110 APPENDIX. 



tion of the Roman weights to numerical computation ; for 



instance, taking as for unity, we have— 



H deunx ±% dextans 



^2 dodrans T 8 T bisse 



■£$ septunx T % semis 



T 5 T quicunx T \ triens 



T \ quadrans T \ sextans 



yz uncia 

 The uncia was also divided into twelve portions, but 



differently — 



ad minimum extremum diatessaron et diapente sympho- 

 niarum tonorum semitonorumque intervallis distinclarum, 

 harum fractionum denominatio conscenderet vel conten- 

 deret. Zambertus gives the contractions, qvce sepissime 

 inveniuntur in antiquis libris.* In the Metz MS. the 

 contraction for the as is omitted. Several examples of 

 reckoning time by this method occur in the classical 

 writings, especially in Pliny, t as also in some MSS. of 

 the eleventh and twelfth centuries in the British Museum. 

 Bede wrote a tract on this fractional notation, and he 

 adds, hcec ponderum vocabula, vel characteres non modo 

 ad pecuniam mensurandam, verum ad qucevis corpora, 

 sive tempora dimetienda, conveniunt. A MS. in the 

 Public Library (Kk. v. 32) contains an explanation in 



• Euclidis Elementa ex Campano a Zamberto, fol. Par. 1516, p. 248. 

 f Archaeologia, vol. xxvi. p. 159. Vid. Bedae Opera. Edit. Bas. 1563, 

 t. i., col. 101, 14-1, et 182. MS. Arund. Mus. Brit. 25, f. 124, et 356, f. 45. 



