JULY — SEPT. 1857.] 
for India. 
193 
already been sfated that the " secv" weight varies in different lo- 
calities, and to substitute a 77| tola weight in these localities, 
would not be more of an innovetion, than substituting a " seer" of 
eighty tolas. 
The *' seer" of 77| tolas would be only 5 grains short of a 
double pound, or two pounds avoirdupois ; that is, it would be 13995 
grains, instead of 14000 ; which would only make a difference of 
l-42lbs in the proposed new Ton of 20001bs, a difference within 
the limits of error in weighyig. It would be advisable perhaps, 
to define the " sjer" legally, as equivalent to two avoirdupois 
pounds ; and it might at the same time be declared that a seer of 
77f tolas weight would not be condemned as short. It is un- 
doubtedly an advantage to have Weights which correspond with 
the coins of the realm, but it nerer could be intended, that testing 
by coins in use, should supersede testing by certified standards. 
The assimilation to coin weight is desirable as a means of readily 
checking irregularities, but in practice no one would be able by 
coins, even if new, to state for certain whether a weight was 80 
tolas, within 5 grains.* The advantage therefore of a coinage equi- 
valent wonld remain, if the " seer" weight were defined as iivo 
pou7ids English. 
The only weak point in the adoption of this " seer," is that 
its sub-multiples could not be so simply arranged as those of the 
80 tola seer, which can so easily be resolved into 80 single tolas. 
The 77f tolas could not be subdivided into single tolas, or even 
into the favourite Native subdivision of 16ths, so as to give an even 
number of tolas ; but this defect (and all systems that can be pro- 
posed will have soms) is more than counterbalanced by other ad- 
vantages. 
I would propose that this seer" be subdivided into 16ths, as 
the present seer is. A division by 16 would be much more acr 
ceptable to the native community than a decimal one, and all clerks 
* The difference between 77| tolas, and 21bs., is only equivalent to l-16th of a 
grain in the rupee, an amount certainly too email to be taken into account wbea 
testing weights by coin in circulation. 
t 
