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Weights and Measures [no. 4, new series. 
it would be just as easy, and far better on other grounds, to intro- 
duce an English Measure of Capacity at once. 
With reference to the selection I have made of the Quart- 
seer, (in consequence of its closely representing the Native " Seer- 
measure," and also the two pound " Seer-weight,") it may be said 
that in the reform likely to be made in the English Measures, the 
Quart will disappear, as not being a decimal part of a Gallon ; but 
at all events the measure will be a quarter of a Gallon, and render 
an accommodation to English Measures quite feasible. But it is 
not certain that the Quart will be abolished, and it would be pre- 
mature to argue on the supposition. 
The Metrical System then that I would propose for India, as com- 
bining more decidedly than any other that I can think of, the three 
great objects, viz., assimilation to the English system, approxima- 
tion to the existing Native system, and a means of testing both 
Weight and Measure of Capacity by the coin of the country, is as 
follows : I. For Linear measure, the English yard and foot, without 
at present defining the subdivisions. II. For Land measure, the 
Acre, decimally subdivided. III. For Weight, the Seer, of 21bs. 
avoirdupois, corresponding to 77| Rupees weight ; with a multiple 
of a '* Mun" of 50 seers, (= lOOlbs.) and subrmultiples of " Annas" 
or iGths of Seers. IV. For Measure of Capacity, a " Seer-mea- 
sure" identical with the English Quart, and defined as containing 97 
tolas of Water at a temperature of 84°, (containing when struck, 
about a " Seer-weight" of mixed grain) with a multiple of a * ' Sotee" 
or 100 seers, and sub-multiples of " atees" or eighths. 
It will be observed that in my proposed arrangement, no at- 
tempt has been made to introduce a Decimal scale ; and to re- 
move the supposition that I have (as many do have) a prejudice 
against a decimal system, I must, at the risk of egotism, explain 
that there are perhaps few unprofessional men who make more use 
of decimals than I do. I have for many years been in the constant 
habit of using the Slide Rule, essentially a decimal instrument, and 
it is more natural to me to write '125 than |. In my official capa- 
city I have urged, and eventually with success, a decimal subdi- 
vision of the Acre in the new Revenue Survey of the Carnatic, and 
