MISCELLANEA ETHNOGRAPHICA. 201 



There are four variations of the "bezmen." Common to all is the wooden 

 beam with marks showing the weight. These marks show first the parts of a pound 

 (quarters or even eighths), then single pounds up to ten. From ten to twenty pounds 

 each mark corresponds to two pounds, from ten to forty the division is into five 

 pounds. Generally the marks end here, forty pounds or a pood being the unit for big 

 weights. To the end of the beam opposite to the marks a hook is fixed , to which the 

 goods to be weighed are tied. The difference is in the way the beam is suspended. 

 The different types may be numbered i, 2, 3. No. 1 is of the simplest form. Both 

 ends of the beam have the same weights so that only a little less than one-half of the 

 beam (for we have also to count in the weight of the hook) can be used for the marks. 

 To get rid of this inconvenience a constant weight is fixed to the marks-end of the 

 beam, thus allowing to suspend it not in the middle as in No. 1, but near the hook- 

 end (No. 2). Often this weight is not suspended but melted into the beam, thus per- 

 mitting considerable fraud (No. 3). 



The second type is of the steelyard class ; it is called ( c kanter. ' ' The sling from 

 which the beam is suspended and the different weights are shown by a permanent 

 weight which moves from mark to mark. This instrument is chiefly used to weigh 

 big quantities of substances like fodder, straw, etc. 



Note on the Elementary Mechanics of Balances and Steelyards. By H. G. Graves. 



The simplest weighing device consists of a plank centrally supported like a see- 

 saw and bearing the weight and the article to be weighed at its opposite ends. If the 

 weights are equal in amount and at equal distances from the ends, the seesaw will 

 balance. If they are unequal, there will also be a balance if they are placed at 

 different distances from the centre in such a manner that the distances are inversely 

 proportional to the weights. In other words, if W is the weight, A the article to be 

 weighed, D the distance of the weight from the fulcrum and L that of the article, 



then A : W: : D : I, or AL = WD. 



That is, the weight multiplied by its distance from the fulcrum is equal to the 

 article multiplied by its distance when there is equilibrium, and this statement is 

 true for all levers. 



The seesaw, however, is top heavy with the weights perched on it, so the 

 equilibrium is unstable and the plank will not readily remain horizontal, but tilts over 

 to either side indifferently. Hence it is not easy to see whether the balance of weight 

 has been attained, but this defect may be remedied by suspending the weights under 

 the plank so as to bring the centre of gravity of the system as a whole below the 

 fulcrum which is the centre of support. The beam remains horizontal as long as there 

 is no excess on either side, and the device, figs. 1 and 2, then becomes the ordinary 

 balance, fig. 3, or the steelyard. All this of course is a matter of elementary know- 

 ledge, but it has been set forth at length to show how the formula is derived. 



