Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 13, MAT-MIC

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RTeafure.
y IV. Meafures of Capacity for things DRT.
1. ] Eng/ifh dry or corn meafure. The ftandard for
meafuring corn, fait, coals, and other dry goods, in
England, is the Winchefter gallon, which contains
272^ cubic inches. The bufhel contains 8 gallons, or
2178 inches. A cylindrical velfel, ] 8-J inches diame¬
ter, and 8 inches deep, is appointed to be ufed as a
bufhel in levying the malt tax. A veffel of thefe di-
menfions is rather lefs than the Winchefter bulhel of
8 gallons, for it contains only 2150 inches j though
probably there was no difference intended. The deno¬
minations of dry meafure commonly ufed, are given
in the firft of the fubjoined tables. Four quarters corn
make a chaldron, 5 quarters make a wey or load, and
10 quarters make a ton. In meafuring fea coal, 5 pecks
make a buftiel, 9 bufhels make a quarter or vatt, 4
quarters make a chaldron, and 21 chaldrons make a
fcore.
40 feet hewn timber make a load.
50 feet unhewn timber make a load.
32 gallons make a herring barrel.
42 gallons make a falmon barrel.
1 cwt. gunpowder makes a barrel.
256 lbs. foap make a barrel.
10 dozen candles make a barrel.
12 barrels make a laft.
2. ] Scotch dry meafure. There was formerly only
©ne meafure of capacity in Scotland ; and fome com¬
modities wrere heaped, others fruiked, or meafured ex-
afldy to the capacity of the ftandard. The method of
heaping was afterwards forbidden as unequal, and a
larger meafure appointed for fuch commodities as that
cuftom had been extended to.
The wheat firlot, ufed alfo for rye, peafe, beans, fait,
and grafs feeds, contains 21 pints 1 mutchkin, meafured
by the Stirling jug. The barley firlot, ufed alfo for
oats, fruit, and potatoes, contains 31 pints. A differ¬
ent method of regulating the firlot was appointed from
the dimenfions of a cylindrical veffel. The diameter
for both meafures was fixed at 19^ inches, the depth
74 inches for the wheat firlot, and io-§- for the barley
firlot. A ftandard conftruifted by thefe meafures is
rather lefs than when regulated by the pint •, and as it
is difficult to make veffels exacf ly cylindrical, the regu¬
lation by the pint has prevailed, and the other method
gone into difufe.
If the Stirling jug contains loaf inches, the wheat
firlot will contain 2109 inches 5 which is more than 2
per cent, larger than the legal malt bufhel of England,
and about 1 per cent, larger tha» the Winchefter bufhel:
and the barley firlot will contain 3208 inches. The
barley boll is nearly equal to fix legal malt bufhels.
In Stirlingfhire, 17 pecks are reckoned to the boll :
in Invernefsfhire, 18 pecks : in Ayrfhire the boll is the
fame as the Englifh quarter. And the firlots, in many
places, are larger than the Linlithgow ftandard.
3. ] French dr7/, are, ihe litron, bufhel, minot, mine,
feptier, muid, and tun. The litron is divided into two
demilitrons, and four quarter litrons, and contains 36
cuHc inches of Paris. By ordonnance, the litron is
to be three inches and a half high, and three inches
40 lines broad. The litron for fait is larger, and is
divided into two halves, four quarters, eight demi-
quarters, and 16 mefurettes. The French buftiel is
different in different jurifdidtions. At Paris it is di¬
vided into demibufhels) each demibufhel into two
quarts j the quart into two half quarts ; and the half
quart into two litrons : fo that the buftiel contains 16
litrons. By ordonnance the Paris bufhel is to be eight
inches two lines and a half high, and ten inches
broad, or in diameter within-fide. The minot con-
fifts of three bulhels, the mine of two minots or fix
bufhels, the feptier of two mines or 1 2 buihels, and
the muid of 1 2 feptiers or 144 bulhels. The bufhel
of oats is eftimated double that of any other grain j
fo that there go 24 buihels to make the feptier, and
288 to make the muid. It is divided into four pico^
tins, the picotin containing two quarts, or four litrons.
The bufhel for fait is divided into two half bufhels, four
quarters, eight half quarters, and 16 litrons ; four bu¬
fhels make a minot, 16 a feptier, and 192 a muid.
The bufhel for wood is divided into halves, quarters,
and half quarters. Eight bufhels make the minot, 16
a mine j 20 mines or 320 buftiels, the muid. For
plafter, 12 bufhels make a fack, and 36 facks a muid.
For lime, three bufhels make a minot, and 48 minot*
a muid. The minot is by ordonnance to be 11 inches
9 lines high, and 14 inches 8 lines in diameter. The
minot is compofed of three bufhels, or 16 litrons j
four minots make a feptier, and 48 a muid. The
French mine is no real veffel, but an eftimation of fe-
veral others. At Paris the mine contains fix bufhels,
and 24 make the muid 5 at Rouen the mine is four bu¬
fhels *, and at Dieppe 18 mines make a Paris muid.
The feptier differs in different places : at Paris it con¬
tains two mines, or eight bufhels, and 1 2 feptiers the
muid. At Rouen the feptier contains two mines or
12 bufhels. Twelve feptiers make a muid at Rouen
as well as at Paris ; but 12 of the latter are equal to 14
of the former. At Toulon the feptier contains a mine
and a half; three of which mines make the feptier of
Paris. The muid or muy of Paris confifts of 1 2 feptiers j
and is divided into mines, minots, bufhels, &c. That
for oats is double that for other grain, i. e. contains
twice the number of buftiels. At Orleans the muid is
divided into mines, but thofe mines only contain two
Paris feptiers and a half. In fome places they ufe the
tun in lieu of the muid ; particularly at Nantes, where
it contains 10 feptiers of 16 bufhels each, and weighs
between 2200 and 2250 pounds. Three of thefe tuns
make 28 Paris feptiers. At Rochelle, &c. the tun con¬
tains 42 buftiels, and weighs two per cent, lefs than that
of Nantes. At Breft it contains 20 bufhels, is equal
to 10 Paris feptiers, and weighs about 2240 pounds.
See Tun.
4.] Dutch, Swedifh, Polifh, Fruffian, and Mufcovite.
In thefe places, they eftimate their dry things on the
foot of the lafi, left, leth, or lecht; fo called according to
the various pronunciations of the people who ufe it. In
Holland, the laft is equal to 19 Paris feptiers, or 38
Bourdeaux bufhels, and weighs about 4 ^6o pounds j the
laft they divide into 27 mudes, and the mude into four
fcheples. In Poland, the laft is 40 Bourdeaux bufhels,
and weighs about 480c Paris pounds. In Pruffia, the
laft is 133 Paris feptiers. In Sweden and Mufcovy
thev meafure by the great and little laft ; the firft con¬
taining 12 barrels, and the fecond half as many. See
Last,
Meafure.