Thanks Bob, In depth as usual!
Of course, the British have been sporadic in their adoption of the metric system much the US, but the first mention of metric adoption in the British Parliament was in 1790. Legislation regarding adoption was passed in 1863, and again in 1864 out of which the Metric Weights and Measures Act 1864 was borne. It has taken until this year for the conversion to be practically complete. Through all of this I think you will find the British spelling to be litre, metre etc. Who would have thought that such a banal subject could be interesting! That is all from me on the subject, I hope. Ivan. -----Original Message----- From: Tai-Pan [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, 5 November 2001 9:29 p.m. To: [email protected] Subject: CS>That Liter thing Hi Ivan and Reid and listers, Always love the conversions we have to suffer through. Liter, Litre, Litra, all are used interchangeably by many people who really don't care to be precise about things. We can start with the Ancient Greek to the Medieval Latin (litra) to the French (litre) to the English (liter) and the American adoption of the English usage, the liter. (English meaning the British) . The litre is the basic unit of capacity in the metric system originated by the French. The English did not use the metric system until much later, same with the Americans. The Continent used the French System and the English and their colonies used a common English system. Back in those days the metric system was never called the metric system, it was always referred to as the "French System". The word metric had not been originated yet. Anyone using the metric system today should say "litre", anyone using the English system should say "liter". Its really simple. Gallons, quarts, pints, etc. are units of weight, not volume or capacity. By the Act of Parliament in 1824 the standard measure for all sorts of liquids, corn, and other dry goods was declared to be the "Imperial Gallon". The Imperial Gallon contained ten pounds avoirdupois of distilled water, weighed in air at the temperature of 62 degrees Fahrenheit, the barometer being at 30 inches of mercury. The pound avoirdupois contains 7,000 troy grains, and it is declared that a cubic inch of distilled water weighs 252.458 grains. Hence the Imperial Gallon contains 277.274 cubic inches. This is subdivided into pints and quarts and also multiples of the gallon as pecks, bushels, and quarters. (all units of weight). Prior to 1824 the gallon was called the Queen Anne Gallon, its weight was 8 pounds of distilled water. The Queen Anne Gallon was in use by the American colonies and continued in use as the American gallon after separation from Britain. As a rule of thumb we say the Imperial Gallon is 20% larger than the American gallon. Since the Imperial Gallon was 277.274 cubic inches and the Queen Anne gallon was 231 cubic inches, we find that the Imperial pint weighed 1.25 pounds and the Queen Anne pint weighed one (1) pound. Hence the old saying of "a pints a pound" being in use prior to 1824 with the Queen Anne gallon and continuing with the American gallon. The litre is 0.22 of the Imperial Gallon, or we may say, in metric units, that it is one kilogram of distilled water at 4 degrees C. at 760 millimeters of mercury. While the French System was in use on the continent, the English (and the colonies) were using the Avoirdupois, Troy, and Apothecaries Systems of measure. Avoirdupois is from the French avoir-de-pois, meaning "goods of weight". (common goods). Troy was used for the weight of precious metals and stones. (Jewelers). Apothecaries was used for the weights of drugs and herbs. (medical). We usually use fluid oz when speaking of CS, American fluid oz's. Under avoirdupois a pound is 16 ounces or 7,000 grains. Under Troy a pound is 12 ounces or 5,760 grains. Under apothecaries the pound is 12 ounces or 5,760 grains. Under US liquid measure (Queen Anne) we would use the "gill" which is 4 fluid ounces (7.218 cubic inches), or 118.291 milliliter. Under British Imperial liquid and dry measure the gill is 5 fluid ounces, 8.669 cubic inches, or 142.066 cubic centimeters. The American fluid ounce is 1.804 cubic inches. The British fluid ounce is 1.339 cubic inches. Enough of this, it could go on and on. Have a nice week. :-) Bless you, Bob Lee -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -or- [email protected] with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
