WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 27 



Of course a dishonest monarch might debase his own 

 currency by retaining the same form and markings 

 for a com but decreasing the amount of precious metal 

 in it, and thus be enabled for a time to purchase from 

 his own people or from unsuspecting traders a greater 

 amount of goods for the same metal. Foreign traders, 

 however, are usually alertly suspicious, so that only 

 the full weight coin would circulate in foreign trade, as 

 the reader realizes from his familiarity with Gresham's 

 law. 



For standards of weight, pieces of metal or stone 

 were used. Sometimes these were in the form of 

 animals, as the bronze lion of the Assyrians. In 

 England one of the standards of weight was known 

 from its material as "the stone." The use of this 

 unit has persisted for years and is still evident in 

 expressions for the weight of a man. To-day in England, 

 hi the British Commonwealth, except for India, and 

 also in the United States the unit of weight is the 

 pound. In the rest of the countries of the world the 

 unit is the kilogram of the metric system. To the 

 scientist this system is the more important. 



While in the case of a measurement of length it is 

 only necessary to set the standard beside the body of 

 unknown length to make a direct comparison of the 

 two, for measurement of weight special apparatus is 

 required. For weighing it is necessary to have a set 

 of weights, comprising multiples x and submultiples 



1 A set of weights may be obtained as follows when one has ac- 

 cess to a balance and the standard weight. First it is usual to make 

 a copy of the original standard, or "prototype," for use in place of 

 it. This is made a little too heavy to start with and reduced until 

 it is as nearly as possible equal to the standard. The copy is then 



