360 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1814. 



should be made of such a size as 

 to contain such a weight of pure 

 water of the temperature of 561°, 

 as should be expressed in a whole 

 numberof pounds, avoirdupois, and 

 such aho as would admit of the 

 quart and pint containing integer 

 numbers of ounces, witliout any 

 fractional parts. 



If the gallon is made to con- 

 tain 10 pounds of water, the quart 

 will contain 40 ounces, and the 

 pint 20. 



This gallon recommended by 

 your Committee, will contain 

 276.48 cubical inches, being nearly 

 3 per cent larger than the gallon 

 or 8th part of the Winchester 

 bushel as fixed by the Act of the 

 13th and 14th of William and 

 Mary, cap, 5, which contains 

 268.803 cubical inches, and the 

 bushel will contain 2211.84 cu- 

 bical inches, instead of 2150.42. 



Your Committee are of opinion, 

 that this departure from the corn 

 measure which is employed in the 

 collection of the malt tax, and is 

 supposed to be the most generally 

 used throughout the kingdom, 

 is justified by the advantages 

 which they anticipate from the 

 change. 



General uniformity cannot be 

 ■expected, unless some simple and 

 accurate method of checking the 

 standard measu'es is adopted ; and 

 ■.ts the weij^ht of water appears to 

 he the i>est and most simple 

 method of checking measures of 

 capacity, it is desirable that all 

 (minute fractions of weight should 

 be avoided. There will be much 

 Itss chance of error in weighing 

 the water contained in any mea- 

 sure, if only one or two weights 

 ;ue1obeem])loyed, than if a greater 

 _wumber were necessary, which 



would be the case if fractional 

 parts were required. 



The difficulty of remembering 

 long fractions is also an important 

 consideration, and would very ma- 

 terially impede the attainment of 

 that general uniformity which is 

 so much desired. 



If this s^allon is adopted, the 

 bushel will contain 8Ulb. of water, 

 or 2211.84 cubical inches; the 

 quart C9.12 cubical inches, or 40 

 ounces of water; the pint 34.56 

 cubical inches, or 20 ounces of 

 water : the half-pint will con- 

 tain 17.28 cubical inches, (which 

 is exactly 1-lOOth part of a cubi- 

 cal foot), and 10 ounces of water. 

 Any smaller measures might with 

 great propriety be described, ac- 

 cording to the number of ounces 

 of water they contained. 



Your Committee are of opinion, 

 that the simple connection which 

 will in this manner be established 

 between the standard of weight 

 and measures of capacity, will 

 greatly tend to preserve the uni- 

 formity of those measures which 

 are found to be most liable to 

 error. They have, besides, been 

 induced to select this size of mea« 

 sure as a standard, both because 

 it very nearly coincides with one 

 of the standard corn measures pre- 

 served in the Exchequer, namely 

 the standard pint marked 1602, 

 which contains 34.8 cubical inches; 

 and also because it possesses the 

 advantage of bearing very simple 

 relations to the gallon measures, 

 which are employed in measuring 

 ale and wine. The calculations 

 therefore which would be neces- 

 sary for ascertaining the corre- 

 sponding duties, which must be 

 charged upon exciseable liqours, 

 would be easily made. 



