IMPERIAL STANDARDS.
The following standards were constructed under the direction of the
Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury, after the destruction of the
former imperial standards in the fire at the Houses of Parliament.
The imperial standard for determining the length of the imperial standard
yard is a solid square bar, thirty-eight inches long, and one inch square
in transverse section, the bar being of bronze or gun-metal; near to each
end a cylindrical hole is sunk (the distance between the centres of the
two holes being thirty-six inches) to the depth of half an inch, at the
bottom of this hole is inserted in a smaller hole a gold plug or pin,
about one tenth of an inch in diameter, and upon the surface of this pin
there are cut three fine lines at intervals of about the one hundredth
part of an inch transverse to the axis of the bar, and two lines at nearly
the same interval parallel to the axis of the bar; the measure of length
of the imperial standard yard is given by the interval between the middle
transversal line at one end and the middle transversal line at the other
end, the part of each line which is employed being the point midway
between the longitudinal lines; and the said points are in this Act
referred to as the centres of the said gold plugs or pins; and such bar is
marked “copper 16 oz., tin 2-1/2, zinc 1. Mr Baily’s metal. No 1 standard
yard at 62°·30 Fahrenheit. Cast in 1845. Troughton and Simms, London.”
DENOMINATIONS OF STANDARDS OF APOTHECARIES’ WEIGHT
AND MEASURE.
1. _Apothecaries’ Weight._
+------------------------+---------------------------+
| | Weight in grains in terms |
| | of the Imperial Standard |
| Denomination. | Pound which contains |
| | 7000 such grains. |
+------------------------+---------------------------+
|Ounces. 10 ounces. | 4800 |
| 8 ounces | 3840 |
| 6 ounces | 2880 |
| 4 ounces | 1920 |
| 2 ounces | 960 |
| 1 ounce | 480 |
| | |
|Drachms. 4 drachms |} |
| or half |} 240 |
| an ounce |} |
| 2 drachms | 120 |
| 1 drachm | 60 |
| | |
|Scruples. 2 scruples | 40 |
| 1-1/2 scruples|} |
| or half a |} 30 |
| drachm |} |
| | |
| 1 scruple | 20 |
| half a scruple| 10 |
| 6 grains | 6 |
| 5 grains | 5 |
| 4 grains | 4 |
| 3 grains | 3 |
| 2 grains | 2 |
| 1 grain | 1 |
| half a grain | 0·5 |
+------------------------+---------------------------+
2. _Apothecaries’ Measure._
+--------------------------+-----------------------------+
| |Containing the following |
| |weight, of distilled water. |
| Denomination. |Temperature = 62° Fahr. |
| |Barometer = 30 inches. |
| |Imperial Pound = 7000 gr. |
+--------------------------+-----------------------------+
|A fluid ounce and the |} One fluid ounce contains |
| multiples thereof |} 437·5 grains |
| from 1 to 40 fluid |} weight, or 1/160 imperial|
| ounces. |} gallon. |
|Half a fluid ounce |} |
| | |
|A fluid drachm and the |} One fluid drachm |
| multiples thereof |} equals 1/8 fluid |
| from 1 to 16 fluid |} ounce. |
| drachms |} |
|Half a fluid drachm |} |
| | |
|A minim and the |} One minim equals |
| multiples thereof from 1|} 1/60 fluid drachm. |
| to 60 minims |} |
+--------------------------+-----------------------------+
The imperial standard for determining the weight of the imperial standard
pound is of platinum, the form being that of a cylinder nearly 1·35 inch
in height and 1·15 inch in diameter, with a groove or channel round it,
whose middle is about 0·34 inch below the top of the cylinder, for
insertion of the points of the ivory fork by which it is to be lifted; the
edges are carefully rounded off, and such standard pound is marked, P.S.
1844, 1 lb.
The following new and additional denominations of standards of
apothecaries’ weights and measures, were created under the Weights and
Measures Act, by an Order in Council, dated the 14th August, 1879.[269]
[Footnote 269: Published in the ‘London Gazette,’ August, 15th, 1879.]
THIRD SCHEDULE.