All,
When taking a physics course "some" time ago we breifly discussed the Rod,
Stone, Fortnight system of measurement. (;<)
Jack
> [Original Message]
> From: <Cnowlan@aol.com>
> To: <mmmbob@adelphia.net>; <mg-mmm@Autox.Team.Net>
> Date: 1/12/2005 10:38:44 AM
> Subject: Re: History of Stone Weight
>
> Bob,
>
> I was curious myself so did a bit of "Googling" and came up with the
> following ( cut & paste job)....
>
>
> In techniques for measuring weights, the Babylonians made important
> improvements upon the invention of the balance. Instead of just comparing
the weights
> of two objects, they compared the weight of each object with a set of
stones
> kept just for that purpose. In the ruins of their cities, archaeologists
> have found some of these stones finely shaped and polished. It is
believed that
> these were the world's first weight standards.
> The Babylonians used different stones for weighing different commodities.
In
> modern English history, the same basis has been used for weight
measurements.
> For the horseman, the "stone" weight was 14 pounds. In weighing wool the
> stone was 16 pounds. For the butcher and fishmonger, the stone was 8
pounds. The
> only legal stone weight in the imperial system was 14 pounds.
> The Egyptians and the Greeks used a wheat seed as the smallest unit of
> weight, a standard that was very uniform and accurate for the times. The
grain is
> still in limited use as a standard weight. However, wheat seeds are no
longer
> actually put in the pan of the balance scale. Instead, a weight that is
> practically the same as that of an average grain of wheat is arbitrarily
assigned
> to the grain. The Arabs established a small weight standard for gold,
silver
> and precious stones which very often were a part of trade or barter
deals.
> To weight the small valuable quantities, they used as a weight standard a
> small bean called a karob. This was the origin of the word carat which
jewelers
> still use to express the weight of gems and precious metals.
> In trading between tribes and nations, many of these methods for
measuring
> weights and distances gradually became intermixed, particularly by the
Romans
> who spread this knowledge throughout the known world at that time, also
adding
> some standards of their own. As the Roman soldiers marched, they kept
track
> of the distance they traveled by counting paces. A pace was the distance
> covered from the time one foot touched the ground until that same foot
touched
> the ground again, or the length of a double step.
> Cheers,
> Chris Nowlan
>
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