216 Ancient Linear Measures. 



Without a figure or drawing of the tablet, it is not easy to give 

 a very clear description of it ; but it may be stated that the six 

 larger divisions on the left hand are in 'length precisely equal to 

 two Mexicain inches, or ^ of a foot, consequently each equals J of 

 that inch, and that they have attached to them a decimally 

 divided scale of twenty smaller divisions, over and beyond which, 

 at each end, are two more similar small ones, apparently so placed 

 as a mere stop-gap, or for symmetry. On the opposite end are 7 

 larger divisions, each a trifle smaller than those on the other side, 

 in connection with 23 smaller sub-divisions and one over. The 

 first 6 of these 7 are precisely 2 inches, and therefore also J of 

 what I have little doubt had reference to another co-existent unit 

 of measure, which I call the North American prehistoric unit, 

 and which I have likewise found to measure with great exactness 

 several objects, notably several stone tubes, some objects in Squier 

 and Davis' museum at Salisbury and also certain figures given in 

 Abbott's " Primitive Industry " and the Peabody Museum Re- 

 ports, as gorgets, pendants, etc., etc. Of this measure there are 

 as nearly as possible 13 to 12 Mexican, and 11 to 10 English, 

 and 6 to 6J of the smaller or mound inches, while 6J of the larger 

 divisions on this scale are equal to the 6 larger Mexican ones on 

 the opposite or left-hand side of the tablet. This prehistoric inch 

 is intermediate, in fact, between the mound inch, as indicated by 

 the tablet itself, and the Mexican inch. Whether 11 or 12 of 

 these inches made the foot I cannot certainly say, though pro- 

 bably 11. That is, perhaps, a rather unusual multiple; but 5J- 

 inches exactly measure the tablet itself. Mr. Petrie gives 11.66 

 English inches as a Celtic and old Aryan prehistoric unit, also 

 22 inches, and I have found a unit pointing to 33 inches in 

 Polynesia. There can be no reasonable doubt that this tablet 

 was one of measure, and had reference to at least two distinct 

 units of linear measure, used probably by the mound-building 

 workmen. The tablet itself, of course, representing another and 

 different one, the mound-builder's doubtless par excellence, with 

 its own standard or unit inch, does not tally with the two scales 

 referred to, engraved on its upper surface, one of which almost 

 certainly represents the Mexican measure, the equivalent of the 

 so-called Solon's foot. As 7 mound are just equal to 6 Mexican, 

 it is not unlikely that reference was intended to that proportion ; 



