WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 



French Measures of Surface. 



1121 



French Measures of Capacity. 



French Measures of Weight. 



Troy Weight, so called from Troyes, a town in the province of Champagne in France, 

 now in the department of Aube, where a celebrated fair was held, appears to hare 

 come into general use in England about the time of Henry IV. The first mention of 

 the term Avoir dupois occurs in a charter of 31 Edward I. Pound ' is derived from the 

 Latin pondus ; ' ounce,' from uncia, or twelfth part, beiag the ^th part of a Ib. Troy. 



Al measures of capacity were first taken from Troy weight ; and several laws were 

 passed in the reign of Henry III., enacting that 8 Ibs. troy of wheat, taken from the 

 middle of the ear, and well dried, should make 1 gallon of wine measure ; and 8 such 

 gallons made a bushel. 



Avoirdupois Weight was first made legal in the reign of Henry VII., and its par- 

 ticular use was to weigh provisions and coarse, heavy articles. Henry fixed the stone 

 at 14 Ibs., which has been confirmed by a recent Act of Parliament. 



Agreeably to the Act of uniformity, which took effect 1st January, 1826, the term 

 'measure' may be distinguished into eight kinds : viz., length, surface, volume, specific 

 gravity, capacity, space, time, and motion. 



VOL. HI. 4 C 



