Terruy Simpson wrote in USMA 26838:
I suspect it is like the debate about gallons. There was nobody
imposing or enforcing standards from above.
Actualy, England has a long history of legal standards for measures.
It was one of the points that the barons inflicted upon bad King John
in i215. The Winchester gallon dates from the reign of King Henry
VII and bronze containers that held this volume were distrbuted to
the principal cities of England. John Quincy Adams in 1821 advocated
its adoption by the Unied States. The Imperial gallon was adopted by
Britain in 1824. It was defined as the volume of 10 pounds of
distilled water at a temperature of 62�F. (I suspect that this was
the British response to the French metric system. This is the only
factor of 10 in the entire Imperial system of weight and meaures.)
--
Joseph B. Reid
17 Glebe Road West
Toronto M5P 1C8 Telephone 416-486-6071
