Measurement of weight by the “stone” arose from the old custom
farmers had of weighing wool with a stone. Every farmer kept a large
stone at his farm for this purpose. When a dealer came along he
balanced a plank on top of a wall, and put the stone on one end of it
and the bags of wool on the other, until the weights were equal. At
first the stones were of all sorts and sizes and weights, with the
result that dealers who wished to make a living had to be remarkably
knowing in their estimates of them. The many inconveniences involved
by this inequality resulted in all stones being made of a uniform
weight as far as wool was concerned. The weight of a stone of
potatoes, meat, glass, cheese, &c., all differ.
A little boy was reading in his Scottish history an account of the
battle of Bannockburn. He read as follows: “And when the English army
saw the new army on the hill behind, their spirits became damped.”
The teacher asked him what was meant by “damping their spirits,” and
the boy, not comprehending the meaning, simply answered, “Putting
water in their whisky.”