174 First Report of i lie Commissioners appointed to consider 



of length ; but since the readiest practical method of ascertain- 

 ing the magnitude of any measure of capacity is to weigh the 

 quantity of water which it is capable of containing, it would, in 

 our opinion, be advisable in this instance to invert the more na- 

 tural order of proceeding, and to define the measures of capacity, 

 rathei- from the weight of the water they are capable of contain- 

 ing, than from their solid content in space. It will therefore 

 be convenient to begin with the definition of the standard of 

 weight, by declaring that 19 cubic inches of distilled water, at the 

 temperature of 50 degrees, mu^t weigh exactly 10 ounces of troy, 

 or 4,800 grains ; and that 7,000 such grains make a pound 

 avoirdupois ; supposing, however, the cubic inches to relate to 

 the measure of a portion of brass, adjusted by a standard scale 

 of brass. This definition is deduced from some very accurate ex- 

 periments of the late Sir George Shuckburgh, on the weights and 

 measures of Great Britain ; but we propose at a future period to 

 repeat such of them as appear to be the most important. 



7. The definitions thus established are not calculated to in- 

 troduce any variation from the existing standards of length and 

 of weight, which may be considered as already sufificiently well 

 ascertained. But, with respect to the measures of capacity, it 

 appears, from the report- contained in the Appendix (A), that 

 the legal standards of the highest authority are considerably at 

 variance with each other: the standard gallon, quart, and pint of 

 Queen Elizabeth, which are kept in the Exchequer, having been 

 also apparently employed, almost indiscriminately, for adjusting 

 the measures both of coin and beer ; between which, however, a 

 difference has gradually, and, as it may be supposed, uninten- 

 tionallv, crept into the practice of the Excise; the ale gallon 

 being understood to contain about 4y per cent, more than the 

 corn gallon, though we do not find any particular act of parlia- 

 ment in which this excess is expressly recognised. We think it 

 right to propose that these measures should again be reduced to 

 their original equality ; and at the same time, on account of the 

 great convenience which would be derived from the facility of 

 determining a gallon and its parts, by the operation of weighing 

 a certain quantity of water, amounting to an entire, number of 

 pounds and ounces without fractions, we venture strongly to re- 

 commend, that the standard ale and corn gallon should contain 

 exactly 10 pounds avoirdupois of distilled water, at 62° of i-'ah- 

 renheit, being nearly equal to 277'2 cubic inches, and agreeing 

 with the standard pint in the Exchequer, which is found to con- 

 tain exactly 20 ounces of water. 



8. We presume that very little inconvenience would be felt by 

 the public, from the introduction of this gallon, in the place of 

 the customary ale gallon of 282 cubic inches, and of the Win- 

 chester 



