Bruce Barrow wrote in USMA 20220 >Joe, > >You perhaps know, but Han may not, that the "English" units used in the U.S. >are not the British Imperial units, which were adopted in the 19th century, >after U.S. independence. Our English units come mostly by way of Queen >Elizabeth I. Some may have an "Anglo-Saxon" origin, but I think the Roman >influence was greater. After all, those Angles and Saxons were hardly >civilized! :-)
I have been studying "Weight and Measures" in my 11th Edition Encylopaedia Britannica. Various feet and inches were in use in Babylon, Greece, Eritrea, Rome and other countries in Europe. The English foot dates at least as far back as 950. The furlong was a Saxon measure of 220 yards, an accepted length for a furrow plowed by a team of oxen. The mile was originally 5000 feet, or 1000 double paces (counting a pace as the distance between two successive landings of the left foot). To rationalize the measures a bit, Queen Elizabeth lengthened the mile to 8 furlongs. Joseph B.Reid 17 Glebe Road West Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071
