Brewing; Wool; and Cheese. 
113 
thorny matter, has issued 20-yen gold pieces showing a ratio 
of 32*347 of silver to gold. The “ Silver Democratic Party ” 
in the United States wear as badge a numeral, 16, indicating 
that if they got the upper hand they would make the ratio 16 to 
1. Thus there is an extreme range of 16*347, more than 2 to 1. 
In India there exists by statute (Act of June 26, 1893) 
a mythical gold rupee, but the silver rupee remains unlimited 
legal tender. Thus, as Mr. Norman points out, India has no 
standard, neither can the ratio of gold to silver be stated ; but 
“ the constant 382*29546 annas, being divided by the price of 
silver of the day in annas, gives the ratio between the metals.” 
Who can wonder that India is the country par excellence of 
small monetary litigation ? 
Brewers appear, at a date which goes back well into the 
middle ages, to have struck upon a scale of 9x2, which is, 
wherever met, the remains of an older system of 9x8. The 
present scale is 9 gallons 1 firkin, 2 firkins 1 kilderkin, 
2 kilderkins 1 barrel, 2 barrels 1 puncheon. Hogshead, butts, 
and tuns do not properly belong to this scale. 
In the sale of wool we have three entirely distinct scales in 
present use. It is well that the sale per pound has already 
superseded the old scales in most places and is gaining ground 
steadily. Nevertheless the old systems are in their own haunts 
living and even robust. The first scale is Scandinavian and 
still rules mostly where the Norsemen came in force : — 
7 lb. = 1 Clove. 
2 Cloves = 1 Stone. 
2 Stones = 1 Tod. 
The word iod simply means a big bush which a bundle of 
28 lb. of wool resembles. The old name of tod for a fox is 
due to his big bash of a tail. Then we have the English 
20 lb. = 1 score, and 12 scores = 1 pack, which still is 
sufficiently correct ; and finally there is the scale of 2 weys = 
1 sack, and 12 sacks = 1 last. The word wey is usually 182 lb. 
I suspect this scale to be Celtic, and, though Professor Skeat 
derives wey from wagen , I look upon the ivey as originally 
rather a measure than a weight. “ Last ” is probably from 
the Celtic luth , strong, and represents the heaviest weight or 
largest measure, the maximum in fact of any given scale. 
There are four weys of cheese — the Common, which is 
250 lb., the Suffolk, 256 lb., the Sussex, 336 lb., and the Essex, 
416 lb. This looks as if the wey was not really understood in 
the purely English east and south-east. 
An ingenious friend at Mark Lane, having remarked that 
the measure was useful because it allowed the use of a box of 
regular size, the writer made inquiry and found that a bin to 
hold one quarter of corn has the following dimensions: — 
YOL. 67. I 
