MEASURES. 



737 



the Berlin weights and measures were made the rule 

 for the whole kingdom), or to establish new mea- 

 sures, founded upon unalterable principles, upon the 

 laws of nature, as has been done in France. The 

 latter is obviously the most rational and most just, 

 because it is arbitrary to make a whole country fol- 

 low the measures of the capital, or of a province, if 

 these measures themselves have nothing in particular 

 to recommend them. In the article France, division 

 Decimal Measures, is given a brief account of that 

 admirable system,the philosophical character of which 

 is bringing it more and more into use among the learn- 

 ed of the European continent. (For more information 

 respecting it, see Delambre's Base du Systente me- 

 trique ; Geodesic, by Puissant ; and Manuel des 

 Poids et Measures, by Tarbe.) The British yard is 

 determinated by oscillations of a pendulum at Lon- 

 don. This is still an arbitrary standard, as the 

 oscillations vary in different parallels of latitude. It 

 is not, indeed, so arbitrary as the taking the foot of 

 Louis XIV. for a measure, yet it is not so philoso- 

 phical as the French. In the United States of 

 America the British system of measures and weights 

 has been followed. 

 Measures are either of 



1. length ; 



2. surface ; 



3. solidity or capacity ; 



4. force, or gravity, or what is commonly called weight; 



5. angles ; 



6. time; 



and their respective standards are, in Britain, a yard, 

 square yard, or the 4 ^ a of an acre, a cubic yard, a gal- 

 lon, pound weight, degree, minute. The British act 

 already alluded to, for establishing uniform measures 

 throughout the realm, and called the act of uniformity, 

 took effect Jan. 1, 1826. The system thus established 

 is called the imperial system. Its rationale is as fol- 

 lows : Take a pendulum which will vibrate seconds 

 in London, on a level of the sea, in a vacuum ; 

 divide all that part thereof which lies between the 

 axis of suspension and the centre of oscillation into 

 391,393 equal parts ; then will 10,000 of those parts 

 be an imperial inch, twelve whereof make a foot, and 

 thirty-six whereof make a yard. The standard yard 

 is " that distance between the centres of the two 

 points in the gold studs in the straight brass rod, 

 now in the custody of the clerk of the house of com- 

 mons, whereon the words and figures ' Standard 

 yard, 1760 ' are engraved, which is declared to be 

 the genuine standard of the measure of length called 

 a yard ; and, as the expansibility of the metal would 

 cause some variation in the length of the rod in differ- 

 ent degrees of temperature, the act determines that 

 the brass rod in question shall be of the temperature 

 of 62 (Fahrenheit). The measure is to be denomi- 

 nated the imperial standard yard, and to be the 

 only standard whereby all other measures of lineal 

 extension shall be computed. Thus the foot, the 

 inch, the pole, the furlong, and the mile, shall bear 

 the same proportion to the imperial standard yard as 

 they have hitherto borne to the yard measure in 

 general use." The act also makes provision for the 

 restoration of the standard yard, in case of loss, 

 destruction, or defacement, by a reference to an 

 invariable natural standard, which is to be that pro- 

 portion which the yard bears to the length of a pen- 

 dulum, vibrating seconds of time in the latitude of 

 London, in a vacuum at the level of the sea ; which 

 is found to be as thirty-six inches (the yard) to 

 39.1393 (the pendulum); thus a sure means is estab- 

 lished to supply the loss which might by possibility 

 occur. Take a cube of one such inch of distilled 

 water, at 62 of temperature, by Fahrenheit's ther- 

 mometer ; let this be weighed by any weight, and 

 let such weight be divided into 252458 equal parts, 



then will 1000 of such parts be a troy grain ; and 

 7000 of those grains will be a pound avoirdupois, the 

 operation having been performed in air. Ten pounds, 

 such as those mentioned, of distilled water, at 62 

 of temperature, will be a gallon, which gallon will 

 contain 277 cubic inches, and ,V * pa rts f another 

 cubic inch. The standard pound is determined to 

 be that standard pound troy weight, made in the 

 year 1758, in the custody of the clerk of the house 

 of commons ; such weight is to be denominated the 

 imperial standard troy pound, and is to be "the 

 only standard measure of weight from which all other 

 weights shall be derived, computed, and ascertained; 

 and one twelfth part of the said troy pound is to be 

 an ounce, and one twentieth part of such ounce a 

 pennyweight, and one twenty-fourth part of such 

 pennyweight a grain ; so that 5760 such grains 

 shall be a pound troy, and 7000 such grains a 

 pound avoirdupois, and one sixteenth part of the 

 said pound avoirdupois an ounce avoirdupois, 

 and one sixteenth part of such ounce a drachm." 

 If the standard pound shall be lost, destroyed, 

 or defaced, the act directs that it shall be recov 

 ered by reference to the weight of a cubic inch 

 of water ; it having been ascertained that a cubic 

 inch of distilled water, weighed in air by brass 

 weights, at the temperature of 62 (Fahrenheit), and 

 the barometer at thirty inches, is equal to 252.458 

 grains; and, as the standard troy pound contains 

 5760 such grains, it is therefore established that the 

 original standard pound may be at any time recov- 

 ered, by making another weight to bear the propor- 

 tion just mentioned to a cubic inch of water. The 

 standard gallon is determined by the act to be such 

 measure as shall contain ten pounds avoirdupois of 

 distilled water, weighed in air, at the temperature of 

 62 (Fahrenheit), and the barometer at thirty inches; 

 and such measure is declared to be the imperial 

 standard gallon, and the unit and only standard 

 measure of capacity to be used, as well for wine, 

 beer, ale, spirits, and all sorts of liquids, as for dry 

 goods not measured by heaped measure ; and all 

 other measures are to be taken in parts or multiples 

 of the said imperial standard gallon, the quart being 

 the fourth part of such gallon, and the pint one 

 eighth part, two such gallons making a peck, eight 

 such gallons a bushel, and eight such bushels a 

 quarter of corn, or other dry goods, not measured by 

 heaped measure. The standard for heaped measure, 

 for such things as are commonly sold by heaped 

 measure, such as coal, culm, lime, fish, potatoes, 

 fruit, &c., is to be " the aforesaid bushel, containing 

 eighty pounds avoirdupois of water, as aforesaid, the 

 same being made round with a plane and even bot- 

 tom, and being nineteen and a half inches from out- 

 side to outside ;" and goods thus sold by heaped 

 measure are to be heaped " in the form of a cone, 

 such cone to be of the height of at least six inches, 

 the outside of the bushel to be the extremity of the 

 base of such cone." Three such bushels are to be 

 a sack, and twelve such sacks a chaldron. 



Stricken Measure. The last-mentioned goods 

 may be sold either by the heaped measure, or by the 

 standard weight, as before-mentioned ; but for every 

 other kind of goods not usually sold by heaped mea- 

 sure, which may be sold or agreed for by measure, 

 the same standard measure is to be used, but the 

 goods are not to be heaped, but stricken with a round 

 stick, or roller, straight, and of the same diameter 

 from end to end. Copies and models of the stand- 

 ard of length, weight, and measure, are to be made 

 and verified under the direction of the treasury, and 

 every county to be supplied with them for reference 

 whenever required. Existing weights and measures 

 may be used, being marked so as to show the pro- 

 3 A 



