582 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1775. 



As this group, therefore, rests on a perfect plain, it makes a very singular ap- 

 pearance. The vulcanic hills immediately round Isenchaux in Velay affect also 

 the same forms; but as they are mixed with other hills of a different form, and 

 the country about them is broken and irregular, they do not produce so singular 

 an effect as the Euganean hills, which suddenly rise from a perfect level. I am 

 informed, that there is a similar, though smaller group of isolated vulcanic hills 

 in a plain of Dalmatia, near Cossovo; and another group of hills, nearly of the 

 same forms, in the county of Down, in Ireland, and called the Mourn hills; 

 which, like those near Padua, consist mostly of granite and lava. The Euga- 

 nean hills have, moreover, a superficial and partial covering of slaty and calca- 

 rious strata, of posterior origin, and that manifest no marks of having suffered 

 by fire. Such strata slightly cap mount Venda, which is the highest among 

 these hills; though of no very considerable elevation, measuring only about 252 

 French toises above the Venetian Lagunes, according to Abb6 Toaldo, professor 

 of astronomy at Padua. From the lava and granite mixed together in the Euga- 

 nean hills, they bear an affinity with those of Auvergne and Velay; but differ 

 from them by the superincumbent unburnt strata of lime-stone. 



III. An Inquiry, to show what was the Ancient English Weight and Measure 

 according to the Laws or Statutes, prior to the Reign of Henry the Seventh. 

 By Henry Norris, Esq. p. 48. 



William the Conqueror, by his charter, confirmed to the English all their 

 ancient laws, with such additions or alterations as he made to their advantage. 

 The 57th clause of that charter is, " De mensuris et ponderibus. Et quod ha- 

 beant per universum regnum, mensuras fidelissimas et signatas, et pondera fide- 

 lissima et signata sicut boni praedecessores statuerunt." From this clause it seems 

 clear, that king William ordained sealed standards, both of weights and mea- 

 sures, to be made, such as his predecessor king Edward had ordained. Neither 

 weights nor measures are here described particularly; but the subsequent statutes 

 define them more plainly. And the Chronicon Pretiosum tell us, that from his- 

 torians it appears the Conqueror determined what the weight of the sterling 

 penny, or penny-weight should be, to weigh 32 grains dry wheat. Conse- 

 quently the standard penny-weight was made equal to the weight of 32 grains of 

 wheat. Succeeding kings confirmed William's charter; and even the great 

 charter granted by king John is only to explain and restore the ancient laws, 

 which had been infringed. The statutes of 51st of Henry iii, and 31st of Ed- 

 ward I, explain the ancient weights and measures; that is to say, the English 

 penny called a sterling, round without clipping, was to weight 32 grains dry 

 wheat, taken from midst of the ear, and 20 of those penny-weights were to make 

 an ounce, and 12 ounces a pound; and 8 of those pounds were to be a gallon 



