Board stuff less than an inch thick is commonly reckoned as 1 inch thick, in finding its number of feet. Lumber more than an inch thick is reckoned as if made up of inch boards. Thus, a piece of timber 6 inches thick is reckoned as 6 boards, each 1 inch thick, and of the same length and breadth as the piece. Fifty cubic feet were formerly reckoned a load, or ton, of timber, and it was reckoned that the round timber which, on squaring, would yield 40 cu. ft. was as much of a load, or ton of carriage, as 50 cu. ft. NOTE 3.-A perch of masonry is 243 cu. ft. It is conveniently_represented by a mass 1 rod (16 ft.) long, 1 ft. high, and 13 ft. thick. In estimating the masonry in the walls of buildings, the length outside, or girth, is taken as the length, no allowance being made for corners. A brick which is 8 inches long, 4 broad, and 2 thick, contains 64 cubic inches. A cubic foot of such bricks, piled solid, without cement, contains 27 bricks; with cement, usually about 22 bricks. Five courses of such bricks usually make 1 ft. of height of wall. NOTE 4.-Excavations are usually made by the cubic yard, and that amount of earth is called a load. NOTE 5.-Transportation of light and bulky articles is usually charged by the cubic foot, and that of heavy articles by actual weight. 2. METRIC SOLID, OR CUBIC MEASURE. Art. 219. The standard of solid or cubic measure in the Metric System is the cubic metre. Its multiples and divisions have not received the regular names of the Metric System. (See Art. 209.) It equals 1.308 cu. yd., or 35.316 cu. ft. When the cubic metre is applied to measure the volume of firewood and building timber, it is called the stere, (pronounced stair.) In this case the denominations decastere and decistere are sometimes used. TABLE. Regular scale of values, 1000. Too cubic M. (M3) equals 1 cubic d. m., marked d. m.3 NOTE 1.-It is plain that great volumes can be expressed in cubic decametres, hectometres, kilometres, or myriametres. NUMERATION. 1 Art. 220. In a mixed decimal whose integral part is cubic metres, or steres, the third decimal place must be cubic decimetres, the sixth must be cubic centimetres, and the ninth must be cubic millimetres. It would generally be preferable to read the decimal part as a decimal. 3. MEASURE OF CAPACITY. Art. 221. Capacity is power of containing, or holding. It is volume, considered as space to contain whatever can occupy it. Its measure is, therefore, an application of the measure of volume. ENGLISH AND U. S. MEASURES OF CAPACITY. Art. 222. In reference to their application, measures of capacity are either liquid, or dry. Liquid Measure is measure of the quantity of liquids, or of the vessels which contain them. *Dry Measure is measure of the quantity of solid matter in a somewhat divided state; such as fruit, grain, salt, ashes, coal, lime, &c. 1. COMMON LIQUID MEASURE. 83 NOTE 1.-The standard of liquid measure in the United States is the gallon, whose volume is 231 cubic inches. It is the old English Winchester Wine Gallon. It holds 8.3388 pounds avoirdupois of distilled water at 39 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, when the barometer is at 30 inches. It is called the Winchester Wine Gallon from the fact that the standard measure was kept at Winchester, England. That standard is now abolished in England. Since 1836 the standard of liquid measure in Great Britain has been a gallon, whose volume is 277.274 cubic inches. It holds 10 pounds avoirdupois of distilled water at 62 degrees, Fahrenheit, when the barometer is at 30 inches. It is called the Imperial Gallon. NOTE 2.-Formerly, milk and malt liquors were measured by a gallon containing 282 cubic inches, but this has gone out of use. NOTE 3.-Casks for containing liquids are made of any convenient size, and their contents are gauged, or measured, before sale. The cask now popularly called a barrel has a capacity of about forty gallons, though commonly varying more or less above or below that capacity. So, also, larger casks, which are called hogsheads, pipes, &c., are of almost any desired capacity. The laws of some States define what shall be considered a barrel and hogshead, if contracting parties do not otherwise fix the meaning of those denominations. Such laws generally state the following values:-31 gallons are 1 barrel; 2 barrels, or 63 gallons, are 1 hogshead; 2 hogsheads are 1 pipe; 2 pipes are 1 tun. Practically, these definitions are little regarded. 2. APOTHECARIES' FLUID MEASURE. Art. 223. In compounding medical prescriptions, apothecaries use a subdivision of the Winchester Wine Gallon of 231 cubic inches. NOTE 1.-0. signifies octarius, or one-eighth of a gallon, and cong. is for congius, the Latin for a gallon. NOTE 2.-A number of any denomination in United States liquid measure can be reduced to a like denomination of British liquid measure, (Imperial,) by dividing it by the decimal .83311. NOTE 1.-The standard of dry measure in the United States is the bushel, which contains 2150.42 cubic inches. It is the old English, or Winchester bushel. It is conveniently represented by a cylindrical vessel 18 inches in diameter, and 8 inches deep. It contains 77.627413 pounds avoirdupois of distilled water, at 39.83 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, when the barometer is at 30 inches. NOTE 2.-The present standard of dry measure in Great Britain is the bushel, which contains 2218.192 cubic inches. It holds 8 Imperial gallons, or 80 pounds avoirdupois of distilled water at 62 degrees, Fahrenheit, when the barometer is at 30 inches. It is called the Imperial Bushel. The English gallon is the same in liquid and dry measure. In England, 4 bushels are 1 coomb, and 2 coombs, or 8 bushels, are 1 quarter, so called because, at the English standard weight of a bushel of wheat, which is 70 pounds avoirdupois, 8 bushels are 560 pounds, which is one-quarter of the long ton, 2240 pounds. (See Art. 232, Note 2.) NOTE 3.-The laws of most States define the number of pounds avoirdupois which shall be considered a bushel of various grains, fruits, &c. (See table under Avoirdupois Weight, Art. 232.) COMPARISON OF COMMON DRY AND LIQUID MEASURES. Cubic inches in a Gallon. Quart. Pint. Gill. Bushel. Peck. U. S. Liquid....... 231 U.S. Dry...... 57 287 732 268 67 33 1000 27 34659 8.665 Eng. Dry& Liquid 277 69% 341000 8100% U. S. Bushel....... English Bushel... 4. METRIC MEASURE OF CAPACITY. Art. 225. The standard of the measure of capacity in the Metric System is the litre, (pronounced leet'-er.) It is equal to a cubic decimetre. NOTE 1.-The litre equals 61.02+ cubic inches, or 1.0567 quarts U. S. liquid measure, or 0.908 quarts U. S. dry measure. It con NOTE 2.-The kilolitre is equal to the stere, or cubic metre. tains 264.17 U. S. liquid gallons; the hectolitre 26.417 gallons; the decalitre 2.6417 gallons. The hectolitre contains 2 bushels 3.35 pecks, U. S. dry measure. NOTE 3.—In this measure every decimal figure represents a denomination. IV. MEASURES OF WEIGHT, OR OF FORCE. Art. 226. The weight of any terrestrial quantity of matter is the measured amount of its gravitating force toward the centre of gravity of the Earth. Weight, in its ultimate |