Elementary arithmetic, with brief notices of its history... by Robert Potts.

20

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

it was ordered that a new standard Troy pound shall be made bearing
the same proportion to the weight of a cubic inch of distilled water as
the said standard pound Troy.
It is also ordered that the imperial gallon shall be the only standard
unit or measure of capacity, as well for liquids as for dry goods, which
are measured like liquids and not heaped, and that from this measure
all other measures shall be derived. That the imperial gallon shall
contain ten pounds Avoirdupois weight of distilled water, weighed in
air, at the temperature of 62~ of Fahrenheit's thermometer, the
barometer being at 30 inches. That a measure shall be made of brass,
of such contents, and shall be the imperial standard gallon measure,
and that all other measures shall be taken as parts or multiples, or
certain proportions of the imperial gallon; that the quart shall be the
fourth part of such gallon, and a pint shall be one-eighth of such
gallon, and that two gallons shall be a peck, and eight gallons a
bushel, and eight bushels a quarter of corn or other dry goods not
measured by heaped measure. And in using these measures, the
goods measured shall be stricken with a round stick or roller, straight,
and of the same diameter from end to end.
And further for heaped measure the standard measure shall be the
bushel containing eighty pounds Avoirdupois of water distilled, being
made round with a plane and even bottom, and being 19~ inches from
outside to outside. And in using such bushel, the goods shall be
duly heaped up in the form of a cone, of the height of six inches, and
the outside rim of the bushel shall be the extremity of the base of the
cone; and that three bushels shall be a sack, and that twelve such
sacks shall be a chaldron.
When heaped measure is used, it is declared that the bushel being
in form cylindrical, and having a diameter not less than double the
depth, shall contain 80 pounds Avoirdupois. It further orders that
the goods measured shall be heaped in the form of a cone, the height
of which shall be at least three-fourths of the depth of the measure,
and the outside rim of the bushel shall be the circumference of the
base of the cone.
The Act also provides that the straight line between the centres
of the two points in the gold studs in the straight brass rod made
by Mr. Bird, whereon the words and figures " standard yard, 1760,"
are engraved, shall be the imperial standard yard, or unit of length
from which all other measures of extension whatsoever, whether lineal,
superficial, or solid, shall be derived; and that all other measures
of length shall be taken in parts or multiples, or certain proportions
of the said standard yard; and that one-third part of this yard shall
be a foot, and the twelfth part of such foot shall be an inch; also that
the pole or perch shall contain 5~ such yards; the furlong, 220; and
the mile, 1760. And further that all superficial measure shall be regulated by this yard, or by certain parts, multiples or proportions thereof,
and that the acre of land shall contain 4840 square yards, being 160
square perches, poles, or rods. The Act provides, in case of the standard
yard being lost or injured, that it shall be restored by means of the
length of the seconds pendulum, as recommended by the Commissioners and the Select Committee.
In the same year 1824, a standard yard and a standard pound
weight were, according to the Act, made and deposited in the House
of Commons. At the burning of the Houses of Parliament in