— 7 
inch” of Colorado, as defined by Section 3472, General Stat- 
tes, and which was defined in 1868, is as follows: 
“ Water sold by the inch by any individual or corporation shall be measured as' 
illows, to-wit: Every inch shall be considered equal to an inch square»orifice under 
5-inch pressure, and a 5-inch pressure shall be from the top of the orifice of the box 
utinto the banks of the ditch to the surface of the water; said boxes or any slot o 
perture through which such water shall be measured, shall in all cases be six 
fches perpendicular, inside measurement, except boxes delivering less than twelve 
iches which may be square, with or without slides ; all slides for the same shall 
iove horizontally, and not otherwise; and said box put into the banks of the ditch 
tiall have a descending grade from the water in ditch of not less than one-eight 
f an inch to the foot.” 
But in addition to the variation in use, there is another 
undamental error in the method which long ago being recog- 
lized by the users in Italy caused them to prohibit the use ot 
openings of more than a certain number of oncia. According 
:o this system an opening 6x16, for example, would give.9 
‘inches;” one 6x8 would give 48. One should discharge twice 
is much water as the other. As a matter of fact the one dis¬ 
charges considerably more than twice the other. 1 his is true, 
=ven if the conditions of the head are the same. It was noticed 
by the users of Italy,so that long ago the numberof inches which 
could be drawn through one opening was limited it one ob¬ 
serves the discharges from an opening under good conditions 
the reason will be seen. As the water passes out there is a 
narrowing up of the stream on top and bottom and sides. As 
ordinarily placed, those on the sides are the most noticeable. 
Now the total amount of this narrowing is approximately t le 
same whether the opening is long or short, provided the nead 
is the same. Hence the amount is decreased nearly the same 
in both cases. But relatively, the loss from the smaller one is 
greaterthan from the large one,and the consequence* that the 
large one discharges more than twice as much as the smal er 
one The place where the velocity is the same, with the 
same head, is not at the opening itself, but where the cross- 
section of the issuing stream is the smallest, lo illustrate 
further' Suppose that with the statute inch the contraction 
at each side is one inch; then with the opening six inches 
high, each area loses 12 inches, reducing the effective area o 
the one from 48 to 36 square inches and of the other from 96 
to 84 square inches, and, leaving other considerations ou o 
account, then the ratio between the two is more nearly that 
between 84 and 36, or 2.3, than between 96 and 48. In this 
particular case the larger user receives 2.3 as much as the 
smaller one, though it is considered as only twice as muc . 
This cause is sufficient to make the “ inch differ by more than 
SO per cent. With the indefiniteness of the term as used it is 
difficult to determine a clear idea of the quantity involved. 
