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1864.] 



Literary Intelligence* 



201 



and still more striking is the equality of the respective weights, in 

 two countries so far distant from each other. The author gives two 

 lists of the weight of the ounce (eyrir, pala) in the different states of 

 Europe and India, from which it appears, that although its weight 

 varies somewhat, the variation has almost the same limits in both 

 quarters, which is also true of the ounce in several Mahometan states 

 external to India. 



It is true that the marc of 8 ounces has been in use in most Eu- 

 ropean states since the middle ages : but it must be remarked that it 

 is only employed there for the weighment of gold, silver, and a very 

 limited number of other precious articles, while the pound of J 2 

 ounces is the chief weight for provisions and merchandise. The 

 Scandinavians on the contrary use the marc, eyrir and ertag, for every 

 weighable object ; and the subdivision of the ounce into 3 units of 

 lower value, is met with nowhere but in Scandinavia and India. 



The author has sought for traces of the Scandinavian system in 

 the countries which that people traversed in their emigration from 

 Asia, and through which passed a well-frequented commercial route, 

 by which Eastern and Northern nations communicated, up to the time 

 of the Tartar invasion. The result of these researches is limited to 

 drawing attention to a great number of ingots of silver which were 

 dug up at Kiazan, almost in the centre of Russia ; the weight of these 

 ingots corresponds very closely to that of the ancient marc of the 

 Scandinavians : and at Bokhara, according to Tollendak, an ounce is 

 still in use, the weight of which is almost equal to that of the ancient 

 eyrir. 



As to the origin of this equality in the weights of the North and 

 of India, the author suggests that the system was established by the 

 common ancestors of the Arians of India and of the Northerns. In 

 support of this view, he cites a certain number of articles of civiliza- 

 tion which bear the same names in Scandinavia and India,— and 

 which indicate a degree of civilization which must have absolutely 

 required a system of weights. The emigrants then carried this with 

 ihem ; some to the North, the others to the South. 



H. F. B. 



1 



