110 APPENDIX. 



tion of the Roman weights to numerical computation ; for 



instance, taking as for unity, we have 



f-2- deunx fa dextans 



^2 dodrans ~ bisse 



^2- septunx T 6 T semis 



T \ quicunx T \ triens 



T \ quadrans T V sextans 

 T V uncia 



The uncia was also divided into twelve portions, but 

 differently 



i semiuncia ^ duella 



$ sicilius sexcula 



dragma $ hemissecla 



T V tremissis -^ scrupulus 



T V obulus T V bissiliqua 



sV ceraces T ^ siliqua 



To these was added the fa* h part of the uncia : ut usque 

 ad minimum extremum diatessaron et diapente sympho- 

 niarum tonorum semitonorumque intervallis distinclarum, 

 harum fractionum denominatio conscenderet vel conteti- 

 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, f 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 ponder um vocabula, vel characteres non modo 

 ad pecuniam mensurandam, verum ad qucevis corpora, 

 sive tempora dimelienda, 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. 

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

 t. i., col. 101, Ul, et 182. MS. Arund. Mus. Brit. 25, f. 124, et 356, f. **. 



