Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1898-12-20

MN
certain places. This has come down
from 1924. tHrA s 35ii
In this country just as marked curi-.
osities and barbarisms prevail. There
are, for example, 80 gallons in q barrel
Of cider, 31H or 36 in q barrel Of ale or
milk, 80 in a barrel of fish, az in fierce
of wine or oil, 63 in hogshead of wine,
81 in hogshead of beer, 50 ina
puncheon OF wine. John Quincy Adams,
SO long ago as the early days of this
century (and the same is true to-day
i'll both England and America), re-
marked: The English pound avoirdu-
pois is heavier than the pound Troy,
the ounce avoirdupois is lighter than
the ounce Troy"
In such measures 112 comes to mean
100, one dozen 16 and % signifies %.
{ And these are but the beginnings Of
the odd Inconsistencies. 1t has been
calculated that there are six different
legal quarts in various parts of Great
Britain. Experts say that in Lanca-
shire, England there are nearly 30
different bushels. There are So to
100 different units of weights alone
in the United States, the most Of
them hardly known outside Of their
own special localities, it is true, but all
distinctly legal.
This brief list, carefully prepared,
will give some conception of the con-
fusion. III actual use to-day is the
kilderllin. Generally, it is a half barrel
of ale, At the United States customs
kilderl1in means 10 gallons. It is a
British beer measure Of % gallons, and
in the measuring of water for ships it
is calculated at IS gallons.
The dry barrel is II peci1s, the liquid
barrel 43 is gallons. But mark the
variance in this latter. For wine the
United States measure is 3112 gallons
per barrel, the British 1924 gallons, and
for various wines this British barrel
! measure runs from 80 to SO gallons. For
beer in the United States the measure
is SO gallons (two kilderlin by this cal
culation), in England 1904 gallons. The
COON still exists, the old English meas
.ure of four barrels. There is the quar-
tcrn-dry, q quarter of a peck; liquid.
q quarter Of a yard. The step is 80
inches. The nail is yet legal. tits enc
twentieth of an English ell, about one
sixteenth of a yard, approximately,th tbs,
| distance from the end Of the thumb
nail to the joint at the base OF tho
| thumb.
| 1 Quaint instances Of barbaric meas
Iures yet in use may readily be con-
| Enued. The pace is 60 inches. There
is the last, ten quarters, in England 50
| bushels, in Russia u.54 quarters. The
| load in both England ana America is
] calculated at 40 cubic feet Of round
ttiInber, 50 of hewn or; squared timber
OF planks. When it comes to fractions
of weights the avoirdupois, apotle-
carries and Troy, measures show the
| same weight Of the grain, the avoir-
| dupois the ounce less, but the pound
one-fifth greater, the apothecaries AID
the Troy the ounce and the pound
! alike.
| .Fiye distinct gallons exist in the
British empire, one of 231 cubic inches,
che of 224, one of 272,. III some sec
lions of England the old rhyme yet
runs:
| weighs q pound ana quarter 81
| A pint of pure water
and in others is heard lit being the
case there), I'm
"a pint's pound lTE-;s.a,As.:i
:+ All the world round" ..s.5s ~ Il
There is one acre. in London and the
regions surrounding it, and quite an
ether when the traveller gets to, York,
far up north. England has yet other
acres incorrect, but not Illegal ~
Thirteen for a dozen is quite com.
mon III many parts Of England, and
in the British currency guinea tel
shillings) replaces the pound GO shill-
ings) in professional fees-in accord
ance with the tradition. Even more
curious is a method of counting jugs
and pitchers in the wholesale crockery
trade, The sizes in which these are
made are known as 54s, 42s, 36s, 30s, 24s,
rs, IS and As, the smallest articlesh aV-
ing the larger mum bers. These are sold
according to the numbers-54 to lie
dozen Of 54s, but four only: to the dozen
Of As.
DON'T Ride Close Together.
a common cause of accidents to am
ateur riders is their inclination to ride
close together when on separate wheels.
If one is behind the other, each natural
| ~ feels that all is well SO long as the
! leader proceeds smoothly. This conf