Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-10-16
History OF English Weights and Measures

! History OF English W elShts and Measures
The jewellers of the Middle Ages used
in their delicate scales the hard brown
seeds of the Moorish Carub-tree (Ceratonia
| siliqua). and the weight Of diamonds is
| still reckoned by carats. each carat being
! equal to 5 IL grains troy. The earliest
attempt to regulate British weights and
measures appears to have been suggested
| by this example. In 1866 it was declared
| by statute that IAN English penny, called
| a sterling, round and without any clip
ping. shall weigh 30 wheat corns in the
midst of the ear; and 20 pence do make an
| ounce. and 112 ounces one pound; and
pounds do make gallon of wine, and
| s gallons of wine do make London bushel
which is an eighth part of quarter. We
| have here the bansis of the British system
of reckoning as it survives to-day-the
grain, pennyweight, ounce, pound, gal
lon, bushel and ton, ands 240 silver pence
equal to a pound sterling. The British
gallon is still used for both dry and liquid
measure: and the traditional relation be
tween the pound and the gallon is set
forth in the old rhyme. which declares
| that
ga pint's pound
The world around
fined by similar statute providing that
three barleycorns, round and dry, laid
end to end, ;" shall make | inch, II inches
foot, and 3 feet yard.
The 80 wheat corns, adopted as the basis
Of the British system, appear to have
weighed 2215 grains troy, so that .he
troy This is the old Saxon pound The
,,o,,r6 +ro,, (,,o11,,J d,y a,O,A 10 ba Pop,o,o
pound, and was doubtless in use stimuli
taneously with the Saxon pound for
hundreds of years but is first mentioned
in the statutes i'll 14l4, and was ordained
as the standard weight for gold and silver
in 1927. AS "a grains make a penny
weight troy, the new pound contained
$3.50 grains, or three-quarters of an ounce.
The strict pound Of Y ounces was used
only in weighing the precious metals. and,
with different subdivisions, for the costly
carries. For heavy goods (avoirs du poids)
a more liberal measure was given, like
the bakers dozen. and Is ounces was call
ed pound In the same way % pounds
were called quarter, and 112 pounds a
hundred-weight, allowance being made
for waste or wrappings. The increase of
Ullt penny NtlSlU W Zt ~ dIllS III lJ--I
raised the value of the ounce to 400 grains;
and accordingly the pound of commerce,
containing Is ounces, was raised to 1900
grains As $50 grains Of wine were recK-
oned equal to a cubic inch, the gallon, cor
tanning s of these pounds, Or $1,000
grains, had capacity of 230.4, or in even
numbers 231 cubic inches. This is the
wine gallon now in use in United States.
The ale or beer gallon, Of 282 cubic inches,
was originally measure containing
pounds of wheat at 204 grains to the cublc
inch.
The name avoirdupois was transferred at
a very early date from the heavy goods.
which is indicated, to the system by which
they were weighed 1t occurs first in the
statute of of 1885 and 1853 The early
| pound of Is ounces of $50 grains each
$3.50 grains-was raised by law, as has
| been shown, to 1900 grains. making l6 of
| the old ounces. In practice, however, the
pound seems to have fallen below this
standard to about 1000 grains. and this
weight was finally declared to be pound
| avoirdupois, the avoirdupois ounce, or
sixteenth of the pound. being thus reduc-
ed to 1879 ins.-From The Metric
/ System. by H. W. Richardson, in Har-
per's Magazine.