Taylor.] 



346 



[Oct. 21, 



that by the act of 51st Henry III (1266), it was declared that "8 pounds 

 [of wheat] do make the gallon of wine, and 8 gallons of wine do make 

 a London bushel, and 8 London bushels do make the quarter," 



Our proposed system of weights forms but a corollary from the preced- 

 ing table of capacity measures ; a Modius of pure water forming the stan- 

 dard unit, which we therefore call our Weight or Pondus. Taking the 

 value of the cubic inch of distilled water at maximum density at 252,745 

 grains (the weight adopted by Mr. Hassler for the U. S. standard), the 

 Modius or cubic Module would weigh 972891.328 grains, or 138 pounds, 

 15 ounces, 329.22 grains avoirdupois. This will give us the following 

 table : 



Table of Weights. 



"While the "Pondus" is the standard of determination, the "libra," as 

 the unit of weight in most common use, would be the secondary or deriv- 

 ative standard. Since Tinder "libras" make the "Pondus," this corre- 

 sponds to our present hundred-weight. The new " ton " is not quite half 

 a ton, and the " load " is very nearly 4 tons. 



The " keel " is one-half larger than the English keel (a weight used 

 only for coal), which is equal to 21 tons 4 cwt., and of which twenty make 

 a "ship load." Or the English keel is two-thirds of our "keel," as above 

 given. 



Estimated by the French weights, our "scrap " = 1.924 grammes ; our 



