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XXXI 1. On the Construction of the New Imperial Standard Pound, and its Copies of 
Platinum; and on the Comparison of the Imperial Standard Pound with the 
Kilogramme des Archives. By W. H. Miller, M.A., F.R.S., Professor of 
Mineralogy in the University of Cambridge, 
Received up to p. 895 April 16, — Read April 24, 1856 ; from p. 895 Received June 7, — Read June 12, 1856. 
History of the Standards of English JVeight. 
The earliest legal standard of English weight, of which any very authentic account 
is preserved, is the weight called the pound of the Tower of London. According to 
Folkes*, it was the old pound of the Saxon Moneyers before the Conquest. This 
pound was lighter than the troy pound by three-quarters of an ounce troy, and did 
not very sensibly differ from twelve ounces of the weight still used in the money 
affairs of Germany, and there known by the name of the Cologne weight. It is most 
probable that the pound of the Tower of standard silver was then cut up into 240 
pennies ; whence the weight of the penny will be 22 5 troy grains. The silver 
pennies of the first two kings after the Conquest agree, as near as can be judged, in 
weight and goodness, with the pennies of the Saxon kings their immediate predeces- 
sors. It is therefore reasonable to think that King William introduced no new weight 
into his Mints. Clarke, in his Treatise on the connexion of Roman, Saxon and 
English Coins, p. 97, considers this evident from the words of William I. : ‘ Statuimus 
et praecipirnus, quod habeant per universum regnum mensuras fidelissimas, et signatas ; 
et pondera fidelissima, et signata, sicut boni prsedecessores nostri statuerunt.’ And 
also (p. 152) from one of the Conqueror’s laws, where it is said, that the Saxon shilling 
was four pence (from the time of Athelstane), the preamble of which informs us, 
that these laws were in force during the Confessor’s reign: ‘Ice les meismes, que le 
Reis Edward sun Cosin tint devant lui.’ 
That the Tower pound was lighter than the troy pound by three-quarters of an 
ounce troy, appears by a verdict relating to the coinage dated 30th October, 1527, 
18 Hen. VIII., in the Exchequer, in which are the following words: ‘And whereas 
heretofore the merchaunte paid for coynage of every pounde Towre of fyne gold, 
weighing xi oz. quarter Troye, ii s. vi d. Nowe it is determyned by the King’s 
highness, and his said councelle, that the foresaid pounde Towre shall be no more 
* Table of English Coins, p. 1 . 
