WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4939, 20 January 1877, Page 1 (Supplement)

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

A very interesting lecture was delivered recently at youth Kensington by Mr. Chisholm, the Warden of the Standards, on “ Weights and Measures.” Mr. Scott Hns-ell took the chair, and, in the course of bis opening remarks, pointed out that, if the yard were the ten-thousandth part out, our ships might in some places find themselves twenty-four miles from where they were calculated to bo. According to a report of the lecture published by an English paper Mr. Chisholm commonced with an account of the standards of Egypt, and referred briefly to those of Greece and Rome. The early French standards were also described, and he then went on to speak of the matter with which he is more personally connected —our own standards. Onr English standard units of measures and capacity, and of weight, tho yard, bushel, and pound, have come down to us from tho Saxons, though some modifications of the two last mentioned units have since been made. Tho earliest recorded standard of length in tho country was the yard, or gird, of the Saxon Kings, kept at Winchester. King Edgar is recorded to have decreed, with the consent of his wites or council, that “ the measure of Winchester shall be the standard.” No change was made by the Normans in tbe Saxon system of weights and measures established in England, and by a statute of William the Conqueror it was ordained that “ the measures and weights shall be true and stamped in all parts of the country, as had be'ore been established by law.” ' The only change that appears to have been made at tbe Conquest w s in the custody of the standards, which were transferred from Winchester to the Exchequer at Westminster, where they were placed under the custody of the King’s Chamberlains. The Exchequer itself was a Norman institution, and even up to the present time there may be seen at Rouen the ancient building of the Norman Exchequer, with the inscription upon it “ Le pere de I’Exchequer do Londres.” The English standards of weight and measure were deposited by tbe King's orders in a consecrated building, just as tbe standards of old times in ancient countries were placed in their temples. Together with the Royal treasures, they were placed in the Crypt Chapel of Edward the Confessor in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey, since known ns the Pyx Chapel. This portion' of the old Abbey of Westminster then became vested in the Sovereign, and has ever since been held by the officer who has had charge of the standards. Some of the old standards, which were not required for actual use, remained in the Pyx Chapel up to the time of Mr. Chisholm’s appointment. The office of the King’s Chamberlains, which was a part of the old Exchequer’s office, was not abolished till 1826, when the custody of the standards was transferred to the Auditor of the Exchequer. It was again transferred to the ComptrollerGeneral of the Exchequer in 1834, when the old establishment of the Exchequer was remodelled. In 1866 the Exchequer ceased to be a separate office of the Government, and was amalgamated with the Audit Office. The new office of the Warden of the Standards was created in pursuance of recommendations of the Standard Commission, and to this office the lecturer was appointed in consequence of his long experience as an Exchequer officer, which began before the Chamberlain’s office was abolished. The Exchequer standards became the Board of Trade standards, the new office being placed under the Board of Trade. These standards include also those of coinage, the standard trial plates for testing the gold and silver moneys coined at tho Mint having been entrusted, together with the standards of weights and measures, to the same officer of the King. Certainly from the time of Edward HI., and probably from tbe time of the Conquest, the standard trial plates were always kept in the Pyx Chapel, the custody and keys of which were also transferred to Mr. Chisholm. Ho has preferred to keep the standard trial plates, with tho imperial standards of weights and measures, in the fireproof strong room at his office, ■which has been specially fitted up for their reception. They are kept there in fireproof iron chests. There is every reason to believe that the standard yard of Henry VII., the Winchester copy of which was exhibited, represents accurately the length of the old Anglo-Saxon yard. It does not differ from onr present standard more than one foot differs from another—that is, it is about o’ol inch shorter. The yard and the ell were originally the same measure in this country. From the period of the Conquest down to the reign of Richard 11. the statutes and official documents ‘ were generally in Latin and sometimes in Norman-French, and the yard and ell were used indiscriminately as the same unit of length. The old Englisll.-yard was extended to our later English cloth ell, first by making it only one inch longer.' By Uio statute of Henry VIII., the measure of the cloth yard was declared to be a yard and an inch, or thumb’s breadth. Having thus got this little addition to the yard, the next process was probably to make a cloth yard of 3 7 inches and a head’sbreadth, and by repeating this process to get a cloth ell of 45in. in Queen Elizabeth’s time. Queen Elizabeth’s standard yard of 3Gin. and ell of 45in., both marked on the same bronze bar, were shown. The earliest standard of monetary weight in England was the old pound of the Saxon moneyers in use at the Mint before the Conquest. The only legal standard of this pound of which any account has come down to us was tho Mint pound of the Tower of London, known as the Tower pound. It was of the same weight as the old apothecaries’ or medicinal pound of Germany, and was equal to 5400 of our later troy or imperial grains. In 1842 an ancient weight of 'brass was discovered in the Pyx Chapel that weighed 5409 troy grains, and was evidently an old monetary pound, somewhat increased in weight by oxidation. This pound was the ancient pound sterling of silver, divided into 20 shillings, each into 12 pence or pennyweights. We find that up to tho end of the reign of Edward 111. the weight of all gold and silver articles in the King’s Treasury was expressed in our old Exchequer records in pounds, shillings, and pence, pcus de la Towrc, or pots dorfevres. The pennyweight contained 32 grains, and thus the Tower pound contained 7680 monetary grains, or grains of wheat. The pennyweight was equal to 22), grains, which is the average weight of the Saxon and Norman coined silver pennies. The mark was two-thirds of the Tower pound, and was used for denotiug both the benefit and value of silver under the Norman sovereign. It was equal to 3600 troy, grains,- and did not sensibly differ from the ancient iinit of money weight in Germany, known as the ! Cologne mark. The’Tower pound ceased to be the legal mint weight in 1527 by an Ordinance of 18 Henry VII., enacting that “ The Pound Towre shall be no more used and occupied, but ‘ al manner of gold and sylver shall be wayed by the Pounde Troye, which maketh xii. oz Troyo, which excodith tho Pound Towre in weight iii. quarters of tho oz.’” From this time to tho present our system of coinage and weighing gold and giver has been based on the pound troy. Troy weight had, however, been introduced into England long before the reign of Henry VIII., and was certainly in general use there in the early part of Henry V., being mentioned in tho Act 2 Henry V., cap. 4. It is probablo that it was brought into England from France during the wars, and the English occupation under the Black Prince. Its name has been considered to have been derived from the French town of Troyes, where a celebrated fair was hold. There was certainly a known livre dc Troyes and marc dc Troyes, and tho recorded weight of tho marc de Troyes was very nearly two-thirds of our troy pound. The use of the systems of weights based on tho Tower and the troy pound was confined to the precious metals and drugs. The earliest standard of commercial weight in England was the merchant’s pound— libra mercatoria. It is mentioned in a statute of 51 Henry 111., as a pound of 255. used for all other commodities than tho precious metals and medicines. It consequently was equal to

one-fourth more than tho Tower pound, or to 6750 troy grains. There was also a merchant’s pound, weighing about 7200 troy grains, and was one-third more than the Tower pound, and one-fourth more than the troy pound, which was used in England, and still more in Scotland. The merchant’s pound, whether of 6750 or 7200 troy grains, was superseded in England by the avoirdupois pound of 7000 troy grains, which appears to have been in use as early as the year 1303, as it is recited in a weights and measures statute of that year—the 31st Edward 111. It was probably introduced from France about the same time as the troy pound. The pound avoirdupois was evidently taken from the old French commercial pound of 16 ounces, used at that time in parts of Franco. Our existing Imperial standard pound can be clearly proved to be of the same standard as the avoirdupois pound of Edward 111., and there are good grounds for believing that no substantial difference has occurred in its standard weight, or in that of the troy pound, since these standards ware originally established in this country. The avoirdupois system of weight was legalised in this country by a statute of Henry VIII., which is a curiosity in its way. It run thus :—“ Beef, pork, mutton, and veal shall be sold by weight called haver clu pois. 'No person shall take for a pound of beef or pork above one halt-penny, nor for a pound of mutton or veal above three farthings, and less in those countries where they" are sold for less.” As to our early English standard measures of capacity, it is stated in Magna Charta, “ There shall be throughout our realm one measure of wine, one measure of ale, and one measure of corn.” This would seem to imply that there were three distinct standard measures of capacity. But the only one of which we now have any cognisance is the Winchester corn bushel, of a Capacity of about ~ 150 h cubic inches, together with the Winchester corn gallon of 272.{ : cubic inches, the latter standard of which, constructed by Henry VII., still remains in the Standard Office. A standard ale gallon of 282 cubic inches was added by Queen Elizabeth, and a standard wine gallon of 231 cubic inches by Queen Anne. But all these standard measures of capacity were abolished in 1821, and the new imperial standard gallon, containing 101 b. weight of water, and equal to about 272 i cubic inches, was made the standard of capacity for liquid measures, and the Imperial standard bushel of eight gallons was made the standard for measuring dry commodities. There were shown the Winchester copies of some of our earlier standards of weights and measures. The original standards are in the Standards Office, and are not allowed to be out of the Warden’s own custody. The conclusion of the lecture referred to the standards of Scotland and of Ireland, and to the arrangements for the testing of local standards through the country. Mr. Scott Russell conveyed the thanks of the audience to the lecturer, and expressed a hope that the exhibition and the lectures marked a new era in our history, and that we should have a permanent museum of scientific instruments.