6. The Imperial Gallon
In 1824 some of our measures were reorganised, and among the changes was the unification of wine and corn measure. The better concordance of capacity with weight by a single gallon containing exactly 10 lb. of water at ordinary temperature has been a great advantage. It has enlarged the decimal capabilities of our system without impairing its convenient and popular series of capacity units. It is indeed an advantage that the slight increase of the corn-gallon now gives a weight of 64 lb. good wheat to the bushel, so that the pint corresponds very exactly to a pound of wheat.
Yet it must be remembered that our brethren of the United States, not usually deemed unprogressive, get on very well with Queen Anne’s wine-gallon and corn-gallon.
The new gallon holds exactly 10 lb. of pure water at 62° or 277·274 cubic inches.
The bushel is of the capacity of 2218·19 cubic inches. It holds 80 lb. of pure water.
The change from the old corn-gallon was very slight, increasing it by only 3 per cent., from 268·8 to 277·27 c.i. (and rather less from the Winchester gallon of 270 c.i.), so that the bushel formerly holding 62-1/2 lb. of wheat now holds 64 lb.
Wine-measure was increased by almost exactly 20 per cent., from 231 c.i. to 277·27 c.i., so that a gallon of wine is contained in 6 customary bottles, instead of 5 as formerly, or as at present in the United States.
Bushel measures are of two shapes: the drum-shape, 15 inches diameter by 12-2/4 inches deep, and the standard shape (that of the old corn-measure), 18-1/2 inches diameter by 8-1/4 inches deep.
Nothing has been changed in the excellent octonary series of measures, pint, gallon, bushel, quarter (eight of the first making one of the second and so on), with binary sub-units—some of them general, as the quart; others local, as the coomb; and some more or less obsolete, as the tuffet, famous in nursery rhyme.
Measures of Capacity
| 2 Noggins | 1 Gill | (In the South 4 gills to a pint) | ||
| 2 Gills | 1 Pint | 20 oz. water | 1 lb. wheat | |
| 2 Pints | 1 Quart | ⎫ | ||
| 2 Quarts | 1 Pottle | ⎬ 8 | ||
| 2 Pottles | 1 Gallon | ⎭ | 10 lb. water | 8 lb. wheat |
| 2 Gallons | 1 Peck | ⎫ | 16 lb. wheat (old stone) | |
| 2 Pecks | 1 Tuffet | ⎬ 8 | ||
| 2 Tuffets | 1 Bushel | ⎭ | 80 lb. water | 62-64 lb. wheat |
| 2 Bushels | 1 Strike | ⎫ | ||
| 2 Strikes | 1 Coomb | ⎬ 8 | 256 lb. wheat (16 old stone) | |
| 2 Coombs | 1 Quarter | ⎭ | 500-512 lb. wheat | |
| 4 Quarters | 1 Corn-ton | 40 cubic feet | ||
These measures can be used for either dry goods or fluids. The smaller measures below a pint are used for fluids.
Fluid Measures
The institution of the Imperial gallon, while increasing corn-measure by 3 per cent., had less effect on Ale-measure. The Ale-pint, being 1/8 of the Ale-gallon of 282 cubic inches, was somewhat larger than the new Imperial pint, holding about 20-1/4 ounces; so the change to the Imperial pint of 20 ounces was practically imperceptible.
The Gill is officially, according to southern custom, a 1/4 pint; but in Lancashire and the north it is a half-pint. The name Gill, like the Jug synonym for Pint, is part of a popular series of names for beer or spirit measures. Jug is the feminine of Jack, with which name Gill is familiarly associated.
| Pint | or | Jug | 20 | ounces | ||
| 1/2 | „ | „ | Gill (in the north) | 10 | „ | |
| 1/4 | „ | „ | Jack (or Noggin) | 5 | „ | |
| 1/8 | „ | „ | Jock (a dram) | 2 | 1/2 | „ |
| 1/16 | „ | „ | Joey | 1 | 1/4 | „ |
The customary capacity of wine-bottles is 1/6 gallon = 26-2/3 ounces. So six customary bottles go to the gallon, and a customary ‘dozen’ of wine or spirits = 2 gallons.
In India the gallon of canteen-spirit, rum or arrack, is reckoned as 48 drams, each 1/8 bottle or 3-1/3 fluid ounces.