceylon. - ( „ „ = 1·67 „ in France, near La Rochelle.) - -But the Viertel maintained, even increased, its standard of 1·713 -gallons when entering the Marseilles-Paris systems of wine-measures as -the Velte; rising to 1·77 gallons in order to become half of the -Escandau of Marseilles, and taking a place at = 1·76 gallons in the -Paris series of wine-measures (see Chapter XXI). Coming from the North, -it was yet an evolution of the Arabic foot, while the Escandau was 1/8 -of the Marseilles Cargo reduced in wheat-water ratio, and this cargo was -the Arabic cubic cubit. - - - 2. THE MEDITERRANEAN SYSTEM - -The Moslem conquest of the greater part of the Mediterranean countries, -with the influence of Arab trade and of Moorish civilisation, displaced -the Roman system of weights and measures, already modified by the -influence of Ptolemaïc Egypt, and caused changes even in the weights and -measures of Italy. Not only the North of Africa, but Spain, Provence -(and the other Occitanian lands), the dominions of the three republics -of Venice, Genoa and Arles, with the countries forming the Turkish -Empire, all these took more or less the Arab system of weights and -measures, and this system penetrated deep into Western Europe. - -The principal Arab measures which form the basis of the Mediterranean -measures of capacity were: - -1. The cubed Persian cubit = 8 Persian cubic feet (the Persian foot -being half the cubit of 25·26 inches). The Persian cubic foot of water -being the Persian or Greek-Asiatic talent, at its calculated value of -72·61 lb., the cubed cubit is 8 × 72·61 = 580·88 lb. = 58·088 gallons. - -This was the Arab (and Hebrew) Den = 58·2 gallons, divided into - - 4 Artaba of 14·55 gallons - each of 4 Wuebe of 3·6375 „ - each of 6 Saa of 0·6064 „ - -The Artaba was thus = 2 cubic feet, and the Saa was the qirát, 1/24 of -the Artaba. - -The modern Persian Artaba = 14·47 gallons. - -2. The cubed Black cubit of Al-Mamūn = 34·73 gallons. - -3. The cubed Black foot of Al-Mamūn = 10·29 gallons, the weight of which -was the Kantar = 102·92 lb. - -4. The Ardeb = 4 cubed Black feet; 4 × 10·29 = 41·168 gallons. - -The measures derived from these cubed linear measures are as follows: - -1. The first of these measures, the cubed Persian cubit, has been -accurately preserved in the Cafiz of Tunis, which is the Den, doubled, 2 -× 58·088 = 116·4 gallons. Its present standard is 116·34 gallons, and it -is divided into - - 16 Wuebe of 7·27 gallons (1/2 Artaba) - each of 12 Saa of 0·605 „ - -While the Cafiz of Tunis is of 8 Artaba, the Cahiz of Spain is of 10 -Artaba, 10 × 14·55 = 145·5 gallons. It is divided into - - 12 Fanegas of 12·125 gallons - each of 12 Almudas or Celemines of 1·0104 gallons. - -The present standard in Spain of the Cahiz = 144·7 gallons, the Fanega -being = 12·06 gallons, and the Celemin = 1·005 gallon. The Tomolo of -Naples is = 12·22 gallons. - -2. The second measure, the cubed Black cubit = 34·73 gallons, is the -basis of the fluid (oil and wine) measures of Tunis, and also of Spain, -Provence and Paris. - -Reduced in inverse water-wheat ratio, it gives 34·73/1·22 = 28·46 -gallons. - -This fluid measure, apparently not extant at the present time, is yet -found in its double, the Moyo of Spain = 56·79 gallons, and its half, -the Mezzaruola of Italy, the Mieirolo of Marseilles. - -The Mieirolo is the basis of other important measures; its standard, = -28·46/2 = 14·19 gallons, is found— - - in Tunis = 13·97 gallons - in Tripoli = 14·19 „ - in Spain = 14-23 „ (1/4 Moyo). - -A quarter of this measure is the _Arroba mayor_ of Spain (arroba = -al-rūbá, the fourth), the Escandau of Marseilles = 3·54 gallons. - -The half of the Arroba, or of the Escandau, corresponds to the Velte, -1·76 gallon at Paris, 1·73 gallon in Hanover, &c. It is the meeting -point of Northern and Southern measures, which are derived quite -separately from Al-Mamūn’s cubit, the former by weight, the latter by -measure. - -The measures of Portugal differ little from those of Spain. The -corn-unit is the Fanga (Sp. _fanega_, Ar. _faníqa_, sack) = 12·17 -gallons. There appears to have been a larger unit of 6 fangas, as the -name of the Alqueire, 1/4 fanga, implies that this smaller unit was a -qirát, 1/24 of a large measure = 6 fangas. - -The alqueire varies in capacity. In Brazil it is our Imperial bushel. - -In Spain the fanega is the usual seed-measure of land; it is = 1·6 acre -(exactly the saumado seed-measure of Provence), though probably that -amount of land requires fully 2 fanegas of seed-corn. - -The cubed Black cubit appears also as a corn-measure, its original -purpose. - - Original standard 34·73 gallons = 4·34 bushels - Rebekeh of Egypt = 4·32 „ - Cargo of Marseilles = 4·26 „ - Setier of Paris = 4·29 „ - -3. The cubed Black foot, = 10·292 gallons, passed with the Moors to -Spain; it was the standard of the old Burgos fanega until the fifteenth -century, when the present Avila standard prevailed. - -4. The Ardeb of 4 cubed Black feet, 4 × 10·292 = 41·168 gallons, is -represented by the Cairo Ardeb of the present time, = 40 gallons or 5 -bushels, generally somewhat more. It is divided into 6 Wuebe, each of 4 -Rūba or quarters, which are qiráts, 1/24 of the Ardeb. The standard of -the Cairo Ardeb varies. It is sometimes put at as much as 5·44 bushels = -43·52 gallons. The official standard of the Ardeb of wheat is 297 lb., = -38·5 gallons at 60 lb. to the bushel. - - - _Turkey_ - -The weights and measures of capacity seem a maze of confusion, until the -clue is found. There is a double series of weights based on the dirhem -and on the ounce. This ounce is not mentioned in the series of weights, -but once discovered, it gives the clue to the maze, and the system is -then seen to be really simple. - -It has already been seen that the weights are in a double series giving -the Oka of 400 dirhems, and the Cantar of 2000 Egypto-Roman ounces, = -124·7 lb., divided into 100 rottoli. The weight of the dirhem, = 49·5 -grains in the cheké goldsmith’s weight, becomes = 49·6 in the Oka, 1/44 -of the Cantar. - -_Fluid-measure._—A double cantar, 2 × 124·7 lb. = 249·4 lb., was -increased in water-wheat ratio, 249·4 × 1·25 = 311·75 lb. = 31·175 -gallons. The actual capacity of this water-Cantar is 31·412 gallons. -This measure is divided into 100 rottoli-measure (= 3·14 lb. of water), -each of 2-1/2 rottoli weight = 50 ounces. - -_Corn-measure._—The Cantar measure becomes, for corn, the Fortin, at a -standard of 31·1 gallons. This measure being 2 × 1·25 = 2-1/2 times the -Cantar weight of 2000 ounces, contains 5000 ounces of water or 4000 -ounces of wheat. It is divided into 4 Killows of 7·775 gallons. This -measure is evidently named from the Greek _chilioi_ (Fr. kilo) as -holding 1000 ounces of wheat. It is divided again into 4 Saa. - -The Fortin is also divided into 88 rottoli, the rottolo containing 500 -dirhems of water or 400 dirhems of corn. - -In fluid-measure there is an oka-measure; 8 oka, = 3-2/3 -rottoli-measure, make an Almud = 1·15 gallon. I only mention this -intrusive measure to confer it with the Spanish Almuda or Celemin = 1·01 -gallon. - -These Turkish measures, fluid and corn, afford another instance of the -practice of increasing a fluid measure in water-wheat ratio, and then of -using this increased measure for fluids as well as corn. Instances of -this practice have been seen in German measures (for instance the Himt). -And our own gallon affords a somewhat similar instance. Increased from -the cubic foot to make a corn-gallon, this was again increased by 3 per -cent. to make the Imperial gallon, both for fluids and for corn. - - - _Italy_ - -The system of measures left from ancient Rome, themselves of Oriental -origin, has been to a great extent overlaid by Arabic measures. - -In Bologne the Corba, = 17·3 gallons, is half the cubed Black cubit, to -which the Neapolitan oil-Salma, = 35·5 gallons, is closely approximate. - -In Rome the principal corn-measure, the Rubbio = 64·77 gallons, bears an -Arabic name; it is doubled in the Tuscan Moggio, and investigation would -probably discover a measure of 4 rubbii = 259 gallons = 32-1/3 bushels -or about the old English chaldron of 4 quarters. - -The Starello of Sardinia, = 10·8 gallons, is approximately a quarter of -the Ardeb. - - - 3. HEBREW WEIGHTS AND MEASURES OF CAPACITY - -The Hebrews used the measures of Egypt and Phœnicia. The common Egyptian -cubit, very near ‘the cubit of a man,’ was the usual measure of length. -They brought back from the Captivity some Persian measures: - -1. The Great Assyrian cubit, which is ‘the cubit and an hand-breadth.’ - -2. A measuring Reed of six cubits long, by the cubit and an hand-breadth -= the modern qasáb of Egypt. - -3. The Cubit of the Talmud = 21·914 inches, the 1/3000 of the Bereh, -which was 1/1000 of an hour on the equator (see page 27). - -For weights they used the Alexandrian talent or Kikkar divided in the -Phœnician manner into 50 minás of 60 shekels = 218-1/2 grains. This -shekel was sometimes called the Shekel of the Sanctuary and was then -divided, not into 8 Gerahs of 27·31 grains (our dram, 1/16 of the -Egypto-Roman ounce) but into 2 Bekah or 4 Reba or 20 Gerah = 10·9 -grains. The Reba, 1/4 Shekel, was the drachma of the Phœnician weights, -= 54·62 grains. - -When, as recorded in Exodus xxvii, 603,550 men contribute each a Bekah -or half-shekel of silver, the amount of 301,775 shekels is stated to be -= 100 talents and 1775 shekels, after the shekel of the Sanctuary. In -this statement the talent is of 3000 shekels, according to the Phœnician -reckoning. - -In Ezekiel xlvi, the shekel is given as of 20 gerahs and the miná is -stated to be 20 + 25 + 15 = 60 shekels, confirming the Phœnician mode of -dividing the Alexandrian talent as that used by the Hebrews, viz. 50 -minás of 60 shekels. - -The measures of capacity had for principal unit the Olympic talent, the -weight of water of the common Egyptian foot cubed, = 6·48 gallons. It -was called the Bath for fluid measure, the Epha for corn and other dry -measure. The Bath was divided into 6 Hin = 1·08 gallon (this being about -the same capacity as the Spanish and Turkish almuda) and into 72 Log, = -2/3 pint. The Epha was likewise of 72 log, and 4 log made a Cab. - -The Cor or Homer was a measure of 10 Epha or Bath, = 64·8 gallons or 8·1 -bushels. It coincided approximately with 2 great Artaba, this measure -being the cubed Royal cubit = 31·695 gallons; × 2 = 63·39 gallons. - -The Hebrew field-units were at first seed-measures, afterwards fixed -geometrically. - -The unit was the Bathsea, sown with a Bath of grain; it was 8 qasáb, or -48 great cubits, square, = a rood. - -The Betheoron, sown with a Cor, 10 Bath, of grain, was 10 of the lesser -unit and therefore = 2-1/2 acres. - -In these three chapters on foreign measures and weights I have tried to -show the principles of unity underlying the variety of measures. To -describe them fully would require a series of monographs which, however -interesting, would lack the more important general view. I shall -therefore confine myself to the full description, in Chapters XXI and -XXII, of the measures and weights of France which, both in the old -system and in the metric system, are of special interest to us. Before -proceeding to these I must treat, in a somewhat discursive chapter, of -the meanings of some names of measures. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XX - - THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEANING IN THE NAMES - OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES - - - 1. GENERAL REMARKS - -In the various names of weights and measures there are many -general-utility words which offer no difficulty in the sphere of those -who use them habitually, yet which are sometimes puzzling to others, -while they are interesting to the student of semantics. They form a -chapter in the history of weights and measures, itself a volume in the -history of the human mind. - -Some terms have an obvious meaning, as ‘half’ and ‘quarter.’ - -These inevitably run through the usual series of measures. Even the -metric system has to tolerate half-units as a concession to unscientific -weakness while refusing quarters otherwise than as 25 hundredths of the -unit. But quarters are firmly rooted in the human mind and resist -scientific attempt to extirpate them. They are very common in the -sexdecimal series, representing a fourth of one unit and four of a lower -unit. - -Quart and Quartern have acquired certain definite senses, the first of a -quarter-gallon, the second either of a quarter-pint or of a -quarter-peck. Quarter by itself is of wide application; it may mean the -fourth of a pound or of a hundredweight or of a dollar, or of an acre. -In its Teutonic form we have it in farthing and in firkin. France has -its _quart_ as a quarter-pound, its _quartié_ in land-measure, its -_quarteron_ as a quarter-hundred, though usually 26. - -The context, whether in writing or in speech, usually shows the meaning -of ‘quarter’ unless that meaning has been destroyed by legislation, as -in the case of the Quarter of wheat where the meaning of the word could -not be recognised either by the eminent scientific member of a -Parliamentary Committee or by the scientific expert in measures giving -evidence before him. The Quarter has remained, while the Chaldron, of -which it was a fourth, was so worried by legislative interference that -it disappeared as a corn-measure. - -The French Setier in its different senses of a load of corn, of a -bushel, of a double gallon, and of a pint, had long lost all connection -with L. _sextuarius_; it had indeed got to mean a quarter in the same -way that in Italy the _sestiero_, originally one of the six districts of -a city, had acquired a similar sense to the French _quartier_ as a -district. The French setier or sestié had so lost its original meaning -as to be often written ‘septier,’ as if it were a seventh. - -The Greek obolos (originally meaning a copper nail), 1/6 of a drachm, -acquired in Latin the sense of ‘half.’ When the drachma took the -weight-sense of 60 grains, an obolus was 10 grains; but this was half a -scruple, so it took a general sense of ‘half,’ and the halfpenny was -latinised as an obolus. - -Maille was the corresponding French word for halfpenny, being It. -_medaglio_, Prov. _medaio_, akin not only to ‘medal’ but also to -‘metal,’ in which there seems to be a sense of ‘half’ of an alloy. Yet -it became a weight of 1/4 ounce, perhaps from being half of the loth or -half-ounce. And the Fr. _felin_, It. _ferlino_, probably corruptions of -vierling or farthing, on becoming 1/4 of the _maille_, was 1/16 of the -ounce. In the section on terms used in old land-measures I have shown -the equivocal sense of words related to ‘ferling.’ - -Our Yard, from the influence of its French equivalents—_verge_, rod, and -_vergée_, rood—became a quarter-acre, and then a quarter-hide. - -The Drachm as a part of the Troy ounce, 1/8, became the dram as a part -of the averdepois ounce, 1/16. As a measure it became 1/8 of a spirit -pint. - -The terms signifying 1/12, 1/16, 1/24 and some smaller fractions of -weights or measures, show a development of meaning which will be given -in the following sections. - - - 2. THE NAIL AND THE CLOVE; THE INCH AND THE OUNCE - -The yard is lawfully divided (as was also the ell) into 4 quarters and -16 nails. - -The hundredweight is divided into 4 quarters, 8 stones and 16 cloves or -nails. - -How did ‘Nail’ come to mean a sixteenth of a unit, length or weight? - -The ‘New English Dictionary’ throws no light on the origin of this -peculiarly English term. The only other general name I know for a -sixteenth is the Indian ‘anna,’ the sixteenth of a rupee, of a crop, of -a venture, &c. - -The story of the Nail reaches back to the early history of weights and -measures and is of philological as well as metrological interest. The -half-cubit or span, the common handy measure in most parts of the world, -is of 12 digits, while the foot is 16 digits and is still so divided in -Italy and other southern countries. The digit is not only a -middle-finger breadth, it is also a thumb-nail breadth; as the former it -was in Greek _dactylos_, as the latter _onyx_, which became _onkia_ in -Southern Italy and gave rise to two Latin words, _unguis_ for the actual -finger-nail, _uncia_ for the thumb-nail breadth equal to the digit and -generally for a twelfth part. Hence a differentiation of meaning in the -Romance languages. - - GREEK _onyx_, _onkia_ - - Latin _unguis_ _uncia_, thumb-nail breadth, ounce - Italian _unghia_ _oncia_, last thumb-joint, ounce - Provençal _ounglo_ _ounço_, finger-joint, knuckle, ounce - French _ongle_ _once_, finger-joint (obs.), ounce - English (nail) _unce_, ynch - -When the Romans adopted the duodecimal or ‘uncial’ system they applied -it to the foot, which was divided into either 12 or 16 parts both called -unciæ; but to distinguish these they used two other words, _digitus_ for -the sixteenth and _pollex_, thumb, for the twelfth, the thumb-breadth. - -In English ‘unce, ynch’ always meant the thumb-breadth 1/12 of a foot, -‘Nail,’ the thumb-nail breadth equal to the digit, being kept for the -1/16 foot. Thence ‘nail’ came to have the general sense of sixteenth and -to be applied to that fraction of a 4-span yard, of a 5-span ell, of a -bushel, of a hundredweight. - -In Latin the analogous general sense of twelfth belonged to _uncia_, -whether of the foot, of the land-unit, of the pound. The general sense -of twenty-fourth attached to the scruple as 1/24 ounce, passed to the -qirát, or carat, in the countries influenced by Arab customs, as being -1/24 of the mithkal, the Arab successor of the Roman solidus. - -In modern Italy the palmo or span, and the libbra or pound, were both -divided into 12 _oncie_, meaning inches or ounces. - -With the general substitution of the 16-ounce pound for that of 12 -ounces, the word ‘ounce’ lost its meaning of twelfth. In some of the -Romance languages its sense of length extended to the length of any -finger-joint, especially to the length of the proximal joint of the -thumb. Thus in Southern France the _ounço dóu pouce_ (Fr. _once de -poulce_) was taken as 1/5 of the span or nearly 2 inches. - -When our Cwt. was raised to 112 lb. and the 16-lb. stone replaced by -that of 14 lb. the term Nail was applied to the half of the new stone, -and it was perhaps the divisibility of the new Cwt. into 16 parts of 7 -lb. that reconciled people to the unpopular new weight. But for all -that, the people held on for centuries to the 16-lb. stone, and call its -half, 8 lb., a nail, though it is no longer the sixteenth of a larger -unit. - -When the half of the 14-lb. stone was legally called a nail, how was -this term to be rendered into law-Latin or statute French by the scribes -of Plantagenet times ignorant of the origin of the term? Naturally they -blundered; they got hold of the wrong nail, rendering it by L. _clavus_ -instead of by _unguis_, and by Fr. _clou_, _cloue_, or in the script of -the time _clove_ instead of by _ongle_. This misnomer took; and a -statute of 1430 states that a Wey of cheese may contain 32 cloves, every -clove 7 lb., making the wey = 224 lb., 2 Cwt. But despite statutes the -cheese-trade went on with its 8-lb. clove, of which 32 make 256 lb., the -true wey. - -It was the same with the wool-trade, controlled by the State for revenue -purposes. The half-stone of wool became a nail. In 1342 we find _quatuor -clavos lanæ_, 4 nails of wool. - -But _clavus_, a nail, became confounded with _clavis_, a key, and so in -Southern France the nail-weight, introduced from England, became _clau_, -a key, instead of _clavèu_, a nail. Thus the nail, Fr. _once_, _ongle_, -became clove, Fr. _clou_, L. _clavis_, an iron nail; then in Prov. and -Fr. _clau_, L. _clavus_, a key. - - - 3. THE CARAT AND THE GRAIN - - (A) _The Carat_ - -One would hardly recognise the golden Solidus of Rome in the French Sol, -the brass halfpenny with the effigy of Louis XVI, current within my -memory, or in the bronze Sou by which sums under three francs are still -reckoned in France. - -The Solidus, Aureus, or Exagium solidi, was so called because, -representing the As, or unit of money, it was the gold-unit of which the -semissis was the half and the tremissis the third. - -Weighing 70·1 grains (under Constantine) it was 1/6 of the Roman -mint-ounce = 420-2/3 grains, or 1/72 of the As libralis. Its weight was -equal to 24 siliquæ, afterwards called Carats = 2·921 grains, and its -third, the tremissis, weighed nearly 24 grains, the troy pennyweight. -Hence pure gold was considered as solidus or ‘entire’ of 24 carats, and -the quality or ‘touch’ of gold would be denoted by the number of carats -of pure gold it contained out of 24. The carat of fineness was divided -into 4 assay-grains, and these again into fourths. English gold coins -are 22 carats fine since the time of Henry VIII, but the Plantagenet -gold coins were usually 23 carats 3-1/2 grains fine, that is 191/192 = -nearly 995 in 1000. - -Thus the carat was 1/24 Solidus or 1/144 ounce. - -When the Arab caliphs had conquered Egypt and the greater part of the -Mediterranean countries, they followed Roman imperial customs and -replaced the gold Exagium solidi, 1/72 of the As, by the gold mithkal, -1/72 of the Libra or Egypto-Roman pound. The Mithkal was then 1/6 of the -Egypto-Roman ounce = 437 grains, so that it weighed 72·7 grains. It was -divided like the Roman coin into 24 qirát, each = 3·035 grains and -divided into 4 hubba or light grains, meaning corn-grains. - -The Ptolemaïc or lesser Alexandrian talent had been divided into 60 -minás of 12 ounces; these either 100 drachmæ or 12 × 12 carats of 3·1616 -grains. The carat was an ancient Eastern weight, originally the flat -seed of the caroub or locust-tree, _Ceratonia siliqua_, and in Greek -_keration_. Throughout North Africa and in other Moslem countries there -are two usual lesser units of weight: - - The Mithkal = 72·7 grs. of 24 Kharūb or qirát - The Dirhem = 48-1/2 „ „ 16 „ „ „ - -The carat, from a goldsmith’s assay-weight, became the unit for the -weight of precious stones, varying slightly in different countries and -usually divided into 4 diamond-carats. - - THE CARATS - - Roman siliqua 2·916 grs. 1/4 = ·729 gr. - Roman-Egyptian carat 3·035 „ „ = ·758 „ - Ptolemaïc „ 3·1616 „ „ = ·790 „ - Venetian „ 3·196 „ „ = ·799 „ - Egyptian (modern) „ 3·088 „ „ = ·772 „ - Spanish (Moorish) „ 3·082 „ „ = ·770 „ - Amsterdam (diamond) carat 3·165 „ - Hamburg „ „ 3·176 „ = 1/142 Cologne oz. - English „ „ 3·177 „ - French metric „ 3·086 „ = ·2 gramme - -The Eastern qirát has retained all the derived senses seen in the -Western carat, 1/24 of a pure gold-unit. A cubit of 28 digits has an -alternative division into 24 qirát. The kharūb of Egypt, 16 to a dirhem -and 24 to a mithkal, is the weight-counterpart of the digit, 16 to the -foot and 24 to the cubit. The density of brine is on a scale of 24 -qirát. Points in a competition, shares in a business or ship are -reckoned similarly. At Marseilles the ownership of a vessel is divided -into 24 qirát as it is in England into sixty-fourths. - -‘Ai un queirat sus un navire’: _Calendau_ v. (by Mistral). - -Sometimes the 24 qirát are grouped into 4 _rob_ of 6 qirát. _Rob_ is -from Ar. _al rabaa_, fourth; cf. _rubaiyat_ = quatrain. In Spain and -Portugal the arroba, in Provence the _rub_ (It. _rubbio_) is the -quarter-hundredweight. - - - _The Refiner’s Carat_ - -There is another use of the term Carat, confined to goldsmiths and -refiners of the precious metals. The old troy pound was regarded as 24 -carats; the carat was 4 grains, each of 4 quarters or of 60 grains. This -system was used in the refinery of the Royal Mint up to 1882. - -In Germany the Cologne marc (8 ounces) was divided by refiners (1) for -gold into 24 carats of 12 grains; (2) for silver into 16 loth -(half-ounces) of 18 grains. - -It is probable that this system came to England with the Tower pound (12 -ounces of the Cologne marc) and was continued with the Troy pound. - - - - - (B) _The Grain_ - -The names given to the smaller weights were taken from seeds just as -measures of length were named after limb-lengths corresponding roughly -to them. The kharoub may be used for a carat-weight. The ruttee or ráti, -a scarlet pea with a black spot, is used in India as a goldsmith’s -weight = 1·75 grain. Poppy-seeds, mustard-seeds, barley-corns, -wheat-corns, have been used for minute weights. The Grain was the Greek -_sitatrion_, a wheat-corn. It was perhaps from the custom of saying that -3 poppy-seeds = one mustard-seed, and that 6 of these = one barley-corn, -&c., that an idea arose of these seeds being the basis of systems of -weight. It has been seen that the definition of the Plantagenet -mint-weight was that 32 wheat-corns were the pennyweight. This idea, -hallowed in our statutes, is not yet extinct. - -Ambroise Paré, in treating of medicinal weights (1582) said: - - Every weight arises from some beginning and element. For as our - bodies arise from the four first simple or elementary bodies, so - all weights arise from the grain, which is _tanquam_ the - beginning and the end of the remainder. We understand a grain of - barley, neither dried nor mouldy, but well made and of medium - fatness. From 10 grains of this sort comes the obolus, from 2 - oboli or 20 grains the scruple ... &c. - -This is medieval rubbish. As John Greaves, Professor of Astronomy at -Oxford, in his ‘Discourse of the Roman foot’ (1647) wisely said: - - I cannot but approve the counsel of Villapandus who adviseth - such as will examine measures and weights to begin with the - greater and not the lesser.... The most curious man alive with - the exactest scale that the most skilful artisan can invent, - shall never be able, out of the standard of one grain, to - produce a weight equal to the weight of ten thousand grains. - -While the subdivision of linear measures and of weights usually stopped -at some familiar quantity named after a seed, yet efforts were sometimes -made to get at an ultimate atom as the term of the series. The Hindus -who began, or ended, a series of weights with one of the motes or fine -particles of dust visible in a sunbeam, were imitated by the English -moneyers who continued the 20-dwt. and 24-grain series by dividing the -grains into 20 Mites, each of 24 Droits, each of 20 Periots, each of 24 -Blanks, the blank being 1/230400 of a grain. - -So our mint expressed the weight of a Stuart silver penny, not as -7-23/31 grains (all the silver coins having then a fraction of 31sts); -that would have been too simple—but as 7 grains, 14 mites, 20 droits, 2 -periots, 12 blanks. Even then the statement was not exact; one or two -more infinitesimal units would have had to be added to the series. - -It may be noted that 7-23/31 grains is simpler than the modern decimal -equivalent 7·74193548, &c. - -The origin of these mint-terms is obscure; the ‘N.E.D.’ casts no light -on it. I consider their source to be— - -Mite—mijt, a small Dutch coin. - -Droit—a corruption of the Dutch _duit_, Sc. ‘doit,’ a fraction of a -farthing. It was more properly written ‘dwit’; perhaps the _r_ was -inserted to avoid confusion with ‘dwt.’ - -Periot—a period or full stop; perhaps influenced by ‘iota’ and ‘jot.’ - -Blank—as the blank in dominoes, still lower than the ace, point, or full -stop, the Dutch As; perhaps influenced by ‘point-blank,’ in which the -bull’s eye, at first the ‘point,’ became the blank or white. - -It has been seen, under Troy weight, that there are two classes of -grains: - -The heavy grain 1/(20 × 24) = 1/480 ounce as in English Troy. - -The light grain 1/(24 × 24) = 1/576 ounce as in French Troy. - -The ounce of 576 light grains was used in France, some Italian states, -Spain and Portugal. Elsewhere, throughout Europe, the mint and medicinal -ounce was 480 heavy grains, the scruple being 20 grains. - -The heavy and light grains have been connected respectively with the -barley-corn and the wheat-corn. They may have been so originally, but it -is more probable that the grain, at first a seed-weight, came to mean a -division of the scruple into either 20 or 24 parts. - -In Dutch mint-weight the Troy ounce was of 20 dwt. or Engels, each of 2 -mail, 4 vierling, 8 troisken, 16 deusken, 32 azen or aces. The Aas was -the wheat-corn of our mint-legend. In the Spanish Netherlands the Engel -was increased to make the ounce 24 × 24 grains. The Engel thus became -(Antwerp 1580) = 28·8 grains = 1-1/5 English dwt. The word Engel means -‘angel,’ not the angel coin weighing 3 engel 10 azen, but Angle—‘Angli, -non Angeli.’ - - - 4. THE TUN AND THE FOTHER - -These words belong to an onomatopœic class: - -1. Bung—akin to ‘bomb,’ to Fr. _bonbonne_, a more or less globular -vessel giving out a ‘bom’ sound when struck. In Somerset the bung-hole -of a cask is the bum-hole; a ‘bun’ is a puffed somewhat semi-globular -cake. Bung was probably a cask; the word is applied to a portly publican -fancifully resembling one of his casks. Bumboat probably meant a boat -carrying ‘bums’ or casks to ships. - -2. Ton, tun—a large cask giving a thundering sound. L. _tonitru_, Fr. -_tonnerre_, whence Fr. _tonne_, our ton for weight, tun for capacity. - -3. Fr. _Foudre_, a ‘thundering big’ cask or vat. L. _fulgur_, Fr. -_fouldre_, _foudre_, a thunder-bolt, in German _fuder_, whence our -‘fudder’ and ‘fother,’ about a ton of coal or of lead, a cartload of -about a ton. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXI - - THE OLD MEASURES AND WEIGHTS OF FRANCE - - -Up to the time of the Revolution each province had its own measures and -weights, more or less influenced by the uncertain standard measures of -the king in Paris. This was the effect of the feudal system and of the -very gradual annexation of the provinces under conditions which left -considerable powers to the parliaments and other local authorities. Even -in each province varieties of measures were to be found, and they exist -to this day in each _pays_, often in each parish. - -The basis of this very loose system was Roman, influenced in the North -by Teutonic importations, but especially by the peculiar and -intrinsically perfect system of the South, where the Roman basis had -entirely disappeared under the influences of commerce with Egypt and -with that portion of Africa which begins across the Pyrenees, and which -in medieval times imparted much of its high civilisation to European -countries. - - - 1. THE SOUTHERN SYSTEM - -This system, prevailing far beyond the limits of Occitania, the land of -the Lengo d’O, had for its basis the Load of Wheat, a measure very -nearly that of the cubed Arabic cubit, and comparable with the English -Coomb or half-Quarter. Just as the English Quarter of corn is 8 bushels, -so the Cargo (load, or Saumado, ass-load, Seam) is 8 Eimino. And just as -we had a wine-bushel, originally a cubic foot in water-wheat ratio with -the corn-bushel, so Occitania had its Escandau for wine corresponding, -in the Southern water-wheat ratio of 1 to 1·22, to the Eimino or Panau. -The only difference in this evolution was that, while our corn-measure -was increased from the wine-measure, the southern wine-measure, and -other measures evolved inversely from it, were produced from the -corn-measure as a basis. The word Escandau means ‘standard’ (like the -Denerel of Guernsey), and just as the cubic measure, the quadrantal, of -1000 Roman ounces of water, is the standard of our foot and virtually of -all our other measures, so the Escandau-quadrantal is the standard of -the Pán and of all the other measures of Marseilles. I take the -standards of Marseilles as it was the great port of trade in the South, -and incidentally those of Arles, the capital of the medieval kingdom of -Arles or of Burgundy, afterwards the republic of Arles. This was so -considerable a seaport, connected as it was with the sea both by the -Rhone and by a canal passage, the Fossæ Marianæ, through the lagoons, -that at one time the Lion of Arles was a rival of its brother of St. -Mark, and gave its name to the Gulf which receives the Rhone. - -The process of involution by which the Pán of Marseilles was derived -from the side of an Escandau of quadrantal form has been described in -Chapter IV. - -The Cano or fathom, = 79·24 inches, was 8 pán or spans each = 9·904 -inches; the span was of 8 menut or inches, also divided into 8 -parts.[47] - -Footnote 47: - - In Provençal, the principal idiom of the Occitanian language, nouns - take no plural form; so pán, cáno, &c., do not change. The Provençal - words in this chapter are pronounced—páng, cánn, saomádd, eymīnn, - escandáo, panáo, cárrg, miyeyròl. - -The basis of the Southern system, typically that of Marseilles, was then -the Cargo, a corn-measure = 34·73 gallons (the equivalent of 154·79 -litres, the official metric value), which was the cubic cubit of -Al-Mamūn: - - 21·28 inches cubed = 9639 c.i. = 34·73 gallons. - -Now what water or wine measure would be produced from the Cargo, -decreased in wheat-water ratio? - -Dividing the measure of the cargo by 1·22 we have: - - 34·73/1·22 = 28·46 gallons. - -A fluid measure of this capacity is not in use at Marseilles, but we -find its half, almost exactly, in the Mieirolo = 14·19 gallons, a wine -and oil measure used extensively in Mediterranean ports. - -The word Mieirolo, in which _mié_ means half, corresponds to the name of -the first in an Italian series of wine-measures: - -Mezzaruola, Terzaruola, Quartaruola, fractions of a 28-gallon measure -now apparently obsolete. - -The standard of the Mieirolo is now at— - - Marseilles, 64·384 litres = 14·19 gallons. - Tripoli, 64·386 „ „ „ - Tunis, 63·347 „ 13·97 „ - Spain, 64·55 „ 14·23 „ - -One-fourth of the Mieirolo, or one-eighth of the obsolete wine-cargo, is -the Escandau, equal to the Spanish arroba (a word meaning ‘quarter’), -and containing, at the present Marseilles standard, 16·096 litres = 3·54 -gallons. To this Escandau or standard corresponds, in water-wheat ratio, -the Panau = 4·34 gallons, 1/8 of the Cargo = 4·34 bushels or 34·73 -gallons. - -The correspondence of this series of wine and corn measures, in southern -water-wheat ratio, is perfect, even after many centuries, probably since -the tenth century. The Escandau and the Panau or Eimino correspond then -to about 4 wine-gallons and 4 corn-gallons. - -The Escandau has always been understood to be a cubic pán. Escandau[48] -means a standard; Pán means a side, pane or panel, and it is the measure -of the side of a ‘quadrantal’ containing an Escandau of water, as our -foot is the measure of one containing an English talent of 1000 Roman -ounces of water. The cube root of 16·096 litres is 25·24 centimetres, a -length differing by less than a millimetre from the standard of the -Marseilles pán = 25·16 centimetres or 9·9 inches. - -Footnote 48: - - Escandau is to gauge, to sound depths, to standardise. This word is - from the same root as ‘scandalise’ applied to moral tripping, and then - to the use of the ‘stiliard,’ the lever-balance that trips with any - inequality of weight. - - - _Land-measures_ - -The ancient system of seed-measures, fixed geometrically, survives to -this day in Southern France, indeed throughout most of France. I shall -make no apology for dwelling on it, for the linear land and cubic -measures of Southern France show a perfectly concordant system of -measures, more so even than those of England; indeed they are the type -of a perfect system. - -The largest unit of land is the Saumado, of 4 Sesteirado, each of 2 -Eiminado; these being originally the ground that could be sown with a -Saumado (or Cargo), with a Sestié, with an Eimino, of wheat. - -These seed-measures of land corresponding to our Coomb, Bushel and Peck -land, became fixed respectively at 1600, at 400, and at 200 square cano -or fathoms. - -To the Sestié and the Sesteirado correspond the _boisseau_ and -_boisselée_ of Poitou and other provinces, the _boisselée_, or -bushel-land, being 400 square toises. - -But the surveyor’s measuring-rod is the Destre, a double cano, of 16 pán -= 13 ft. 2-1/2 in. In Languedoc, west of the Rhone, the square destre = -4 square cano is the smallest unit, so that the Saumado of land is 1600 -square cano or 400 destre. But in Provence the destre of land is 2 -square cano, so that the Saumado is 1600 square cano or 800 destre; the -reason probably being that the destre should be 2 cano superficial as it -is 2 cano linear, and also that the Eiminado or peck-seedlip of land -should be 100 destre. - -The Eiminado is divided into quarters and sixteenths, corresponding to -the gallon and quart divisions of the Eimino or peck. It is also divided -into 20 Cosso, the ground corresponding to a cosso (= quart, -wine-measure) of seed. - -It is interesting to observe that the Saumado of 4 Sesteirado of 40 -Cosso, corresponds, in division, to our Acre of 4 roods, of 40 square -rods.[49] And the Cosso = 1/100 acre or 1/10 sq. chain. - -N.B.—1000 sq. cano = 1 acre. - -The Saumado, of 1600 sq. cano = 1·6 acre. - -Footnote 49: - - The cosso is a wooden bowl, Sc. ‘luggie,’ used by shepherds. Our rod - is in some districts a ‘lug.’ - -Such is the typical system of Southern measures, best preserved in the -neighbourhood of Marseilles, but prevailing throughout the Southern half -of France, though with local variations in the length of the cano and -the names of the land-units. - - - _Measures of Capacity_ - -These have mostly been given in the story of the pán and in the -seed-measures corresponding to the land-measures. - -Throughout the system the divisions in each series are sexdecimal, even -the Cosso, 1/20 Eiminado, being 1/160 Saumado. - - - _Weights_ - -There were three types of pounds in South France, local variations from -these being very slight. The pound was always 16 ounces, each of 8 -ternau. The Ternau, so called from its being divided into 3 -pennyweights, was the Arab dirhem. The three types of pound were: - - Languedoc lb. = 6400 grs. Ounce = 400 grs. Ternau = 50 grs. - - Gascony „ = 6280 „ „ = 392 „ „ = 49 „ - - Provence „ = 6030 „ „ = 377 „ „ = 47 „ - - (See - Chapter - XVIII.) - -The Quintal was 100 of these pounds, but long hundredweights were -common. Its quarter was the Rub (Ar. _rouba_, four). These weights are -nearly obsolete, as the possession of any weights not of the Republican -system would be illegal. The measures of length and capacity are often -slightly altered so as to be in metric units: the pán becomes a -quarter-metre; groceries are often ticketed by the hectogramme, as this -is known to coincide very closely with the old Southern quarter-pound. - -We now pass to the Northern or Paris system, mostly taken from the -South, and bearing evident traces of this origin. - - - 2. THE NORTHERN SYSTEM - - _Measures of Length_ - -The Roman foot survived in North France as the quarter of the Aune or -ell, a measure = 46·77 inches. (Cf. the passetto or double braccio of -Tuscany, of 4 palmi = 45·96 inches.) As a cloth-measure the Aune was -divided, like our cloth-yard and ell, into eighths and sixteenths. - -But there was also the pied de roi, the royal foot, one-sixth of the -Toise, which = 76·73 inches = 1·949 metre. - -The royal foot, = 12·789 inches, was divided into inches (pouces) of 12 -lines, each of 12 points. Its standard was traditionally referred to -Charlemagne, either to the length of his foot, or to a standard brought -to him by the envoys of Harūn-al-Rashid. It coincides with half a -Hashími cubit, 25·56/2 = 12·78 inches. This tradition must be dismissed; -new measures are not introduced as standards in that way. It was simply -one-sixth of the toise, which was a Cano from civilised South France, -but its standard was so ill-kept as to be of doubtful exactitude. All -that is known of its standard is that, about 1668, an iron rod was fixed -in a wall of the Grand Chatelet in Paris and that the length of this rod -was that of half the breadth of the eastern gateway of the -Louvre-palace, which gateway was, according to the plans, 12 feet in -breadth. This standard was, however, considered to be 5/12 inch short of -the customary toise. - -The Louvre standard, taking it at = 1·965 metre (which I find it by -actual measurement), corresponds closely to the Cano of Beaucaire. This -town on the southern Rhone, opposite Tarascon, had a great annual fair, -and may thus have given its linear standard to trade in the same way -that Marseilles passed the Cargo of its Egyptian corn-trade on to Paris -as the Setier, and that Troyes passed the marc used at its great annual -fair on to Paris as the standard of the French troy pound.[50] - -Footnote 50: - - There were relations between Burgundy and England. The former was, up - to the fall of its powerful dukes in the sixteenth century, a state - enjoying prosperity and independence, while France was mostly in a - condition of misery. It had, and retained till quite recently, its - system of measures and weights, derived from the southern system at - the time when Arles was the capital of the kingdom of Burgundy. It had - two toises, one = 7-1/2 French feet, the other, for field measure, = - 9-1/2 French feet. Now the first seems to have passed to England, for - a time at least, for the _Liber Albus_, 1419, contains an order for - the City of London: - - ‘The Toise of pavement to be 7-1/2 feet in length, and the foot of St. - Paul in breadth.’ - - The English wool-weights, the wey, stone (12 French lb.) and clove, - were current in Burgundy and in Southern France. - -But the royal foot was inconveniently long for popular use, and a -practice arose of taking 11 inches of it as a customary foot = 11·7 -inches. This reduced foot, coinciding almost exactly with the -quarter-Aune, was much used in the districts north of Paris as the _pied -de Ponthieu_, or _de Clermont_. The Brasse was a short fathom of 5 pieds -= 5 ft. 4 in., probably an adaptation of the Roman pace. A _pas_ (pace), -of half a brasse = 32 inches, is used in some districts for -land-measurement. - - - _Measures of Distance_ - -There was no official measure of distance, such as our furlong and mile, -between the toise and the league, and the league was very variable (see -Chapter III). Acre-lengths, cordes, and other popular measures supplied -the want, more or less well. In some districts (also in Mauritius) there -were milestones at intervals of 1000 toises, called a mille. In South -France the mille was divided into centenié of 100 toises or perhaps -local cano. This was probably the length of the sesteirado, the rood, -100 × 4 cano. - -The corde, a field-measure used before the surveyor’s chain, was of -variable length. In Burgundy the league of 3000 toises was divided for -roadwork into 50 portées, of 12 cordes; these would thus be 5 toises or -30 feet. But there seems also to have been a corde of 33 feet, perhaps -reduced feet, and thus = 30 royal feet, and this, doubled, was used as -the rough measure of a ‘cord’ of firewood = 4 × 4 feet, in 4-foot logs. -This is the probable origin of our ‘cord-wood’ as applied to stacked -logs for fuel. - - - _Land-measures_ - -The units are the square toise = 4·543 sq. yards, the perche and the -arpent, with other units in local usage. - -There were three different perches officially recognised, and still in -common use. - -1. _Perche d’ordonnance_ or of the _Eaux et Forêts_ administration, 22 -royal feet = 23·466 English feet; the square perch of 484 sq. feet = -13·44 sq. toises = 2 sq. rods. - -The approximate coincidence of the quarter-aune with the reduced royal -foot, i.e. of 12 Roman inches with 11 royal inches, was the probable -reason of the standard perch being fixed at 22 feet = 24 Roman feet or 6 -aunes. - -The standard arpent was 100 square perches = 1344 sq. toises = 200 rods -or 1·26 acre. - -2. _Perche commune_, 20 royal feet = 21·3 English feet, the square perch -of 400 sq. feet = 11·11 sq. toises = 50·47 sq. yards. - -The _arpent commun_ was 100 of these square perches = 1111 sq. toises = -1·04 acre. - -3. _Perche de Paris_, 18 royal feet = 19·83 English feet, the square -perch of 324 sq. feet = 9 sq. toises = 40·9 sq. yards. - -The _arpent de Paris_ was 100 of these square perches = 900 sq. toises = -0·844 acre. - -The arpent commun is that of Quebec. - -The arpent de Paris is that of Mauritius. - -The acre de Normandie varies according to its perch, but it is always -160 sq. perches, and if these be standard it is equal to 2 acres. But -the usual unit is the vergée or rood, of 40 perches = 1/2 acre. - -It has been seen that the Jersey vergée is 40 perches of 22 reduced -English feet square, the foot being 11 inches. This is an adaptation of -a very general Normandy perch, 22 feet of 11 French inches. It is = 0·44 -acre. - -Local French land-measures varied considerably, from different standards -of perch, from different lengths taken for the foot of the perch. But -the size of the unit, Journal, Estrée, &c., &c., is very generally = -1400 to 1600 square perches or roughly about 1-1/2 acre. These measures, -so irrational to the Parisian, are dear to the peasant’s heart; he -understands them, and as people do not buy land as they would apples or -eggs, no one is deceived. - -The Estrée or Seterée (Setier seed-land) might be divided into 12 -Boisselées (small-bushel lands). - - - _Weight_ - -The royal pound, _livre poids de marc_, the double-marc of Troyes, was -one of several pounds current in Northern France. It was, like the royal -foot, ascribed to Charlemagne, but his standard of weight, as known by -his silver pennies, nearly always much above 24 grains, 1/20 of some -ounce heavier than that of the Troyes marc, was probably altered later -on. The royal pound, = 5570 grains, was raised for commercial purposes -(about 1350) to 16 ounces = 7554·1 grains, the ounce = 472·13 grains. - -The weight of the 12-ounce pound coincides very closely with that of the -Bosphoric miná, 100 drachmæ of 56·66 grains; this is perhaps the origin -of the story that it was sent to Charlemagne by Harūn al Rashid. Its -ounce is also approximately the Tripoli ukyé of 10 dirhems × 470-3/4 -grains, and nearer still to 471 grains, the weight of 10 of the dirhems -of which 8 made the Provençal ounce. - -It is probable that the French pound was one of the lighter pounds of -the variable Northern Troy series, all with an ounce of 10 dirhems of 48 -grains more or less. - -The ounce was divided into 8 gros, groats or drachms, of 3 deniers or -dwt., each of 24 grains. So the livre was 16 × 24 × 24 = 9216 French -grains. These were light grains, not the heavy grains, 20 × 24 to the -ounce, of English and other mint-weights. - -There was a Quintal of 100 livres = 107·7 lb. - -The Tonne or tonneau was 2000 livres = 2154 lb. - - - _Value_ - -The French coinage-system, probably instituted by Charlemagne, was the -same as ours. The original unit was the silver penny, _estelin_ -(sterling) or denier (L. _denarius_) of 24 French grains; 12 deniers -made a sol or sou (L. _solidus_, shilling) and 20 sols made the livre or -pound, originally a livre d’estelins, a 12-ounce pound of sterlings. But -the silver coinage shrank and was debased, until, by the eighteenth -century, the pound, livre or franc was a silver coin worth tenpence, the -sol a copper halfpenny, and the denier had shrunk, even as copper, to so -minute a size that its place was taken by the _liard_, a small copper -coin of 3 deniers, a quarter-sou; even the _double_ of 2 deniers had -disappeared. Accounts were kept in livres and sols and deniers, our £ -_s._ _d._, but at 1/25 the present value of our coin. - -The _écu_ of 3 livres, that is of 60 sous, was largely used; wages of -farm-servants are often at the present day reckoned in écus. This was -properly a _petit-écu_ or half-crown, but the real écu of 6 livres was -so little used that the smaller coin took its name. And, as our -half-crown has the great convenience of being one-eighth of a sovereign, -so the écu had that of being one-eighth of a louis, the gold piece of 24 -livres. This was the value of the louis at par, for it varied as did -that of the guinea when England was a silver-standard country. - - - _Measures of Capacity_ - -These measures, both the wine-series and the corn-series, were quite -discordant and had no relation to the measures of length. That this was -caused by an incoherent system of factors is shown by there being in -each series a unit derived from the perfectly concordant measures of the -South: - -The wine-velte = 1·76 gallon, half of the Escandau. - -The corn-setier = 34·32 gallons, the Marseilles Cargo. - -The former, when increased in water-wheat ratio, is almost exactly 1/16 -of the latter. So, had the former, increased in this ratio, been -multiplied sexdecimally, concordance would have been preserved. But -there was a customary Muid = 63-1/2 gallons, our hogshead, with its -quarter, our kilderkin, the Quartaut = 15·8 gallons, and not to derange -these measures the velte was made one-ninth of the Quartaut. And in the -corn-series the Setier was divided and multiplied duodecimally. So the -concordance was entirely deranged. - -1. _Wine-measures._—The Velte (the origin of which is given in Chapter -XIX) was divided into 2 gallons (our wine-gallon), 4 pots (our pottle), -8 pintes. The last of these, = 1·76 pint, was about our old wine-quart, -= 32 oz., its half was a chopine or setier, = our wine-pint, and the -half of this was the demi-setier, a name still current, the French -equivalent of our popular ‘half-pint.’ - -2. _Corn-measures._—The standard unit was the Setier = 34·32 gallons, or -4·29 bushels, differing very slightly from the Marseilles Cargo = 4·34 -bushels. As the Setier was an isolated measure, while the Cargo was from -early medieval times the basis of the complete system of Southern -measures, it may confidently be inferred that the Paris unit of -corn-measure was taken from that of Marseilles, which was the Egyptian -Rebekeh, the cubed Arabic cubit. - -The term Setier is the L. _sextuarius_, but it had lost its original -meaning and become a general-utility term in measures. The Setier = the -Marseilles Cargo of 4 Sestié, must not be confused with this sestié. It -was divided into 12 boisseaux of variable standard, but usually -estimated to hold 20 French pounds of wheat. As 1/12 setier, the -boisseau was = 2·86 gallons, and it was divided into 16 litrons = 1·43 -pint. - -There were intermediate divisions of the Setier; it was of 2 mines (a -term taken from the Southern _eimino_), 4 minots, 12 boisseaux. - -There was also a Muid for corn and salt. The corn-muid was 12 setiers. - -There are still in France traces of an older system of corn-measures -derived from the cubic foot. I found, in the Rouen Museum, the standard -bushel of the town of Bolbec. It measures 16 inches diameter by 12·6 -inches deep = 2533 cubic inches or 9·14 gallons. It appears to be the -French cubic foot = 2091 cubic inches increased in water-wheat ratio to -2533 × 1·22 = 2551 cubic inches, a difference probably to be ascribed to -the difficulty in measuring at all accurately. - -There are also many local standards of capacity, well deserving of -study. Some, as the bushel of La Rochelle, indeed of the west of France -generally, = 56 lb. of wheat, are much larger than the Paris Bushel. -There was a general rejection of the duodecimal division of the Setier. - - TABLE OF OLD FRENCH MEASURES - - Length Land - Aune = 46·77 inches. Square Toise = 4·54 sq. yards. - Toise = 76·73 „ Square Perche = 2 sq. rods. - Pied = 12·789 „ Arpent (× 100) = 1·26 acre. - Perche = 23·446 feet. - - - Wine-measure Corn-measure Bushels - Muid = 63·5 galls. Muid = 51·6 - 4 Quartaut = 15·8 „ 12 Setier = 34·32 gall. = 4·29 - 9 Velte = 1·76 „ 12 Boisseau = 2·86 „ - 8 Pinte = 1·76 pint. 16 Litron = 1·43 pint. - 2 Chopine = 0·88 „ - - - Weights - Quintal = 107·7 lb. - 100 Livre = 7554 grains. - 16 Once = 472·1 „ - 24 Deniers (dwt.) = 3 to a ‘gros.’ - 24 Grains. - - - _Remarks on the French Measures of Capacity_ - -The fault of the Paris system was that there was little or no -concordance between the different series. - -In length, 6 aunes approximately coincided with 22 feet or 3-2/3 toises. - -The measures of length had no concordance with those of capacity, and in -the latter, wine-measure and corn-measure had lost their original -concordance when they were brought from the south. They lost it by two -faults: - -1. By making the quartaut of 9 veltes instead of 8; - -2. By dividing the setier into 12 boisseaux instead of 8. - -Had this octonary division been substituted, it would have been quite -satisfactory, and concordance with the linear standard would have been -obtained. - -A quartaut of 8 veltes, 8 × 1·76 = 14·08 gallons, would have been in -water-wheat ratio with the corn half-setier = 17·16 gallons: - - 14·08 × 1·22 = 17·17. - -And the setier divided into 8 parts would have given a larger boisseau = -4·29 gallons (a peck) corresponding in water-wheat ratio to the double -velte of 4 gallons and measuring approximately 1000 cubic pouces (983 -exactly); its side, when of cubic form, being almost 10 pouces, and thus -affording an easily applied linear measurement as a check on the -variation of the boisseau. The standard of this measure was most -variable from want of such a check. Really, as 1/12 Setier it should -have been 655·4 cubic pouces, but it varied between 644 and 677, its -reputed capacity being 640 cubic pouces. - -It would have been easy to have fixed the new boisseau at 1000 cubic -pouces, raising the variable standard of the Setier to 8000 cubic pouces -= 34·9 gallons instead of its reputed standard = 34·32 gallons. - -By these slight alterations perfect accordance with the southern -measures would also have been obtained. - -Leaving the measures of length and surface which were sufficiently -concordant, the measures of capacity would have been: - - Wine-measure Corn-measure - Muid = 56·32 gallons. Muid = 34·9 bushels - = 4·36 qrs. - 1/2 „ = 28·16 „ (8) Setier = 34·9 gallons - Quartaut = 14·08 „ = 8000 c.p. - (8) Boisseau = 4·36 gallons - (8) Velte = 1·76 „ = 1000 c.p. - (8) Pinte = 1·76 pint. 16 Litron = 2·18 pint. - -A water-wheat ratio of 1 : 1·24 would have been preserved between the -two series, and their connection with linear measures through a cubic -boisseau of 10 pouces each side (or a cylindrical one of 10 pouces -diameter and 11·4 pouces in height) would have been most advantageous. - -It may seem futile to make these proportions 120 years too late, but -they may be useful in showing how unnecessary was the revolutionary plan -of uprooting the old measures. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXII - - THE METRIC SYSTEM - - -The great diversity in the weights and measures used in different parts -of France, and the discordance between the series of the official -system, or want of system, were inconvenient, and tended to become more -so with the increasing facilities of communication between the -provinces. Unification was required, and was being studied at the time -when the Revolution broke out. - -The obvious plan was to make such alterations in the Paris system as -were strictly necessary, keeping to the main standards of length and -capacity, standards not irreconcilable, and to make it obligatory -throughout France. As Napoleon said, ‘It was so simple that it could -have been done in twenty-four hours, and adopted throughout France in -less than a year.’ - -Amendments such as I have sketched in the last chapter would have -answered the purpose sufficiently. - -The ostensible plan of the new system of weights and measures was (May -8, 1790) ‘to create them anew on invariable bases, and to establish in -commercial calculations the uniformity which Reason has vainly called -for during so many centuries, and which must form a new bond between -men.’ - -Even this scientific and fraternal plan, at first on the basis of a -normal pendulum-length, 3/4 inch longer than the half-toise (as proposed -by James Watt in 1783), might have been carried out so as to disturb the -hereditary ideas and customs of the people as little as possible. But it -was resolved to take a geodesical basis. This, taken afresh and not -accurately, for the metre, was already at hand in a toise equal to the -Olympic fathom, 1/1000 of the meridian mile. And in the report to the -Convention, it was recognised that the most ancient people had measures -derived from the terrestrial meridian. - -More than two centuries before the Revolution an abbé (Mouton) had -proposed a revival of the Olympic system, decimalised from the meridian -mile down to a digit, 1/100 of the fathom. - -Without this decimalisation, at least in the popular series of measures, -there was a geodesic basis—for this was resolved as necessary—already at -hand in the Olympic system, and the Olympic foot cubed would have given -a unit of capacity and the Olympic talent one of weight, all the more -suitable inasmuch as 1/1000 of it would have been an ounce = 453·6 -grains, closely approximating to the Cologne ounce and therefore likely -to be acceptable in other countries. But the real object was to make a -clean sweep of the past; and the formation of a Republican system of -measures was entrusted to mathematicians and other scientists who did -not consider that a system convenient to them might be very inconvenient -to unscientific people. The division of all measures must be on an -obligatory decimal system convenient to mathematicians and most -inconvenient to nearly everyone else. - -The basis of the new system was a measure considered to be one -ten-millionth of the quarter-meridian, of the distance from the equator -to the pole. This unit was neither original in conception nor exact in -measurement. When Aristotle divided the circumference of the globe into -400,000 stadia, instead of the 240,000 stadia of 1000 Olympic fathoms, -his stadion, 1/100,000 of the quarter-meridian, was equal to 100 metres. -But there was no practical advantage in it, and navigators continued to -use the nautical mile of 10 Olympic stadia, as they do to this day. - -At least Aristotle did not seek to upset all the weights and measures of -the Macedonian empire; and his stadion disappeared. - -It is doubtful if absolute exactness will ever be attained in the -measurement of the surface of our globe, irregularly spherical in form -and of very uneven surface; but there is no doubt that the ancient -Chaldæans and Egyptians measured it sixty centuries ago quite as -accurately as the astronomers of the first Republic; and the Olympic -standard of the meridian mile, not the kilometre, is the unit used to -this day by the navigators of France as by those of every other maritime -nation. - -Having determined with little exactitude the metric decimal fraction of -the quarter-meridian, the astronomers and mathematicians of the -Republic, _les idéologues_ as Napoleon called them, proceeded to evolve -from it the most inconvenient possible units of length, surface, -capacity, and weight. All that could be said for these units is that -they were exactly and decimally derived from the metre. The metre was -unacceptable to the people, as no metric unit of length corresponds even -approximately to the universal limb-units of fathom, cubit, foot, span, -palm, finger or thumb-breadth. The different series admit only the -factors, 1, 2, 5; so each decimal unit has a half (0·5) and a double, -but no quarter or third. The prefixes—in Latin for divisions, _deci_, -_centi_, _milli_; in Greek for multiples, _deca_, _hecto_, _kilo_, -_myria_—give the only names allowed. - - - _Length_ - -The Metre, = 39·370113 inches, is divided into 10 decimetres, 100 -centimetres, 1000 millimetres. - -1 yard = 0·9144 metre; 1 foot = 0·3048 metre; 1 inch = 0·0254 metre, or -2·54 centimetres. - -It is multiplied by 10 for the decametre, by 100 for the hectometre, by -1000 for the kilometre, by 10,000 for the myriametre. Practically the -kilometre, = 0·621 mile or 1093·6 yards, is the only larger unit used; -the other units are useless. And though it be interesting to know that -the kilometre is approximately 1/10,000 of the quarter-meridian, it is a -useless fact. - - - _Surface_ - -The square metre = 1·196 square yard. The lower units are little used. -For land-measurement the square decametre, 10 × 10 metres, is called an -Are; 100 ares = 100 × 100 metres, make a Hectare = 2·47 acres; and the -square metre is a Centiare. - - 1 acre = 0·40468 hectare. - - - _Solidity_ - -The cubic metre = 35·315 cubic feet (nearly the volume of a ton of water -= 35·84 cubic feet) contains 1000 cubic decimetres, each of 1000 cubic -centimetres (= 61 cubic inches). - - 1 cubic foot = 0·028317 cubic metre. - -The cubic centimetre is strictly speaking 1/1000 cubic decimetre, but as -used in chemistry for fluid measure it is considered as 1/1000 of the -litre, which is only approximately a cubic decimetre. - - - _Capacity_ - -The Litre was originally a cubic decimetre, but this definition has been -abandoned. It is now defined as the volume of a kilogramme of pure water -in air at 4 degrees Centigrade = 39·2° Fahrenheit. - -At ordinary temperatures a litre of water weighs about 998·8 grammes or -0·9988 kilogramme (see Table at end of Chap. X). - -The only minor unit practically used (and only in scientific work) is -the millilitre, under the name of cubic centimetre, = 15·432 grains of -water. - -1 Litre = 2·204 lb. water, or 1·76 pint. - -1 Pint = 0·568 litre; 1 gallon = 4·546 litres. - -The principal larger unit is the Hectolitre = 22·04 gallons or 2·75 -bushels. The Decalitre = 2·2 gallons. - -1 Bushel = 36·37 litres; 1 Quarter 291 litres or nearly 3 hectolitres. - -1 Bushel to the acre = 0·9 hectolitre to the hectare. (Deduct 1/10 on -English.) - -1 Hectolitre to the hectare = 1·11 bushel to the acre. (Add 1/10 to -French.) - - - _Weight_ - -The original unit was the Gramme, defined as the weight of a cubic -centimetre of water at 4° Centigrade = 15·432 grains. It is divided into -10 decigrammes, 100 centigrammes, 1000 milligrammes. Of its multiples -the decagramme is useless; the hectogramme is merely the name inscribed -on a 100-gramme weight; the kilogramme of 1000 grammes is used when its -use cannot be avoided. - -But the present legal unit is not the gramme but the kilogramme = 2·2046 -lb. or 15,432 grains.[51] - -Footnote 51: - - This is a partial return to the original arrangement. The kilogramme - was originally named the Grave, with its decigrave and centigrave. The - tonne of 1000 kilogrammes was originally called a Bar, with its - decibar and centibar. The gramme was a Gravet, with its decigravet and - centigravet. Similarly the hectolitre was originally named the - Decicade (1/10 of the Cade = 1000 litres) of 10 centicades. The litre - was a Cadil. - -Intended to be the weight of a cubic decimetre of water at 4° C. (as the -gramme was that of a cubic centimetre), this definition has been -abandoned as inexact; it is now, like our pound, the mass of a certain -platinum standard, in a vacuum.[52] - -Footnote 52: - - In the latitude of Paris. If weighed at Marseilles it would be equal - to about 1000·4 grammes; if in London to 999·75 grammes. It - necessarily varies with latitude, as does the length of the pendulum - beating seconds. But this variation does not impair its relative - accuracy, as whatever it is weighed against is similarly affected. - -Practically, the unit of weight in the ordinary transactions of life is -the ‘half-kilo’ of 500 grammes, more usually known as a livre or pound, -though the use of this word in trade is punishable. - -The livre or half-kilo = 1·1 lb. or 7716 grains. - -1 kilo = 2·2046 lb. or 15,432 grains. - -100 kilos or Quintal metrique = 220·46 lb. - -1000 kilos or Tonne 2204·6 lb. = 0·984 ton. - -1 ton = 1016 kilos; 1 cwt. = 50·8 kilos; 1 lb. = 0·4536 kilo or 453·6 -grammes. - -1 ounce = 28·35 grammes; 1 grain = 6·48 centigrammes. - -100 kilos of wheat = 3·53 bushels, at 62-1/2 lb. - -100 litres (1 hectolitre) of wheat = 2·75 bushels. - -7 fr. duty on 100 kilos wheat = 2 fr. a bushel or 12_s._ 4_d._ a -quarter. - -1 bushel = 36·4 litres. - - - _Money_ - -The monetary unit is the Franc, practically the same as the old livre, -somewhat less. According to the original plan, the Republican franc was -to be 10 grammes weight, so that the decimal harmony of the system -should not be disturbed. But financial expediency required it to be of -about the same weight as before, so 80 old livres were recoined as 81 -francs at 5 grammes weight and 0·900 fineness. The franc was to be of -100 centimes instead of 20 sous of 4 liards. - -The copper coins, changed to bronze in about 1854, are pieces of 10 and -5 centimes, the latter equivalent to the old sou, so that the franc is -commonly called a 20-sou piece, and the other silver coins, nominally of -5, 2, and 1/2 franc, are called in the same way _pièces de cent sous_, -_quarante sous_ and _dix sous_. The centime is so rarely seen as to be -practically non-existent, and the decimal system not allowing the half -or quarter of the 5-centime piece or sou, great inconvenience is felt by -the poor,[53] yet the symmetry of the system has been marred by the -issue of nickel quarter-francs, of a size which makes them often -undistinguishable from francs. But this is 25 centimes, while the -half-sou would be written 2·5 centimes, marring the symmetry of the -centime column in accounts—where practically it would never appear. - -Footnote 53: - - Thus if bread is 25 centimes or 5 sous the kilo, a single pound or - half-kilo of bread cannot be bought at this price. - -Since the adoption of a gold standard under the second Empire, the gold -20-franc piece is the standard of exchange, and of payments in trade. It -weighs 6·451 grammes = 99·5635 grains; it is of 0·900 fineness (= 22-1/5 -carats) and thus contains 86·6071 grains of pure gold. Its exchange -value is usually 15_s._ 10-1/2_d._, our sovereign being equal to 25 -francs 20 centimes. - -The system of international currency has led to the French currency -containing coins, both gold and silver, of strange devices, and the -necessity of placards in shops showing figures of the numerous coins -which should not be accepted. Considerable vigilance is necessary to -avoid taking coins not current, or taking for francs the nickel five-sou -pieces scarcely distinguishable from them except in a good light. - - - _Temperature_ - -The French thermometer, called Centigrade (the proper term would have -been centesimal), is on Celsius’s scale, of 100 degrees between the -freezing and boiling points of water, under the normal atmospheric -pressure, which for France is 760 millimetres = 29·92 inches. - - - _Metric Measures of Time_ - -These are dropped, officially, at present; but they may be -re-established, for they were the essential part of the Republican -system. Ardent republicans constantly claim their re-establishment, and -sound republican newspapers, dated according to the republican calendar, -take care that this shall not be forgotten. Scientific journals demand -the re-establishment of decimal time and decimal degrees; for even to -sell eggs or handkerchiefs by the dozen is a sin, and ought to be made a -crime, against the decimal system. - -Republican zeal, unable to reform the solar system, had to content -itself with reviving the ancient Egyptian year of twelve equal months -followed by five extra days, to be called Jours Sansculottides, and with -instituting a new era. The extra day of leap-years made a sixth -sansculottide; these years were therefore sextile, and the period of -four years ending with leap-year was to be called a Franciade. - -In justice to the authors of the Metric system, it must be said that -they were not responsible for the Republican calendar; this was the work -of a separate Committee, to whom the Convention handed over the work -carried out by the Weights and Measures Committee of the Académie des -Sciences. On August 1, 1793, it thanked the W. and M. Committee for -their work, on the 6th it closed all the Academies, and soon after sent -the great chemist Lavoisier, the principal member of the Committee, to -prison and ultimately to the scaffold. Among the small number of real -republicans who ruled France from Paris, there was much less enthusiasm -for the metric system, intended to sweep away the memory of the old -customs of weights and measures, than for the calendar, the essential -part of which was a new era and the sweeping away of past superstitions, -whether Pagan or Christian. In both cases one can see the power of a -very small but enthusiastic, well-organised and violent minority of -Jacobins against the large, but unorganised and terrorised, majority of -the French people. In both cases we see the truth of Guizot’s saying: -‘Blind aversion for the past is full of falsehood and of ignorance.’[54] - -Footnote 54: - - It had been proposed in 1789 to divide France into equal departments - or districts by rule and compass. Each district was to be half a - degree square. It was only the refractoriness of the coast line that - prevented this geographic homage to equality. - -The decree instituting the complete Republican system began by these -words, characteristic of the times: - - The French era begins with the foundation of the Republic, which - was on 22nd September 1792 of the vulgar era, the day when the - sun arrived at the true autumnal equinox, entering the sign of - the Balance, at 9h. 18m. 30s. a.m., Paris Observatory time. - - Thus (it continued) the heavens marked the equality of days and - nights at the same moment that civil and moral equality was - proclaimed by the representatives of the French people as the - sacred foundation of its new government. - -The month was divided into three decades and the days of the decimal -week were numbered from one to ten. - -The saints whose names had been attached to the days were abolished. -They were replaced by objects of republican veneration, animals, -vegetables, minerals, tools, &c. Each Decadi was consecrated to an -agricultural implement, the plough, the watering-pot, the pitchfork, &c. - -Each Quintidi was consecrated to a useful animal, the horse, the ass, -the pig, the trout, &c. - -The eight other days of the decade were consecrated to plants, &c. It -was difficult to find 288 useful plants, but by bringing in such as the -nettle, the dandelion (under its vulgar French name), strange plants -discovered in a herbal dictionary, together with the manure heap and a -few useful minerals, the saints were entirely replaced. To popularise -these substitutes for the _ci-devant_ saints an appendix to the -Decadaire or Annuaire (for the term Calendar was abolished as savouring -of superstition) gave popular information, in the crudest terms, on the -diseases for which the vegetables and herbs were recommended by the -scientific advisers of the Republic. - -To complete this system, the circles of the globe, and all other -circles, were divided into 400 degrees, divided decimally. The day was -divided into 10 hours, of 100 decimal minutes, each of 100 decimal -seconds. - -The republican division of the day was not generally put into practice -except in official documents, probably because the Jacobin leaders found -it personally inconvenient. Decreed as obligatory in Frimaire, an II, it -was suspended in Germinal, an III, yet that it was extant, if not in -force, up to 1800 is shown by a police-report of an occurrence on ‘21 -Brumaire an VIII à 2 heures 10 minutes décimales,’ i.e. at 5 A.M. - -The story of the means by which the unpopular republican measures were -enforced has not yet been told. Some idea of it may be guessed from a -remark of de Bonald (1817): - - I believe that the same firmness, rigour, and lavish - expenditure, used to establish, or rather to try and establish, - uniformity of weights and measures, would have been sufficient - to establish uniformity of religion. - -If in a country which had experienced Louis XIV’s system for -establishing uniformity of religion, this could be said of the means by -which the republican weights and measures were enforced, it is evident -that the new system met with anything but the welcome usually supposed. - -But a man had arisen who delivered France, for a time at least, from the -more objectionable parts of the republican measures, and the good he -effected in this way had doubtless much to do with his popularity. From -the time of his Consulate, at the end of 1799, the rigour of the system -was gradually relaxed. His contempt for the mathematician-advisers of -the Republic, whom he had found to be incapable in public business, was -probably brought to a climax by the following event. - -The ordnance survey-maps of France were on Cassini’s scale of 1/86,400, -i.e. 1 line to 100 toises (which is the proportion of the second to the -mean day). A new map having been made on the metric scale of 1/100,000, -Napoleon soon found this out, and ordered the map to be restored to the -old scale. - -‘Je la veux sur l’échelle de Cassini, et je me moque des divisions -décimales’ (letter to the Minister of War, 1809). - -The republican calendar and era were used until the end of 1805, when -Napoleon restored the Gregorian calendar and its era; thus 11 Nivose, an -XIV, was the last day of the republican system. - -But the republican idea of a new calendar and a new era is not dead; it -has so little died out that a calendar and era devised by a French -mathematician and sociologist in 1852 is now actually used, not only in -France, but in England, and also in Brazil, by the followers of this -reformer.[55] - -Footnote 55: - - In this Positivist Calendar the saints of the old calendar and the - agricultural produce of the revolutionary calendars are replaced by - great men and women; typical great men, from Moses and Homer to - Descartes and Bichat, giving their names to the 13 months, each of 28 - days. There is an extra day at the end of the year, and two extra days - in leap-year. This system has the advantage of the 7th, 14th, 21st and - 28th of the month always falling on the same day of the week. - - The Positivist era dates from 1789; and the followers of Auguste - Comte, in England, France and elsewhere, thus date 1911 as the ‘year - 123 of the Great Crisis.’ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII - - HOW THE METRIC SYSTEM WORKS IN FRANCE - - -Napoleon, who had witnessed the rigorous measures of the Republican -government to enforce its metric system, said of it: - - It violently broke up the customs and habits of the people as - might have been done by some Greek or Tartar tyrant who, with - uplifted rod, wills to be obeyed in all his decrees, regulated - by his prejudices or his interests, without any regard for those - of the conqueror.... It was tormenting the people for - trifles.[56] - -Footnote 56: - - The full French text of Napoleon’s opinion is given in _Against the - Metric System_, by Herbert Spencer (Williams and Norgate, price - 3_d._). - -But he was too wise to disturb trade again by any change in the material -standards, however objectionable; he kept these, while abolishing the -unpopular decimal series. - -The decree of February 12, 1812, accordingly ordered that weights and -measures, while being strictly in accordance with the existing standard -units, should have ‘such fractions and multiples as were generally used -in trade and were best suited to the needs of the people.’ - -A double-metre became the new Toise, divided, like the old toise, into 6 -feet of 12 inches. The Aune was to be 1·2 metre. - -The hectolitre and the litre were divided sexdecimally, one-fourth of -the hectolitre becoming a double-Boisseau differing very slightly from -the old measure of the same name. - -The half-kilogramme became the Livre, divided into 16 ounces, these -being divided into eighths. The Quintal was 100 livres, the millier 1000 -livres, the tonneau 2000 livres. - -With regard to money, the gold napoleon being 20 francs and the franc of -20 sous, divided into 4 liards or half-farthings, the system was -convenient. - -This practical though incomplete compromise was in force until 1837, -when Louis-Philippe restored, on paper at least, the full republican -system, except the measures of time. Yet the Napoleonic compromise held -its ground, and indeed has lost little up to the present day, -notwithstanding a more rigorous enforcement of the decimal system under -the second Empire and the third Republic. - -About 1859 began the propaganda of the metric system abroad. Holland and -Belgium, on which it had been imposed when those countries were seized -by France in 1792 and 1795, retained it after the peace of 1814-1815; at -least the old systems had been destroyed, and it was deemed best to -retain the new one, so in 1821 it was compulsory. - -The new kingdom of Italy threw away the remains of its metric -inheritance from ancient Rome when in 1859 it took the French system, -partly perhaps from the apparent difficulty of co-ordinating the -measures of the different states, but probably as part consideration for -French help against Austria. - -Portugal adopted it, on paper at least, in 1863. - -The worst was when, in 1868, it was adopted by the North German -Confederated States, and when in 1872 it was made compulsory. - -It is said that the governing powers of Germany, anxious to unify the -diverse systems of its component states, took the fatal step in -consequence of English official assurances that the metric system would -soon be imposed on the British empire. After this disastrous surrender -to international science, the governments of other countries, large and -small, civilised and semi-barbarous, were easily induced by skilful -diplomacy to impose the French republican measures on their peoples, -heedless of the fact that all the persuasion and pressure of the French -government had failed to get its own people to use the system whenever -it could be evaded. - -Herbert Spencer says, of the progress of the metric system: - - When fifty years after its nominal establishment in France the - metric system was made compulsory, it was not because those who - had to measure out commodities over the counter wished to use - it, but because the government commanded them to do so, and when - it was adopted in Germany under the Bismarckian regime we may be - sure that the opinions of shop-keepers were not asked. Similarly - elsewhere, its adoption has resulted from the official will and - not from the popular will. - -The gradual adoption of the metric system by countries of all degrees of -civilisation from Germany and Italy to Venezuela or Haïti, has not been -from any desire of the people of those countries for it, except an -infinitely small minority of scientists who desire that the whole world -should use the system found convenient in international scientific -reports, and a somewhat larger proportion of enthusiasts with high and -unpractical cosmopolitan ideals. Many also acquiesce from the same -motive which induces people to buy a well-advertised and puffed article -instead of one to which they had been accustomed and had found -satisfactory. They undergo the contagion to which the crowd-mind is so -subject. In England a few genuine enthusiasts, and many more who have -caught the scientific and cosmopolitan craze, take to the metric system -as they take to learning Esperanto, and so long as they have not to use -the one in business or the other in conversation, their enthusiasm -lasts, especially when it affords opportunities for showing themselves -friends of science and progress. But when the contagion spreads so wide -that it threatens to revolutionise the habits and customs of a nation -and its whole manufactures and trade, the danger is most serious. - -The favour which the metric system has found amongst a small proportion -of English people is largely due to their ignorance of their own system, -an ignorance very excusable when there exists no official statement of -our system, or even of its standards. The people are left to the -information afforded very badly in school-books and scarcely better in -almanacks. So our system is left without defence against the attacks -made on it by well-meaning persons who do not know it, and by the -never-ceasing action of the French government.[57] It may therefore be -interesting to see - - - _How far the French have adopted the Metric System._ - -Footnote 57: - - Aided greatly by the Alliance Française, an association formed, under - government patronage, ‘to extend the political and moral power of - France ... and make pacific conquests abroad by its superior - civilisation.’ Every member of it abroad is bound to promote this - cause. - -A century of official pressure, of state-education, and of police -proceedings against any public selling, marking or crying of goods -otherwise than in metric measures and coins, cannot be without some -effect, especially in large towns, but even there, while accounts are -kept and bills made according to the legal system, the people, as -distinguished from the official classes, have never taken to it, and in -the country it is nearly entirely ignored, out of official transactions, -both in weight and measures and in money. - -The sizes of baskets and flower-pots are in _pouces_; lamp-chimneys have -their size marked on them in _lignes_. The size of printer’s type is in -points, each 1/6 line or 1/72 of the old French inch; and the printer’s -pocket-rule is divided on one side into centimetres but on the other -into ‘Ciceros’ corresponding to the English ‘pica.’ - -Barometers for ship-use have their scale usually in pouces and lignes. -The port barometer on the quay of the great naval port of Toulon, in -front of the town-hall, is on this old scale. In 1909 I found the -barometer of a new Transatlantique passenger steamer making her first -voyage to be ‘selon Torricelly,’ with its scale in the old _pouces_, 28 -= 29·87 English inches. - -The sounding line of French ships is in brasses of 5 old French feet, -the cable is of 120 brasses, the knot is, as with us, 1/120 of the -nautical mile of 1852 metres; the kilometre being absolutely ignored. - -In Southern France the lengths of boats, as at regattas, is stated in -páns, taken at 1/4 metre. - -Wine is sold wholesale by the queue, by the barrique, by the feuillette. -A barrique or piece of Bordeaux wine is 228 litres, of Burgundy 212 -litres. Trade-units are as common in France as in England. - -The housewife continues to ask for a four-pound loaf, a _pain de quatre -livres_, for a _livre_ of sugar, for a _demi-livre_ of coffee, for _un -quart_ of chicory, for a _demi-quart_ or for _une once_ of pepper. In -the market-place, in the streets fruit is openly cried at _quatre sous -la livre!_ or _deux sous le quart!_ when no policeman is within hearing, -and the police are discreetly deaf, even in Paris, except when ordered -to be more vigilant; but then they kindly give a hint to the -costermongers and street-traders and, after a few days of conformity to -the law, the cries go on as before. - -The grocer does not ticket his wares by the kilo, rarely even by the -demi-kilo; he wisely tickets them with a simple 50, or 75, or 80, which -means 5_d._, 7-1/2_d._, 8_d._, in coin, 10, 15, 16 sous, for a weight -which is not mentioned but is understood to be _une livre_, and which -can be halved and quartered down to an ounce. He finds that his -customers are thus better pleased than if the ticket had ‘1/2 kilo’ -marked on it, and he knows that they would be repelled if the price was -by the kilo. About the only exception is when the price of goods cannot -be expressed in centimes; thus if potatoes are less than, say, 2 sous a -pound, the greengrocer has to ticket them ‘15 le kilo,’ 2 pounds for 3 -sous. The practical non-existence of the centime, and the refusal of -government to coin half-sous or farthings of 2-1/2 centimes, obliges him -thus exceptionally to use the word ‘kilo.’ - -When a _quart_, a quarter-lb., say of coffee, is asked for, the grocer -has to put into the scale three weights, of 100, 20 and 5 grammes, for a -demi-livre two weights of 200 and 50 grammes, instead of being able to -use a single half- or quarter-pound weight as under the Napoleonic -compromise. For an ounce he gives 30 grammes. - -In country towns goods are often openly ticketed in sous; I have even -seen ‘six liards,’ six half-farthings, two for three-halfpence, as the -marked price. In the South books and newspapers sometimes have the price -boldly printed in sous, ‘20 sous,’ &c. In large shops, especially where -there is a cash-desk, the salesmen have trained themselves to speak only -of francs and centimes, but the smaller shopkeepers, even in Paris, -usually say their prices in sous, at least for prices under two or three -francs. - -The peasant bargains for cattle in écus (half-crowns) or in pistoles of -10 francs; wages of farm labourers are still often in écus. Land is -reckoned in the old measures according to local custom, and tables of -these measures, with their metric equivalents, are given in the ‘Usages -Locaux’ published for the use of _juges de paix_ and other officials. -Farms to let and land for sale are frequently advertised in these local -measures. If the extent is given in hectares, the local equivalent in -vergées, seterées, &c., is added. I have such advertisements of recent -date. - -The master of a government school in Normandy advertised the sale of his -haystack by auction. The advertisement (in a newspaper of 1906, now -before me) gave the weight of the hay as ‘5000 kilos (10,000 livres).’ -He knew that the fathers of his pupils understood, as well as he did, a -kilo to be 2 pounds, but he also knew that they would be much readier to -bid if the weight was stated in pounds. - -Market-prices of agricultural produce are frequently stated by -newspapers in the old measures; that of apples is constantly recorded by -the barattée, literally the churnful, about equal to our bushel. - -The old agrarian measures are used quite close to Paris. I ask a farmer, -not six miles from Paris, how much land he has, and he, knowing me to be -‘safe,’ says so many estrées. How much is an estrée? 1600 square toises -is his answer. - -I take up a Paris daily paper and see several advertisements of mushroom -farms for sale, in the old quarries near Paris; the area of these is -always given in toises. - -Direct inquiries will always be answered most favourably to the metric -system. The peasant’s caution will rarely let the inquirer detect his -love of the old weights and measures, quite convenient to him. And the -bourgeois, proud of his superior education and glorying in the triumphs -of the metric system abroad, ignores the existence of any but the legal -system; he is blind and deaf to the constant evidence which strikes the -unprejudiced observer. - -The doctor and the druggist would indignantly deny using any other than -metric measures, but they have their professional units, necessarily on -a gramme basis, though in figures corresponding to ounces, tablespoons, -drachms, scruples and grains; drops (which are actually dropped, not -measured) are prescribed, and the mixture is always made up to a total -of so many ounces of 30 grammes. And the pharmacien, who is able to read -through the frequent ambiguities of prescriptions written in grammes, -centigrammes, &c., very likely to be confused, puts the mixture up in -bottles which are moulded to show tablespoons of 15 grammes, that is -half-ounces. - -The druggists’ price lists give quantities in units of 30, 125, 250, 500 -grammes or cubic centimetres, that is in quantities of 1, 4, 8, 16 -ounces; and these are the quantities in which he usually sells drugs to -his customers. - -Thus in France there is a chronic struggle between the law and the -people; the system of weights and measures was devised there, not for -the convenience of the people, but to suit a decimal theory dear to the -mathematical and bureaucratic mind; the people must make their -convenience fit the system, and it is only by evasions and subterfuges -that it can be made to fit, even approximately. The trader has to evade -the law if he wishes to retain his customers. The manufacturer, not -keeping an open shop, finds evasion easier, and all the circulars -addressed by the government to Chambers of Commerce begging them to -support the metric system remain without effect. A few months ago a -circular deplored the practice of selling and buying silkworms’ eggs by -the ounce. Recently a circular forbade professors and schoolmasters to -utter the names of the old weights, measures or coins, or to allow their -pupils to utter them. - -The instances I have given of the failure of all the efforts to make the -French people take to the metric system are entirely from my personal -observation. I conclude them with an extract from Messrs. Halsey and -Dale’s ‘The Metric Fallacy’ (New York, 1904) on the failure to convert -manufacturers to the system: - - The reasons for the failure of this colossal effort of a century - to change the textile weights and measures of France is not - difficult to find. The ideas of length, area, volume and weight - are as firmly grounded as any that find a lodging in the mind of - man. They are bound to the records of the past, to the work of - the present, and to the plans for the future. They are - ineffaceably imprinted upon the mind of every child to regulate - his ideas of extension and weight as long as life may last. - - These natural conditions are alone sufficient to account for the - failure of the metric system in France. Other influences have - however served to make the failure more complete in the textile - industry. The metric system needed something more than the - transcendent mathematical faculties of its designers to make it - suitable for textile measurements. - - The eminent scientists who designed that system were able to - solve the most difficult problems in higher mathematics, but - failed to comprehend what system of weights and measures was - best suited for the carder, spinner, weaver and finisher of - wool, cotton, linen and silk. The glamor of their fame failed to - make the centimetre suitable for counting ‘picks.’ Their system - had to stand or fall on its merits, and falling has proved that - the highest of mathematical abilities is not inconsistent with a - dense ignorance of the practical affairs of every-day life. - -I strongly recommend Messrs. Halsey and Dale’s book to those who wish to -know the opinion of American engineers and manufacturers on the metric -system. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV - - THE CONFLICT OF THE IMPERIAL AND METRIC - SYSTEMS - - -Two systems are face to face throughout the West—the Imperial system -resting on long custom and on convenience, and the Metric system on an -assumption of science and on revolt against the past. It has been shown -that the system which pretends to be the only scientific one, and the -easiest, is a failure even in France; but there, like the republic which -gave it birth, it is, under the influence of patriotism or national -pride, strong for attack abroad while in a state of anarchy at home, -worrying manufacturers and evaded in trade whenever police-force fails -to have jurisdiction or deems it prudent not to prosecute. - -The one makes men fit the measures however inconvenient; the other makes -measures to fit those who have to use them. The one attacks; the other -apposes a passive resistance. - -Let us take a general view of the system attacked. - - - 1. GENERAL VIEW OF THE IMPERIAL SYSTEM - -The Imperial system of Weights and Measures rests on principles quite as -rational and scientific as those of the Metric system, and it is much -more practical. - -All its series are derived from the English talent, a weight two-thirds -of the Roman-Alexandrian talent which was derived from the royal cubit -and foot of ancient Egypt. - -The original system, of at least ten centuries ago, was as follows: - -_Length._—The foot was the measure of the side of a cubic vessel -containing 1000 Roman ounces of water. - -The furlong became at a very early period a length of 40 rods = 220 -yards. - -The mile, originally 5000 Roman feet, became 5000 English feet, divided -into 8 road-furlongs. - -_Surface._—The acre was one-tenth of the square furlong. - -_Capacity._—The wine-bushel was the cubic foot, the measure of 1000 -ounces of wine or water. 1/8 of it was the wine-gallon = 1728/8 or 216 -cubic inches. - -The corn-bushel was 1-1/4 cubic feet, the measure of 1000 oz. = 62-1/2 -lb. of wheat; 1/8 of it was the corn-gallon = 270 c.i. - -_Weight._—The pound was 16 Roman ounces = 6992 grains. Its multiples -were the 16-lb. stone, the wey of 16 stones, and the true cwt. of 100 -lb. - -This excellent system has become, after many disturbances, the Imperial -system, only differing from the old English system in the following -points: - -1. The slight rise of the pound (by 8 grains) to 7000 grains. - -2. The rise of the wine-gallon to 231 c.i. as now used in America. - -3. The unification of the wine- and corn-gallons (the latter still used -in America at the standard of 268·8 c.i.) in the Imperial gallon = -277-1/4 c.i. = 10 lb. water. - -4. The fixing of the mile at 8 roods or field-furlongs of 220 yards. - -5. The optional decimalisation of several series: - - (_a_) Of the furlong at 10 chains, of the square furlong at 100 - sq. chains, and of the acre at 10 sq. chains. - - (_b_) Of weights by the 10-lb. gallon and the 100-lb. cental. - - (_c_) Of the ton-register of 100 cubic feet = 100,000 ounces of - water. - -6. The disappearance of the Troy pound. The Troy ounce must shortly -disappear; the 112-lb. cwt. and its stone-divisions are optional. - -The Imperial Standards are now: - -_Length._—The Foot, approximately the side of a cubic vessel containing -1000 ounces of water. The yard of 3 feet or 36 inches. - -The Furlong is 220 yards, either— - - 10 chains of 66 feet or 22 yards, or 40 rods of 5-1/2 yards. - -The Mile is 8 furlongs = 1760 yards. - -The Nautical mile is 1000 Olympic fathoms = 6080 feet or 2026-2/3 yards. - -_Surface._—The square furlong is 10 acres; the acre is 10 sq. chains, or -4840 sq. yards, and may be divided into 160 sq. rods. - -_Volume._—The cubic foot is approximately 1000 ounces of water, = 62-1/2 -lb. The Ton-register is 100 cubic feet. - -_Weight._—The pound, of 7000 grains, is divided into 16 ounces of -437-1/2 grains. - -The Gallon of water weighs 10 lb. - -The Cental is 100 lb. - -The Ton is 20 long Cwt. of 112 lb. - -_Capacity._—The Imperial gallon = 277-1/4 c.i. contains exactly 10 lb. -of water, or approximately 8 lb. of wheat. It is divided into 8 pints -containing 20 oz. of water or 16 oz. of wheat. The Bushel, of 8 gallons, -contains 64 lb. of wheat.[58] The Quarter is 8 bushels, which is -approximately the quarter, either of a short ton, 20 centals, of wheat, -or of a freight-ton of 40 cubic feet. - -Footnote 58: - - The system of the United States only differs from the Imperial system - in its retention of the wine-gallon = 231 c.i. and of the corn-gallon - = 268·8 c.i.; and in its rejection of the long cwt. for the cental. - -The principal units, foot, pound, gallon, are connected by their common -origin in the talent of 1000 ounces of water. Corrections are needed for -accuracy since the pound was increased in Elizabethan times by a little -more than 1 per 1000 from its original Roman standard, and since the -bushel and gallon were increased by 3 per cent. from the original -corn-measure to the Imperial standard. - -The co-related units, foot, furlong, acre, pound, gallon, are multiplied -and divided by the factors found by long use to be the most convenient -to the people. When no other influence determines the secondary units, -the usual factor is 8, or its double, its half, its quarter. - -Any unit may be decimalised for purposes of calculation, and several -series have alternative decimal series. Thus— - - Itinerary and Land measures were decimalised three centuries ago - by the chain-series. - - The Ton-register of 100 cubic feet, used throughout the world, - has a complete decimal series of divisions. - - The pound-gallon-cental series are fully decimalised, from the - 100-lb. cental down to the septem, 1/1000 of a pound. - -A decimal series of weights from the pound upwards is perfectly lawful. -It may be confidently expected that it will before long replace for most -purposes the stone and long-hundredweight series imposed in the -fourteenth century, and fought against ever since. - -Apothecaries’ weight, abolished by the Medical Council half a century -ago, still lingers in the Board of Trade list of standards. Mint-weight -is still on the Troy system. The half-crown is one grain less than an -Imperial half-ounce. It may be hoped that it, and other silver coins, -will before long be brought exactly to that standard. Already the bronze -penny is one-third of the Imperial ounce. - -Further improvements will be made. Some adjustment of the inconvenient -112-lb. hundredweight with the cental series, that of our ancient -hundredweight, returned to us from America, will probably be effected. -In the meantime we know that our system is progressive. - -It may not have such a scientific appearance as that of the metric -system. But we must not be dazzled by the word ‘scientific.’ Our system -has its series related with sufficient exactness to have practically as -much unity as the metric system; and it is convenient. Let us -distinguish between science and pedantry. - - - 2. THE PROPAGANDA OF THE METRIC SYSTEM - -I have read many books and many articles and letters in newspapers and -scientific periodicals advocating the compulsory use of the metric -system, optional amongst us since 1897, but which no trade, industry or -profession will adopt, and I have almost invariably found that the -writers knew the metric system imperfectly, and always that they knew -their own very badly. I have found their advocacy illustrated by -examples of problems in imperial weight and measure which showed -defective instruction in the art of cyphering and supported by -statements which were misleading and only to be charitably excused on -the ground of ignorance.[59] Too often opponents of their propaganda are -sneered at as wanting in scientific knowledge, business experience, and -common sense. - -Footnote 59: - - For instance, in _The Coming of the Kilogram_ (H. O. Arnold-Forster) - the problem ‘How many times is 1 grain contained in 1 ton?’ is worked - out in a half-page of figures. It can be done in 15 seconds, almost - mentally. A cwt. is 112 lb.; a ton is 2240 lb.; multiply by 7000. - Answer: 15,680,000 grains (or times). - -The propaganda of the metric system is effected, from abroad by -diplomacy, and from within by— - -1. Calling it ‘antiquated,’ a term which might be applied to Law, to -Religion, to Marriage, to Property, and other ancient institutions. - -2. Calling it ‘irrational,’ when it has that great reason which comes -from custom, convenience, improvement in recent times. - -3. Calling it ‘unscientific,’ when it joins to popular convenience the -option of decimalisation, whenever that is found convenient, in addition -to the alternate decimalisation already established in several series. - -4. Putting forward as current certain weights, such as the Troy pound, -long ago obsolete. - -5. Putting forward as legal measures trade-units, such as the cask, the -sack, &c., used for convenience in trade, as much in metric countries as -with us.[60] - -6. Putting forward, as necessary, sums and calculations which a decently -taught schoolboy would laugh at. - -7. Ignoring all that is convenient in our system and all that is -inconvenient in the metric system. - -8. Ignoring the satisfaction of the people of the United States with our -system, even when retaining the old wine-gallon and corn-gallon. - -9. Ignoring the resistance of the French people to the metric system -after a century of education in it and of police-constraint. - -10. Urging us to follow the example of other countries that have adopted -it, but omitting to find out whether the peoples of these countries, -from civilised Germany to barbarous Haïti, use it—so far as they do use -it—otherwise than under compulsion. It is the governments of these -countries, not the people, that have adopted it, always in the name of -Science; and the day police-pressure were taken off, the old system -would return, or, at the least, the decimal series would disappear. - -11. Threatening loss of foreign trade, when our trade weights and -measures are so well understood by foreign manufacturers and merchants -that they find no difficulty in placing their goods on our market, and -are so well known that many foreign manufacturers find it impossible to -use metric standards, those of England being alone accepted in most of -the markets to which British manufactures are exported. - -12. Calling opponents prejudiced, unprogressive, unscientific, wanting -in business experience and common sense. - -Footnote 60: - - I have even seen it put forward (in a book now before me) that our - system has several bushels, indeed thirty is the number given; the - ground for this assertion being that bushels of wheat, of oats, or - peas, &c., are of different weights. The propagandist supposed no one - would think of answering that it is the same with the Hectolitre, - which contains different weights of different grains. - -Such are the arguments used in the propaganda of a system which would -make much of the past life of our country unintelligible, send most of -its manufacturing machinery to the scrap-heap, dislocate trade for years -and bring about in our country the same struggle that is still to be -seen in France between the law and the people. - -The claims of the metric system are exactly on the same basis as those -of the Esperanto language. If the metric system were made compulsory, an -energetic body of Esperantists might only have to adopt the metric plan -of campaign to get their ‘simple, rational, scientific and -international’ language made first optional, and then, when it was found -that no one would use it, compulsory, while the use of the antiquated -and unscientific English language would be forbidden. - -What will be the result of the conflict between the two systems -prevailing about equally in the greater part of the Western world? On -the one side North America, the United Kingdom and its colonies in the -Eastern Hemisphere; on the other side the Latin nations of both -hemispheres with the principal Teutonic nations whose governments have -imposed the French system on them. Russia and several other countries -are awaiting the results of the conflict. But it is a siege rather than -a conflict, for the attack is entirely from France; and though it has -the inherent weakness of its system being a failure in the country of -its origin, yet the defence has the weakness of its people being so -badly instructed in their system that they cannot repel the invasion, -and have even allowed the enemy to take up a legal position in their own -country. The colonial policy of England, the simple plan of respecting -custom, of not interfering needlessly, is very different from that of -France. British colonies that were French or Dutch keep the laws and -customs that we found there, and amongst these their systems of weights -and measures. If these were convenient they remained, trade bringing a -gradual adoption of the English system mixed with local measures; and as -these were on a system more or less common to all the Western nations -before the French Revolution, weights and measures gradually harmonised. -But the policy of France is distinctly aggressive; its colonies must -have French laws and the metric system, and other countries also must be -induced to abolish their systems and replace them by the system which a -century of police-action has not succeeded in making the French people -adopt, and which they evade in every possible way. - -Why the propaganda of the metric system should have had any success in -England appears a mystery—yet it is intelligible to anyone who has -observed the contagion of opinions, even the wildest. England has been -fascinated by its presentation as scientific and international. This is -a scientific age, and every new thing that can be puffed as ‘scientific’ -is likely to take with people unprepared to criticise the science. I -have seen the council of no mean English city induced by the word -‘scientific’ to vote in favour of a petition to make the use of the -metric system compulsory; the few members, not one-tenth of the whole, -who dared to oppose the resolution being called unscientific, -unprogressive, &c. - -Repeatedly repulsed, the French siege will not cease its attacks; -England, and America also, must be prepared to meet them. - -Although the English-speaking peoples have a system with which they are -satisfied, unfortunately few know its principles; and, in weights and -measures as in other matters, an inferior article well advertised -supplants an old-established and satisfactory article that is not -advertised. If the French people have not revolted long ago against the -system imposed on them by the Paris bureaucracy, it is because it is -thoroughly advertised as scientific, international, and as conquering -the world by the superior civilisation of the French nation. They have -been trained to make almost any sacrifices for the glory of France, and -so long as they can evade the decimal and other inconvenient portions of -the metric system they suffer this patiently for the satisfaction it -gives to their patriotic feelings. - -But their government must go on conquering, or they may strike against a -system which brings in no more glory; as other peoples may when they see -that the English-speaking peoples of the world refuse to be persuaded -into accepting it. - -Here is the weak point of the attack. And when the English-speaking -peoples, those of the British Empire and America, are as well instructed -in their good system as the peoples of the metric countries are in the -bad system imposed on them (and which they evade for all the good -teaching of it), the assailants will raise the siege. - -We could reply: Amend your own system and make it acceptable to your own -people before you ask us to put aside a system which we find convenient -and which is founded on better principles than ours. Our system has been -carried to all countries; it is decimal wherever decimalisation is -convenient; its international unit is the Ton-register of 100 cubic -feet, or 100,000 ounces, as old as the first civilisation of the world, -as the civilisation which established the Meridian mile used by your -seamen as by ours. We reject an artificial system founded in hatred of -the past, and only kept up in its native country by police-force. In the -name of decimals you want us to abolish our pound, and use a kilogramme -which your own people will not use. It should be enough for you that we -have given your system a denizenship by the abuse of which we have been -greatly annoyed. - - - 3. THE REFORM OF THE METRIC SYSTEM - -The defence must be active; then the attack would cease, and the French -people, seeing its failure, would demand a reform of the system imposed -on them; the other nations suffering under it would follow their -example, if indeed the Teutonic peoples did not begin the reaction. - -Modifications would be demanded, rendering the metric system less -inconvenient for manufacturers, for trade, for the everyday business of -life. - -The metric standards would be retained, but the decimal system would be -optional, left principally for scientific purposes. The divisions and -multiples would be in harmony with the customs of each people, usually -in sexdecimal series. - -For France, the _système usuel_ of Napoleon’s compromise would be -revived. Incomplete a century ago, it could be rendered complete by the -following arrangement of the metric system, suitable both to Northern -and to Southern France. - -1. The metre to be divided optionally either into 3 feet of 12 inches, -or into 4 spans of 9 inches or 12 digits; 2 metres to be a toise and 10 -toises a perch; 100 toises or 10 perches to be a centenié (furlong) and -800 toises or 8 furlongs a mile = 1741-3/4 yards. The meridian mile -would be 926 toises or 9-1/4 cables. - -2. Land to be measured by the square toise, 1/25 of an are; 1600 square -toises to be an arpent of 16 vergées metriques or boisselées, each 10 -toises square, = 4 ares. - -3. The livre, = 500 grammes, to be divided commercially into 16 ounces -of 8 drachms; and for medicinal purposes, the drachm to be 8 oboles of 8 -grains. Grammes and decimal fractions of a gramme could be used for -scientific purposes. - -4. The hectolitre would be divided sexdecimally, into 4 boisseaux, of 4 -gallons = 6-1/4 litres. The litre would be divided into 2 setiers or -chopines, 4 half-setiers, and 32 ounces. - -The equivalence with imperial measures would be approximately: - - 1 Metre = 1-1/10 yard. - 1 Mille = 1 mile. - 1 Vergée = 1/10 acre. - 1 Arpent = 1·6 acre. - 1 Livre = 1-1/10 lb. - 1 Litre = 9/10 quart. - -Similar arrangements could be made in other countries, the units being -made in accordance with the old custom of the people, but always on a -metric basis so that international conversion of measures would be easy -and accurate. - - - ENVOI - -With this suggestion of compromise, of _entente cordiale_, instead of -constant aggression by the French system against that of the British -dominions and America, I close the last chapter of my work. I took to it -twelve years ago for useful occupation in the leisure of approaching -retirement from active life in a great seaport. But as I carried out my -design I found the verge of the wide subject recede with every advance I -made; every fresh field I worked showed another field beyond. A renewal -of life for study, travel, observation, would be needed to enable me to -carry out at all completely this history of the human mind in one of its -most interesting and important aspects. But age warns me to bring my -work to a close, leaving its correction and completion to younger men. -Yet I hope I have been able to show the principles of unity and of -diversity; and apparent confusion becomes clear when the keys of -metrology are at hand. The trend of the human mind is always the same; -for weights and measures are a part of the daily life of every man and -woman. The rise of measurement, the naturalisation of weights and -measures brought by commerce, even by conquest, when they are found -convenient, the varieties caused by changes of circumstance, the -deflections under the constraint of ill-advised rulers, the effect of -long custom in reconciling to new standards if they can only be arranged -conveniently, the shifts by which they can be made endurable, the -tendency to resume the old trend along another path—all these traits of -human nature are shown in this study. One thing is certain, that a wise -government sanctions the measures which fit its people; its business is -to maintain unity in the inevitable variety; and it should distrust the -pretensions of science to dictate to men and women, to trade and -manufacturers, the measures they shall use. Whether in theocratic -ancient Egypt or in revolutionary modern Europe, science is a good -servant of Humanity, but a bad master. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CONVERSION TABLES OF METRIC AND IMPERIAL MEASURES - - ───────────────┬───────────────┬─────────────────── - Centimetres │ Grammes │ Kilos ⎫ to 10 lb. - to Inches. │ to Grains. │ Litres⎭ gallons. - ───────────────┼───────────────┼─────────────────── - 1. 0·39370113 │ 1. 15·432356 │ 1. 0·22046 - 2. 0·78740226 │ 2. 30·864713 │ 2. 0·44092 - 3. 1·1811339 │ 3. 46·29707 │ 3. 0·66138 - 4. 1·5748452 │ 4. 61·72942 │ 4. 0·88184 - 5. 1·9685565 │ 5. 77·16178 │ 5. 1·10231 - 6. 2·3622678 │ 6. 92·59414 │ 6. 1·32277 - 7. 2·7559791 │ 7. 108·02649 │ 7. 1·54323 - 8. 3·1496904 │ 8. 123·45885 │ 8. 1·7637 - 9. 3·5434017 │ 9. 138·89121 │ 9. 1·98416 - ───────────────┴───────────────┴─────────────────── - - - IMPERIAL TO METRIC MEASURE - - 1 inch = 2·54 centim. - 1 foot = 30·48 „ - 1 yard = 91·44 „ - 1 mile = 1609 metres. - 1 sq. yd. = 0·836 sq. metre. - 1 sq. rod = 25·3 „ - 1 sq. rood = 1011 „ - 1 acre = 0·404 hectare. - - 1 cubic inch water 252-1/4 grs. = 16·38 c.c. or grammes. - 1 „ foot „ 62-1/3 lb. = 28 c. decim. or kilos. - - 1 grain = 6·48 centigr. - 1 ounce = 28·35 grammes. - 1 lb. = 453·59 „ - - 1 gallon = 4·536 litres. - - 1 bushel = 36-1/3 „ - - 1 quarter = 2·91 hectol. - - 1 ton = 1016 kilos. - - 1 hectolitre = 2-2/3 bushels. - 3 „ = 1·03 quarter. - 1 „ to the hectare = 1-1/9 bushel to 1 acre. - 1000 kilos to the hectare = 0·4 ton to 1 acre. - 1 franc a hectolitre = 3·6 pence a bushel. - 1 franc 100 kilos = 22-1/2 pence a quarter. 98 pence a ton. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - INDEX - - - Acre, 72, 74, 78, 87 - - Acreme, 81 - - Ale-gallon, 117 - - Apothecaries’ weight, 140 - - Arshīn, 215 - - As, 38, 94 - - Austria, W. & M., 208, 220 - - Averdepois, 93, 99 - - - Bath, 239 - - Bereh, 27, 238 - - Bovate, 80, 89 - - Bread-weight, 128, 138 - - Burma and the Straits, W. & M., 173 - - Bushel, old and of U.S., 96; - Winchester, 119; - Imperial, 124 - - - Canada and Mauritius, W. & M., 173 - - Carat, 35, 245; v. Qirát - - Carucate, 82, 89 - - Cask-measures, 116 - - Cental, 45, 109 - - Chain, 64, 73 - - Chaldron, 120, 122 - - Channel Islands, W. & M., 157 - - Clove, 107, 110, 242 - - Coal-measure, 122 - - Corn-measure, 122 - - Cubit, natural, 1; - Egyptian common, or Olympic, 2, 14; - Egyptian royal, 18; - Great Assyrian or Persian, 23; - Beládi, 25; - Talmudic, 27, 238; - Black, Al-Mamūn’s, 28; - Hashími, 214 - - Customs of Lancaster, 88 - - - Decimal system, 5, 182, 188 - - Denmark, W. & M., 221 - - Density, measures of, 198; - of water, 146 - - Digit, 1, 4 - - Dirhem, 45, 222 - - Drachm, 105, 135 - - Drachma, 41, 43, 221 - - Dram, 103 - - Duodecimal system, 5 - - - Egypt, modern, W. & M., 67, 213, 220, 235 - - Ell, 62, 202 - - England, linear measures, 58; - land-measures, 65; - wine-measures, 114; - corn-measures, 118; - commercial weights, 93; - mint-weights, 127, 250; - money, 174 - - Epha, 239 - - - Fathom, Olympic, 6, 15 - - Firkin, 116 - - Foot, origin of, 4; - Olympic, 4; - Egyptian royal, 12; - Assyrian, 25; - Beládi, 26; - Burgos, 26, 211; - Black, 29; - Roman, 18; - English, 49, 60; - Rhineland, 52; - Hanseatic, 207; - Amsterdam, 207; - French, 259; - French reduced, 159, 261 - - Fother, 111, 252 - - Fotmal, 112 - - France, W. & M., Southern, 253; - Northern, 259; - Metric, 271 - - Furlong, 63, 81 - - - Gallon, Wine, 114; - Corn, 119; - Imperial, 123 - - Germany, W. & M., 206, 219, 225, 228 - - Gill, 125 - - Grain, 103, 245, 249 - - Greece, ancient, W. & M., 17, 68; - Coin-weights, 43 - - Guernsey, W. & M., 157; - Currency, 183 - - - Hand, 61 - - Heat, measures of, 197 - - Hebrew, W. & M., 237 - - Hide, 81 - - Holland, W. & M., 207, 218, 228 - - Homer of corn, 90, 230 - - Hundredweight, 94, 105 - - - Imperial bushel, 123; - gallon, 123; - pound, 102; - system, 295 - - Inch, 4, 18, 59, 244 - - India, W. & M., 167; - money, 184 - - Ireland, acre and mile, 74; - gallon, 155 - - Italy, W. & M., 208, 223, 237 - - - Kilderkin, 116 - - Knot, 16 - - - Land-measures, Egyptian, 67; - Greek, 67; - Roman, 68; - English, 71 - - Last, 105, 143 - - Lead-weight, 111 - - League, 64 - - Leaguer, leggar, 167, 231 - - Libra, 40, 94 - - Load, 107 - - - Marc, 127, 130 - - Medicinal weights, 104; - measures, 126 - - Medimnos, 34 - - Metretes, 37 - - Metric system, 271; - working of, 284; - reform of, 306 - - Mile, meridian, 15; - equatorial, 16; - Roman, 17; - English, 63; - of time, 193 - - Miná, 33 - - Mithkal, 94, 221 - - Modius, 40 - - - Nail, 58, 111, 242 - - Norway, W. & M., 132, 206, 209 - - - Octonary system, 5, 124 - - Ounce, Roman, 38, 40; - Averdepois, 93; - Imperial, 102; - Tower, 95, 127; - Troy, 98 - - Oxgang, 66 - - - Palm, 4, 19, 61, 209 - - Pán, 53 - - Parasang, 16 - - Penny, 95; pennyweight, 128 - - Pint, wine, 115; - ale, 118; - Imperial, 125 - - Ploughland, 82 - - Portugal, measures, 212, 234 - - Pound, Roman, 38, 94; - Averdepois, 93, 133; - Imperial, 102; - Tower, 127; - Troy, 129; - Scots, 139; - Amsterdam, 218; - Mediterranean, 220; - Nuremburg, 225; - Cologne, 225; - French, 258 - - Pound sterling, 174 - - - Qasáb, 25, 215 - - Qirát, 221 - - Quadrantal, 39, 50 - - Quarter, 96, 105, 120, 145 - - - Rod, 62, 77, 84 - - Roman W. & M., 38, 68 - - Rood, 71, 78 - - Rotl, 45, 223 - - Rūba, Arroba, 224, 248 - - - Scotland, W. & M., 147; - acre and mile, 74 - - Scruple, 40, 105, 135 - - Seed-measures of land, 90 - - Sexdecimal system, 5 - - Shaftment, 61 - - Shekel, 31, 33 - - South Africa, W. & M., 166 - - Spain, W. & M., 210, 225, 233 - - Sterling, 95 - - Stone, 94, 105, 110 - - Sweden W. & M., 206, 220 - - - Tables— - Olympic measures of length, 17 - The five ancient cubits, 30 - Roman weights and measures of capacity, 41 - British miles and acres, 74 - Provençal corn and land-measures, 92 - English measures of capacity, 125 - Standard of various Troy weights, 132 - Concordance of capacity, weight and measurement, 144 - Volume and weight of water, 146 - Marseilles and Jersey measures of capacity, 162 - Specific gravity scales of spirits, 200 - European itinerary measures, 217 - Ounces and dirhems, 224 - Original weight of dirhems, 226 - Old French measures, 267 - Conversion of Metric and Imperial W. & M., 309 - - Talent, Alexandrian, 33; - Ptolemaïc, 35; - Greek-Asiatic, 36; - Olympic, 42; - Arabic, 44 - - Thermometer-scales, 197 - - Time, measures of, 189 - - Toise, 260 - - Ton, 96, 105; - register, 143; - cargo, 144 - - Tower-weight, 95, 127 - - Troy-weight, 129 - - Tun, 116, 252 - - Tunis, W. & M., 214, 221, 233 - - Turkey, W. & M., 213, 222, 235 - - - Velte, 115, 230, 265 - - Verge, 78, 83, 160 - - Vergée, 78, 160 - - Virgate, 76, 80, 89 - - - Wales, measures, 156 - - Wey, 94, 105 - - Winchester bushel, 119 - - Wine-gallon, 114 - - Wool-weight, 109 - - - Yard, 58, 83 - - Yardland, 66, 80 - - - _Spottiswoode & Co. Ltd., Printers, Colchester, London and Eton._ - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ - │ │ - │ _Finance_ │ - │ │ - ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ - │ │ - │ Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. │ - │ │ - │ Lombard Street: │ - │ A Description of the Money Market. │ - │ │ - │ By the late Walter Bagehot. │ - │ │ - │15th Thousand. 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It is eminently readable, and the │ - │ description of a typical flotation, “Hygienic │ - │ Toothpowder, Ltd.,” is a literary gem.’ │ - │ │ - ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ - │ │ - │ London: Smith, Elder & Co., 15 Waterloo Place, S.W. │ - │ │ - └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ - │ │ - │ _At all Booksellers and Bookstalls._ │ - │ │ - │ Smith, Elder & Co.’s │ - │ New 1s. Net Series. │ - │ │ - ╞══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╡ - │ │ - │ 1. Deeds that Won the Empire. Dr. W. H. Fitchett.│ - │ │ - │ 2. The Cruise of the “Cachalot” Round │ - │ the World after Sperm Whales. Frank T. Bullen.│ - │ │ - │ 3. Fights for the Flag. Dr. W. H. Fitchett.│ - │ │ - │ 4. The Log of a Sea Waif. Frank T. Bullen.│ - │ │ - │ 5. The Gamekeeper at Home. Richard Jefferies.│ - │ │ - │ 6. A Londoner’s Log Book. Rt. Hon. G. W. E. Russell.│ - │ │ - │ 7. The Sowers. H. S. Merriman.│ - │ │ - │ 8. Jess. H. Rider Haggard.│ - │ │ - │ 9. Vice Versâ. F. Anstey.│ - │ │ - │10. Woodland, Moor, and Stream. J. A. Owen.│ - │ │ - │11. The Tale of the Great Mutiny. Dr. W. H. Fitchett.│ - │ │ - │12. Sixty Years in the Wilderness. Sir Henry W. Lucy.│ - │ │ - │13. A Vision of India. Sidney Low.│ - │ │ - │14. The Defence of Plevna. Capt. F. W. von Herbert.│ - │ With an Introduction by General Sir │ - │ JOHN FRENCH, G.C.B., K.C.B., etc. │ - │ │ - │15. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. A. Conan Doyle.│ - │ │ - │16. Nelson and His Captains. Dr. W. H. Fitchett.│ - │ │ - │17. With Edged Tools. Henry Seton Merriman.│ - │ │ - ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ - │ │ - │ London: SMITH, ELDER & CO., 15 Waterloo Place, S.W. │ - │ │ - └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Transcriber’s note: - -Errata, ‘last’ changed to ‘Last,’ “„ 306 _Last line_ „ “our” „ “yours.”” - -Page 72, ‘od’ changed to ‘rod,’ “instead of the measuring rod” - -Page 90, ‘sétier’ changed to ‘setier,’ “the variable setier of -seed-corn” - -Page 92, ‘„’ inserted before ‘10,’ “Cosso (Sc. Lug.) „ 10” - -Page 145, decimal struck before ‘1-1/4,’ “20 [oz] = 1-1/4 [lb]” - -Page 167, ‘Moghul’ changed to ‘Mogul,’ “Moslem conquerors, Mogul and -Pathan” - -Page 187, ‘filus’ changed to ‘filūs,’ “filūs), followed by ‘XX cash.’” - -Page 193, ‘t me requ red’ changed to ‘time required,’ “unit was the time -required to walk” - -Page 195, ‘epact’ changed to ‘Epact,’ “increase of the Epact during” - -Page 198, ‘densit’ changed to ‘density,’ “The maximum density of water” - -Page 198, ‘double’ changed to ‘halve,’ “Deduct 32°; halve the degrees; -add” - -Page 198, hyphen moved from before ‘body’ to after, “Normal -body-temperature is taken” - -Page 201, ‘er ai’ changed to ‘certain,’ “certain distance in a certain -time” - -Page 222, dittos replaced with original text, “is 144 dirhems of 47·66 -grs.” - -Page 224, ‘ruba’ changed to ‘rūba,’ “divided into 4 rūba and” - -Page 252, ‘onomatopæic’ changed to ‘onomatopœic,’ “belong to an -onomatopœic class” - -Page 255, ‘gallons’ value inserted for ‘Spain,’ -“Spain, 64·55 „ 14·23 „” - -Page 282, ‘decimales’ changed to ‘décimales,’ “à 2 heures 10 minutes -décimales” - -Page 299, ‘alterative’ changed to ‘alternative,’ “have alternative -decimal series” - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Men and Measures, by Edward Nicholson - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEN AND MEASURES *** - -***** This file should be named 56290-0.txt or 56290-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/6/2/9/56290/ - -Produced by deaurider and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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