possum, id "Ego, autem, quidquid in me est studii, consilii, laboris, ingenii, quidquid auctoritate, fide, constantiâ "omne ad hanc rem conficiendam tibi et populo Romano polliceor et defero." LETTER VII. FALKLAND. 28th June, 1814. MY LORD, Resuming the subject of Weights and Measures, where I broke off at the conclusion of my last letter, I now proceed to submit to your lordship the series of calculations on which it is proposed to found the proportions of the new tables. Premising first, that the pound avoirdupoise, as it now stands, is proposed to be retained under the name of the pound imperial; (or by whatever other designation you may choose to distinguish it ;) and that its drachm is to be subdivided into thirty-two equal parts, to be called grains imperial, each equal to one grain of the largest and heaviest wheat; and 8192 of which will constitute one pound imperial; which grain may also be subdivided again by squaring and cubing &c. as minutely as may be found necessary, in the same perfect series of proportions, for the use of apothecaries, jewellers, and moneyers. Then if 1 Cicero. 15 per Hutton lb.avr. lb. oz. dwts. gr. troy. gr. imp. grain troy. 1 :.8543115234375 16 per Ferguson :: 1 : .8544921875 20 perAcads.Lon. Paris:: 1 : .85498046875 Upon the above proportions, which I believe are as near the truth as the variable weight of corn will allow, have I founded the subdivision of the drachm into grains; which, at the same time that it continues the perfect series of squares and cubes, comes nearer than any weight hitherto found out to the actual weight of the corn; or at least to what it ought to, and may be, on land skilfully cultivated. That the present number of ounces in a pound, and drachms in an ounce, being 16, and therefore each the square of 4, the number of its quarters is incontrovertibly the simplest and best, both for arithmetical abstraction, and commercial practice, I have already ventured to assert; and shall, on the same principle, assume 16lbs. to the stone, 8 stones (or 128 lbs.) to the cwt. and 16 cwt. to the ton, as much more correct divisions of the latter, than the present proportions of 14 lbs. to the stone, and 20 cwt. to the ton. The ton imperial containing only 2048 lbs. avoirdupoise, will also be much nearer to the original ton of 2000 lbs. than that in present use, which weighs 2240: at the same time that it avoids all the irregular divisions, which in both the old and present ton were unavoidable.. In regard to dry measure, I have before observed that in its combinations with weight, as more particularly affecting the sale of corn, the latter (weight) is to be the legal and preponderating standard. If, therefore, we can contrive a bushel, whose solid contents shall be nearly equal to its corresponding weight in the combined table, it may be always so filled or heaped (provided the corn is not of a very inferior and unmarketable quality, and therefore unfit for bread-corn,) as to be made fully equal to the proper standard in point of weight. The great diversity of opinion in different writers on this head, starts many difficulties; but such, as I flatter myself, are nevertheless not insuperable. For instance: In the Philosophical Transactions, the following proportion is given: lb.av. lb. oz. dwt. gr. troy. lbs.im.1bl. lbs. troy. 599 1000 72576 19 From whence, if 1:1 2 11 17 :: 64 77: &c. But according to Greaves, in his origin of weights and measures: 83.3 : 2311, &c. 833 So from the first calculation the imperial bushel weighing 64 lbs. avoirdupoise (or imperial) should contain 2311; cubic inches, and from the second only 1765, The 42669 100000 1000 difference is too great to allow of striking a medium, and the one or the other must be widely erroneous. I am strongly inclined to lean to the latter; because eight stand. ard wine gallons of 231 inches each will constitute a bushel of 1848 cubic inches; and if the gallon is really but 224, then the bushel would contain only 1792. The first of these two last I have, therefore, adopted, and proposed the im perial bushel to contain 1848 cubic inches. But if, on accurate experiment, a measure of pure water weighing exactly 8 avoirdupoise pounds should be found to occupy a greater or lesser space than 231 cubic inches, the solid contents of the gallon may be altered without in the least interfering with the series of weights and measures in the proposed tables; making only the divisions and multiples of the standard measures to correspond in exact proportion of solid contents with the gallon so rectified. The variations between the present and the proposed dry measures are very trifling: indeed there are none, except the abolition of the weigh and last; which are both so absurdly indefinite in their contents that, in some places, five quarters make a weigh, and two weighs a last; whilst in others they reckon ten quarters to the weigh, and twelve weighs to the last, differing as twelve to one: and, surely, the general adoption of the ton, as uniting in its construction both weight and measure, must tend infinitely to the simplification of terms-a quality of the first import in generalizing the utility of our combined table. The more we can reduce the number of different terms in the several measures, so as to make them appear as one in the combined table, so much the stronger will be the impression of its superior utility; and in real practice, so much the easier will it be learned, and the more perfectly retained by the memory. At present, so great is the confusion, and so perplexing the variations of weight and measure between corn and coals, wool and wheat, ale and wine, beer and ale, that I believe very few gentlemen, and not a great many men of business, if taken unprepared, can recollect the whole of them. Upon the same principle of simplification, I shall proceed to unite the different branches of liquid: and from the three present measures for wine, ale, and beer, form one plain and simple system of proportions, raised on the present Winchester wine-pint of 283 cubic inches in solid content, and holding exactly one pound avoirdupoise of pure running water; from whence the gallon of eight pints imperial liquid measure will contain 231 cubic inches, and weigh eight pounds imperial or avoirdupoise. The variations between weight and measure, not only in different liquids, but also in different portions or species of the same liquor, will preclude absolute correspondence in weight and liquid measure: here, therefore, in contradistinction to dry measure, the sclid contents, and not the specified weight, must be the preponderating standard. The following are some of the leading proportions given by the several authors, by which my correspondent weights and measures are corroborated.-viz: A cubic inch of red wine is supposed, in the Philosophical Transactions, to weigh 10 dwts. 11 grains troy. cub.in. red wine. dwts. grs.troy. Therefore 1 : 10 42 100 cub. ins. lbs. oz. dwts. g.troy 224 :: : 8 9 9 6 14100 42 11 100 1 : 10 11 42 100 :: 231 : 10 1 0 And 32 32 Ib oz. dwts. gr.tr. lb.im. lbs. oz. dwts. g.tr. lbs. oz. dwts. g.im Then 1 2 11 17: 1 :: 10 1 0 O : 8 4 11 24 which is the weight of a gallon imperial of red wine, measuring 231 cubic inches. Again; according to Ferguson, the weight of a cubical inch of good brandy, rum or other proof spirits, is 235 grs. troy; from whence we may say→ cub.in. spirits. dwts. gr. troy cub.in.do. As 1 : 9 19 :: 231 lbs. oz. dwt. gr. troy. : 9 5 8 1410 lb. oz. dwt. gr. tr. lb.im. lb. oz. dw. gr. tr. lb. oz. dw. g.im Then, as 1 2 11 17: 1 :: 9 5 8 14 7 12 6 27 being the weight of one gallon imperial of proof spirits, measuring 231 cubic inches. But as it is also allowed that a cubic inch of brandy will acquire 10 grains of additional |