Ancient Linear Measures. 223 



From 12 measurements of old buildings in Ceylon given by Fer- 

 gusson, I deduce a unit of 22*1, which does not fit precisely any 

 known measure, though near the prehistoric one of 22 inches, 

 and an old Assyrian cubit of 21*30 as given by Petrie, but it 

 might possibly fit equally well a hasta or aratni of 16*5 inches. 



Of course a good deal in these matters must depend on the 

 respective dates of the buildings themselves, and in what part of 

 India they are situated. I have been attempting to deal rather 

 with old buildings, prior to the twelfth century ; and the general 

 results appear to indicate a cubit of 19.1 inches, and a hasta of 

 about 16 J inches, very near Mr. Petrie's aratni of about 16*6 to 

 16 '8 inches, and also, I believe, identical with Warren and 

 Conder's latest determination of the old ordinary Hebrew cubit. 



9. Prehistoric Measures of Bronze and Stone Period. — The 

 entire question of prehistoric units, as distinguished from the 

 older and more classical measure units of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, 

 and Rome, requires a more thorough examination than it has yet 

 received. Mr. Petrie, in his " Inductive Petrology _," gives a very 

 common and apparently well-established prehistoric (? Celtic) 

 unit of from 21 '30 to 22*50 as obtained from the ruder stone 

 monuments of France and Britain, etc. ; and for Irish bronze 

 weapons 22*0 (as from 2*20 inch objects probably). The half of 

 this would show a (? foot) measure of about 11*0, too small to 

 agree with the old Koman foot of 11*60 to 11*70 not unfrequent- 

 ly found in Great Britain in connection with old Druidical 

 remains, as even at Stonehenge. This unit, or half unit of 11*0, 

 is, however, by no means, uncommon, and may prove to be of 

 considerable importance. May not this old Aryan foot of about 

 11*0 inches, found in North Europe and elsewhere, prove to be 

 the identical unit which in my first letter I called the North 

 American prehistoric one? On scaling 2 ^ 2 = 11 into twelve 

 equal parts the result is a foot, barely the one eighth of an inch 

 less than my American one, as indicated by the Cincinnati double- 

 scaled measure-tablet. I most unexpectedly came upon this con- 

 clusion from a quite independent investigation of objects from 

 North Europe of the bronze period, described by Evans, Keller, 

 Madsen, and Montelius, as well as from specimens in my own col- 

 lection. It is, therefore, not by any means improbable that there 

 was at a very early period, before the superior civilisation of 



