MEASUR E. 
and that of 1814 differ from each other, is the denomina¬ 
tion of the weight recommended for a ftandard. The troy- 
pound has been hitherto the ftandard by which other 
weights have been adjufted : and it was recommended to 
be continued fo by the committee of weights and meafures 
of 1758, for the following important reafons: “Becaufe it 
is the weight bell known to our laws, ar.d that which has 
been longeft in ufe 5 that by which our coins are weighed ; 
and which is beft known to the reft of the world; that to 
which our learned countrymen have referred in comparing 
ancient and modern weights; and that which has been 
divided into the fmalleft proportions or parts.” The com¬ 
mittee in 1814 recommended the avoirdupois for the ftan¬ 
dard, (except for goldfmiths and apothecaries,) for this 
rehfon—“ Becaufe a cubic foot of water weighs 1000 
ounces avoirdupois.” This weight however, as well as 
that of the gallon, might be, with equal accuracy, ex- 
preffed in troy-weight; and then perhaps there would 
need no exceptions to the general rule. 
Be this as it may, a bill, founded upon the above Report 
and Refolutions, was brought into the houfe of commons 
in the year 1815, in order to eftablifn an uniformity of 
weights and meafures throughout England and Scotland. 
The principal objeft of this bill was to abolifh all the 
pref'ent meafures of capacity, that is, all liquid and dry 
meafures, and to adopt one uniform meafure throughout 
the realm in their ftead, to be afcertained by weight inftead 
of meafurement, as heretofore; thus the weight of lolb. 
avoirdupois of pure water, at the temperature of 56-^°, 
to be the new gallon, and all its divifions and multiples 
to be in proportion. No alteration was intended to take 
place in the weights or long meafure ; for the latter, the 
pref'ent parliamentary yard to be retained ; to be correfted, 
if ever neceffary, by the length of the pendulum vibrating 
feconds of mean time in the latitude of London. The 
ftandard weight to be the lb. avoirdupois, to be occafion- 
ally adjufted by meafures of pure water of the aforefaid 
temperature, being equal in weight to 27-648 cubic inches. 
The bill had proceeded fo far, that the blanks were filled 
up, and the enaftments were to take effeft on the 24th 
June, 1816. The bill, however, did not pafs, owing to 
the great preffure of other very important bufinefs ; but, 
as it will probably be revived in the enfuing fefiion, and 
may foon become a part of the law of the land, we have 
thought fit to explain the grounds of it as fully as pof- 
fible. We (hall probably have occafion to refume the 
fubject under the article Standard, or that of Weight. 
One aft, however, did pafs during that fefiion, founded 
upon the 19th Refolution. It is entitled “ An Aft for 
the more effectual Prevention of the Ufe of falfe and de¬ 
ficient MeafLres ,” extending the provifions of the afts 
therein mentioned to meafures as well as weights. The 
following is an abftraft of it:—Juftices may appoint pro¬ 
per perfonsto examine meafures within their feveral divi¬ 
fions.—Examiners, duly appointed, may enter (hops, &c. 
in fearch of falfe meafures, and feize the fame.—Penalty 
on perfons obftrufting or refifting any examiner of mea¬ 
fures, or not producing their meafures for examination.— 
Examiners to be allowed a reafonable recompence for their 
trouble.—Juftices to purchafe proper meafures for the ufe 
of their refpeftive counties, &c, to be depolited with the 
clerks of the peace.—Majority of inhabitants of any pa- 
rifh, &c. empowered to nominate five houfeholders as 
examiners.—No appointment of fuch examiners to take 
place, until proper meafures are procured by the inhabi¬ 
tants.—Perfons convifted and fuffering for the fame, not 
to be otherwife puniftiable.—Bodies politic, &c. to have 
the fame power of examining, See. meafures, as formerly. 
55 Geo. III. c. 43.—Many conviftions have taken place 
under this aft, particularly in November laft at Hull. 
Meafures are various, according to the various kinds 
and dimenfions of the things mealured. Hence arife lineal 
or longitudinal meafures, for lines or lengths; fquare mea¬ 
fures, for areas or fuperficies; and folid or cubic meafures, 
Voi.. XIV. No. 99*. 
597 
for bodies and their capacities; all which again are very 
different in different countries and in different ages, and 
even many of them for different commodities. Whence 
arife other divifions, of ancient and modern meafures, 
domeftic and foreign ones, &c. Tables of the English 
meafures, and weights alfo, have been given under the 
article Arithmetic, vol. ii. p.166, 7. Other meafures, 
ancient and modern, we {hall divide (except the new 
French meafures, which it will be neceffary to prefent in 
one view) into Long, Square, Liquid, and Dry. 
I. Long Measures, or Meafures of Application. 
The Scots elwand was effablilhed by king David I. and 
divided into 37 inches. The ffandard is kept in the coun¬ 
cil-chamber of Edinburgh ; and, being compared with the 
English yard, is found to meafure 37J- inches; and there¬ 
fore the Scots inch and foot are larger than the Englilh, 
in the proportion of i 3 o to 185; but this difference, being- 
fo incoflfiderable, is feldom attended to in praftice. The 
Scots ell, though forbidden by law, is ftill ufed for mea- 
furing fome coarfe commodities, and is the foundation of 
the land-jneafure of Scotland. 
Phe French ftandard was formerly the aune or ell, con¬ 
taining 3 Paris feet, 7 inches 8 lines, or 1 yard |-Englith; 
the Paris foot royal exceeding the Englifh by parts. 
This ell was divided two ways; viz. into halves, thirds* 
fixths, and twelfths; and into quarters, half-quarters, ami 
lixteenths. 
The difference and infinite variety of the weights and 
meafures throughout all the provinces of France had en¬ 
gaged the attention of mathematicians long before the 
sera of the revolution. Before that great event, they had 
made known their intention of introducing a methodical, 
uniform, and invariable, fyftem of weights and meafures, 
which ftiould be found equally ufeful in national tranfac- 
tions, and in foreign commerce; rendering the commu¬ 
nication, at home and abroad more eafy, by removing the 
inconvenience and difad vantages that arofe from thecon- 
fuiion and variety, which, in that refpeft, had hitherto 
prevailed over the whole country. It was, therefore, a 
happy thought to fettle a weight takenffrom nature, fin- 
gular in its kind, and applicable to all others : a metre , 
for the meafurement of lengths, fuperficies, and all dimen¬ 
fions of bodies ; and by this metre to fettle a gramme , or 
common weight. What added to the merit of this idea 
was the connecting it with decimal divifions. By fuch a 
progreffion, notwithffanding the numerous difficulties at¬ 
tending it, this noble idea, which had been generally con- 
fidered as an idle fpeculation, became actually realized in 
France." 
The revolution in France promoted this plan of a total 
change of weights and meafures, which had been thought 
of under the ancient government, and which, from the 
nature of its conftitution, had been delayed in its exe¬ 
cution, if not totally laid afide. So long fince as the year 
1790, the members of the academy of fciences, in con¬ 
junction with feveral deputies of the national convention, 
had laboured upon and almoft completed this plan. 
The firft objeft was to fix upon a ftandard of length ; 
from thence to deduce the meafures of all the other kinds. 
To employ, fays the reporter to the National Inftitiite, 
(June 17, 1799.) as the fundamental unity or ftandard of 
all meafures, a ftandard taken from nature itfelf—a ftand¬ 
ard as unchangeable as the globe vie inherit ; to propoffi 
a metrical fyftem, having all its parts intimately con¬ 
nected, with its multiples and fubdivifions following a 
natural progreffion, which is fiinple, o!*vious, and always 
uniform ; this is a beautiful, grand, and fublime, idea, 
worthy of the prefent enlightened age. This ftandard is 
founded on the balls of the circuit ol the earth being tho 
fourth part of the terreftrial meridian, contained between 
the equator and the north pole. The ten-millionth part 
of this quadrantal arc was adopted to be the lineal mea- 
furing unit, which they called metre, applying it equally 
7 N to 
