Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-07-01
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.


! WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
! The ancient mile was 1,94S yards.
i A cubic yard of sand is wagon
load.
i The cubit was the length of the
forearm.
| A yard is almost equivalent to q
meter.
An ordinary brick weighs about
four pounds.
! The earliest use of weights is attrib.
uted to Pheidon, king of Argos, 9s5
B. G..
An ordinary hod contains about 20
bricks.
A quart of ordinary cornmeal weighs
Is ounces.
Fifteen common brick equal one
foot of eight inch wall.
A rod in length requires three pounds
of barbed wire fencing, three lines to
the fence.
The standard measures Of Great
Britain are preserved in the archives
of parliament.
The common silver dollar is almost
EXACTLY one and one-half inches in di-
ameter.
The legal bushel of the United
States contains 77.6274 pounds OF
water.
Twelve tablespoonfuls of any liquid
make what the doctors call teacup-
full.
The ell in use in cloth measure was
at first the exact length of the forearm
of Edward III.
The Hebrew span, often mentioned
in the Scriptures, was 1913 inches, and
equal to three palms.
The Hebrew hand-breadth was 3.6
inches, and equaled four digits.
The Scriptural fathom was four
cubits, or about seven feet three
A cubic foot of distilled water
weighs very nearly 1000 ounces.
The Chinese use the breadth of the
right forefnger as measure.
A carat as a weight for gold and
diamonds was originally a grain OF
Indian wheat, we'll dried.
The foot originally had its name
from the fact that the human foot
was used as unit of measurement.
i It was formerly the custom among
English cloth dealers to add the
breadth of the thumb to the yard
measure.
Henry III of England ordained that
the English penny should equal the
weight of 80 grains of wheat.
1t is said that by blunder of the
maker the standard yard of the Unit
ed States is 1,OOOth of an inch too
long.
The balances in use in our mint are
said to be so accurate that they will
disclose difference of 1-l000 part of a
grain.
In 1886 complete sets of the gov
ernment weights and measures were
delivered to the governor of each
State, for the use of the States res
pectively.
The Hebrew tradition ascribed the
Invention of weights and measures to
Cain; those of Egypt, to Teuth those
of Greece, to Hermes.
In 1924 a statute of Edward II of
England commanded that three bar
leycorns, dry and placed end to end,
should be an inch.
In 1928 brass troy pound, procured
by the American minister in Lon
don in the previous year, was declared
to be the standard in the United
States for that measure.
Spoons are of nearly the same size
all over the civilized world, and four
tablespoonful make what, in medical
parlance, is dominated wineglass-
full.
The old proverb. "a pint's a
pound the world around" is confirm
ed in the case of white or granulated
sugar; pint of which weighs almost
exactly one pound.
Amateurs who undertake to lay
floor should remember that one-fifth.
more siding and flooring is needed than
the number of square feet Of surface to
be covered, because of the lap in the
siding and the groove in the flooring.
An amateur who undertakes to
plaster his own house, will be aided
by the information that eight bushels
of good lime, 16 bushels of sand and
one bushel of hair will plaster 100
square yards,
In 1917 John Quincy Adams was
appointed by congress to examine the
weights and measures in use in the