The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-11-17
STANDARDS OF MEASURE.
Various Lengths of the Cubit, Foot
and Inch.

John A. Brashear, in Casters Magazine.
So far as we know at present, the stand
ard measuring instrument for linear meas
ures in Egypt, Persia, Babylonia, Greece
and, in fact, all the eastern countries. was
the cubit, which was divided in various
ways, that of the Talmud being divided
into digits. or finger b~readths. palms and
spans, four digits begging equal to one palm
or hand breadth. three palms to one span
and two spans to one cubit.
A great deal of valuable research has
been made by eminent metrologists to as
certain the length of the cubit as used by
the various nations who made it their
standard. We would naturally imagine
that all cubits were of one length. but when
we consider that our own foot measure has
varied SO much mine and ~one-quarter
inches) from its present recognized value,
we should not be surprised to find that
the cubit varied from 1923 to Isl inches in
Egypt. The cubit of the Fourth Dynasty
varied from 20.62 to 2O.51 inches-only about
one-tenth of an inch. The divided plotting
scales lying on the drawing board of the
statue of Gudea eqUaled 9.S9 inches. The
Babylonian cubit was almost exactly Of
the same length as the Egyptian cubit of
the Fourth Dynasty, viz, 200 and @.5
inches. The Persian cubit seems to have
been rather short, measuring 1872 1nches;
but, according 10 a recent writer, there is
good evidence of another cubit, measuring
about 25.25 inches.
The cubit of the Hebrew nation, accord
ing TO a number OF Investigators, seems TO
have been ZIG inches. although Lieutenant
Totten insists, and seems TO have proved,
that the value of the Jewish as well as the
Egyptian sacred cubit, was exactly TWEEN
ty-fve inches.
There is considerable difficulty in con-
Meeting the links between ancient and
medieval neurology, for no sharp lines
can be drawn, and there is a period Of
more than a thousand years over which
the connection of units of measure is very
uncertain. The Belgic foot was probably
carried over TO Great Britain in the tenth
century. Its value. as the foot now meas
ureS, was 1922 inches; but il had TO come
in contact with the legal foot. which was
enforced by law as early as the year $50.
Had the Belgic foot of 1922 inches been
adopted instead of the legal foot Of twelve
inches, only a very small change would
have to be made to make il one-third of a
meter, the meter being about 3937 inches,
and three times the value of the Belgic
foot would be only 0.29 of an inch longer
than the meter. But the edict of King
Henry l had placed the value of the foot
at II inches, or one-third of the legal yard.
which, in turn, was supposed to be One-half
the distance between the tips of the fingers
of the outstretched arms of King Henry.
In the year 1924 "A. d., in the reign Of Ed
a L IL. ii CNdlult was tlldlLtA IIdL lldAt
the STANDARD inch equal to three barley
corns round and dry" and twelve such
inches made one foot. Who of US that
have lived out our half century do not re-
member the old long measure table COM
mencing with, Three barley corns make
one inch?" / believe the long measure
tables no more contain this familiar SEN
tence.
There were several values of the yard in
the interval between King Henry's time
and that of the final value which was es-
tablished just five hundred years after
what may be called the barley corn stat
ute. There was the yard and handful, or
forty-inch ell, which was abolished in 1899;
the yard and inch, or thirty-seven-inch
ell, which was abolished in 1853: the cloth
ell of forty-five inches, which was used I'M
til 1900, and the yard of Henry VII, which
had a value of 1888 inches, within thirty
seven thousandths of the value of the yard
and handful.
But the mechanic arts cried out for a bet
as the barley corn, or the length Of a mans
arm, and so early as the beginning Of the
seventeenth century most accurate stand
ards Of the yard, foot and inch had been
graduated upon metal bars by Abram
Sharp. Rowley, Sissons, Smeaton, Graham
and others, all Of whom contributed by
their various methods TO a very high de-
velopment of the adopted standard.
Just five hundred years after the statute
of Edward ii which made the barley corn
the basis of the inch, it was, by an act Of
George ", in 1894. that a legal definition
of the yard was made. This declared that
the yard bar, made by Bird in 1760. should
be the standard beyond question of doubt.