[36] The inch is said to have been originally obtained by putting together three grains of barley.
[37] ‘Capacity’ is a term which cannot be better explained than by its use. When one measure holds more than another, it is said to be more capacious, or to have a greater capacity.
[38] This measure, and those which follow, are used for dry goods only.
[39] Since the publication of the third edition, the heaped measure, which was part of the new system, has been abolished. The following paragraph from the third edition will serve for reference to it:
“The other imperial measure is applied to goods which it is customary to sell by heaped measure, and is as follows:
| 2 gallons | 1 peck |
| 4 pecks | 1 bushel |
| 3 bushels | 1 sack |
| 12 sacks | 1 chaldron. |
The gallon and bushel in this measure hold the same when only just filled, as in the last. The bushel, however, heaped up as directed by the act of parliament, is a little more than one-fourth greater than before.”
[40] Pure water, cleared from foreign substances by distillation, at a temperature of 62° Fahr.
[41] It is more common to divide the ounce into four quarters than into sixteen drams.
[42] The English pound is generally called a pound sterling, which distinguishes it from the weight called a pound, and also from foreign coins.