 thumb|german medieval scale for weighing bales of wool. the unit of measure was the local stone. the stone (abbreviation st"concise oxford dictionary", oxford university pres; 1964) is a unit of measure equal to 14 pounds avoirdupois (about 6.35&nbsp;kg) used in great britain and ireland for measuring human body weight. in many northwestern european countries the stone was formerly used for trade, with a value ranging from about 5 to 40 local pounds (3 to 15&nbsp;kg). with the advent of metrication from the mid-19th century on, it was superseded by the kilogram. it remained in limited use for trade in the united kingdom and in ireland until prohibited by the weights and measures act of 1985.legislation.gov.uk: weights and measures act 1985 retrieved 2013-01-17a dictionary of weights, measures, and units, edited by donald fenna, oxford university press <!-- a dictionary of weights, measures, and units, ed. don fenna, oxford reference, 2002. isbn 0198605226. verbatim: "the stone was removed from official uk measures in 1985." encyclopedia britannica, online version as of 2012: stone (major unit stone, minor unit pound).  an english national health service style guide specified the use of imperial units for a person's weightnhs local style guide, last updated may 2012. "use imperial for a person's weight. we write stone as st and pounds as lb13st 11lb" another nhs style guide [http://www.nhs.uk/aboutnhschoices/documents/nhs_choiceseditorial_style_
Customary_units_of_measurement Imperial_units Units_of_mass