Water and the vinous liquors, which enter most
into commerce, are so nearly of a weight, that the difference, in
moderate quantities, would be neglected by both buyer and seller;
some of the wines being a little heavier, and some a little lighter,
than water.
Another remarkable correspondence is that between weights and
measures. For 1000 ounces avoirdupois of pure water fill a cubic
foot, with mathematical exactness.
What circumstances of the times, or purposes of barter or
commerce, called for this combination of weights and measures, with
the subjects to be exchanged or purchased, are not now to be
ascertained. But a triple set of exact proportionals representing
weights, measures, and the things to be weighed and measured, and a
relation so integral between weights and solid measures, must have
been the result of design and scientific calculation, and not a mere
coincidence of hazard. It proves that the dry and wet measures, the
heavy and light weights, must have been original parts of the system
they compose -- contrary to the opinion of the committee of 1757,
1758, who thought that the avoirdupois weight was not an ancient
weight of the kingdom, nor ever even a legal weight, but during a
single year of the reign of Henry VIII.
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