WEI 



WEI 



"round, with a plain and even bottom, 

 being 19^ inches from outside to outside," 

 and to be heaped in the form of a cone to 

 the height of 6 inches. This is the mea- 

 sure for coal, culm, lime, fish, potatoes, 

 fruit, &c. 



6. The depth of the Imperial Bushel is 

 required by the Act to be 8 inches, 

 though this is not expressed ; because 

 the height of the heap or cone is 6 inches, 

 and this must be equal to three-fourths 

 of the depth. The proportion of the Im- 

 perial Bushel to the Linlithgow wheat 

 firlot is as 106 to 105 nearly, and to the 

 barley firlot as 92 to 133 nearly. 



7. Dimensions of the Dry Measures. 

 " The diameter shall be at least double 

 the depth, and the height of the cone or 

 heap shall be equal to three-fourths of 

 the depth." 



FRENCH MEASURES AND WEIGHTS. 



8. MHre. The standard unit of the 

 itinerary and other measures of length is 

 the Metre. It was found that a quadrant 

 of a meridian lying betweeri the North 

 Pole and the equator measured 5,130,470 

 toises, or 10,936,578 English yards ; and 

 the ten-millionth part of this quantity, 

 which was to form the standard unit, 

 was therefore equal to 3 pieds 11 ^^ 

 lignes, or 1.093578 English yards. Upon 

 this, the Academic des Sciences devised 

 the following nomenclature in the eighth 

 year of the Republic :— 



9. The words deci (tenth of), centi 

 (hundredth of), milli (thousandth of), be- 

 ing added to that expressing the unit, 

 served to denominate the subdivisions ; 

 and the words deca (ten), hecto (one 

 hundred), kilo (thousand), myria (ten 

 thousand), expressed the multiple of the 

 unit. Thus the mHre contained 10 deci- 

 metres; the decimetre 10 centimetres; 

 the centimetre 10 millimetres. The de- 

 cametre expressed ten metres; the hec- 

 tometre, 100; the kilometre, 1000; and 

 the myriamdtre, 10,000 metres. The 

 kilometre is considered as the minute 

 of the new geographical degree, and is 

 equivalent to 513 toises old measure, and 

 to 1093 yards, 1 foot, 10 inches, English. 



10. Toise. The new toise was fixed at 

 two metres exactly, making an increase 

 of 2^ per cent on the ' toise of Paris.' 

 This new toise is divided as formerly into 

 6 feet, each foot into 12 inches, and the 

 inch into 12 lines. The toise is therefore 

 equal to 2 metres, or 6 feet, 6.42 inches 

 English ; the toise quarree, to 3.7987 

 square metres, or 3 yards, 1 foot, 84.096 

 375 



inches English ; the pied quarre, to 

 0.4220 square metres, or 3 feet, 29.344 

 inches English. 



11. Lieue. The lieue, by which dis- 

 tances were reckoned in France, was not 

 the same in every province; of the fol- 

 lowing four, however, the proportions 

 were determined: — 1, the lieue deposit, 

 to regulate the charges on travellers, 

 equal to 2000 toises, old measure, or 

 3898 metres, or 4262yds. 2ft. 6in. Eng- 

 lish ; 2, the lieue marine, twenty in the 

 degree, adopted by geographers, = 2850 

 toises, or 5554.75 metres, or 6074yds. 2ft. 

 English ; 3, the lieue commune, twenty- 

 five in the degree, = 2280 toises, or 

 4443.80 metres, or 4859yds. 4in. English; 

 and, 4, lieue moyenne, = 2565 toises, or 

 5000 metres, or 5470yds. English. 



12. Liquid and Dry Measures. The 

 litre, adopted in the place of the pinte, is 

 equal to 1.074 pinte, and contains 1.761 

 English pint. Its form is cylindrical, in 

 height double of its diameter. The litre 

 is a cubic decimetre ; the decalitre con- 

 tains 10 cubic decimetres ; the decilitre, 

 1-1 0th of a cubic decimetre. The hecto- 

 litre contains 100 cubic decimetres; the 

 kilolitre, 1 cubic metre, or 1000 cubic 

 decimetres. The Tonneau de Bordeaux 

 contains 931.318 litres, or 1640 pints 

 English. 



13. Land Measures. The unit of land 

 measures is a square, each side of which 

 is 10 metres in length, and called are. 

 It is subdivided into 100 parts, called 

 centiares, each a square metre. There is 

 a larger measure denominated hectare, 

 containing 100 ares, and answering to a 

 square, each side of which is 100 metres. 

 Before the establishment of the decimal 

 system, the arpent was generally used 

 for the measurement of land. 



14. Solid Measures. The measure in 

 use for the sale of timber is called stere, 

 and is a cubic metre; the decistere is 

 1-lOth of a cubic metre. 



15. Dry and heaped Measures. The 

 boisseau usuel, such as its dimensions are 

 now fixed, is smaller than the former, 

 called boisseau de Paris, by JL ; its sub- 

 divisions are the demi-boisseau, and the 

 quart de boisseau. The double boisseau 

 is equal to 25 litres, or 5 gallons, 2 quarts ; 

 the boisseau to 12 litres, 50, or 2 gallons, 

 3 quarts ; the demi-boisseau to six litres, 

 25, or 1 gallon, 3 pints ; the quart de 

 boisseau to 3 litres, 12, or 2 quarts, 

 1 pint, 2 gills. This measure serves for 

 the sale of corn, coals, salt, lime, &c. 



16. The kilogramme represents the 



