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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 sub-multiples of" Annas" 

 or lGths of Seers. IV. For Measure of Capacity, a " Seer-mea- 

 sure" identical with the English Quart, and denned 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 



