MINISTRY OF STANDARD OFFICIATION |
| DIRECTOR Dorcas O'Toole |
ABOUT
If we consider this Bushel as previously ascertained, we may derive from it the linear measure of an inch, by the Statute of William 3, which declares the Winchester Bushel to be round, with a plain bottom, 181 inches wide throughout, and eight inches deep; hence its contents must be 2150.42 cubic inches, and a gallon dry measure 268.8; while by an Act of the next reign, a wine gallon is declared to be a cylinder, seven inches in diameter, and six deep, or 231 cubic inches; containing, more correctly, 230.91.
In several late Acts of Parliament 272^ cubic inches are mentioned as the content of a Winchester gallon, making 2,178 in a bushel.
Among the derivative Measures we may notice the Water Measure of fruit, which is simply a heaped bushel; and the coal bushel, which contains a Winchester Bushel and a quart of water, the coals being also heaped in the form of a cone. But all contracts for coals, above five chaldrons, in London and Westminster, are to be understood as relating to Pool measure, with an ingrain of one chaldron in twenty, " according to the ancient custom of the port." The heap must be at least six inches in height, and its base 19 £ in diameter.
We find in several Statutes a comparison of these Standards with others of a different origin ; thus, in an Act of Elizabeth, twenty-eight gallons of old standard are said to be about thirty-two gallons wine measure; whence the old gallon must have contained 264 cubic inches, or a little less than the Winchester gallon, if the wine gallon contained 231 ; or rather, since the Standard gallon of Elizabeth, in the Exchequer, actually contains 271 cubic inches, the wine gallon of that day must have contained 237. From a Statute of George i, it appears that a Scotch pint is equal to exactly 103 cubic inches.
Other Weights and Measures are still employed without any precise reference to a more authentic standard. Haverdupois weight is to be used for wool; and in 1532, the Haverdupois pound of beef and pork was to be sold for one halfpenny, of mutton and veal for three farthings, or less. Under Edward I, a pound of money was twenty shillings, of all other things twenty-five. Plate of all kinds is to be sold by Troy weight, under a heavy penalty. In Scotland, lint-seed and hemp-seed are to be measured by " the Linlithgow barley measure streaked," which is to be marked by a dean of guild. A pound of raw silk is 24 ounces.