Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 2.djvu/102

 firlot, would fall short of the just quantity, 2 firlots, 2 pecks, and nearly 2 lippies, or 4 per cent.

These very remarkable mistakes must have proceeded from the ignorance or inaccuracy of the persons authorized by parliament to make the calculations, and to determine the exact dimensions of the firlot measure. For suppose a firlot were made of the following dimensions, viz., 20 inches diameter, English measure, at top and bottom, and 7 inches in depth, it would contain 21½ pints (the true wheat and pease firlot) and only of a ¼ gill more.

A firlot of the same diameter as .above, at top and bottom, and 10¼ inches in depth, would contain 31 pints (the true bear and oat firlot) and only 2 gills more: but if, instead of 10¼, it be made 10&#x2155; inches in depth, it will be less than 31 pints, (the true Standard measure) only of a single gill.

By the greater of these firlots were to be measured bear, oats, and malt; by the less wheat, rye, beans, pease, and salt.

According- to the act of parliament in 1618, to which reference -has been made, the Scotch pint contains of the clear running water of Leith three pounds and seven ounces, French troy weight, and this is ordained to be the weight of Scotland; therefore, in the Scotch pound there are 7616 troy grains; and in the Scotch ounce 476 troy grains; and so on proportionally, with regard to the other Scotch weights.

In this way, by the recovery of the standard Stirling pint jug, canons of easy application resulted, for determining the just quantity of the measures, liquid and dry, and also of the weights in Scotland, and therefore of great public utility, by settling disputes and preventing litigation in that part of the empire.

After having obtained the above results by means of the Standard jug, Bit Bryce superintended, at the desire of the magistrates of Edinburgh, the adjustment of the weights and measures, kept by the dean of Guild; and "for his good services to the city." was made a burgess and Guild brother in January, 1754.

Several detached memoirs by Mr Bryce were published by the Royal Society of London; particularly "An account of a Comet observed by him in 1766;" "A new method of measuring the Velocity of the Wind;" "An Experiment to ascertain to what quantity of Water a fall of Snow on the Earth's surface is equal." His observations on the transits of Venus, 6th June, 1761, and 3rd June, 1769, were considered by astronomers as important, in solving the grand problem. In May, 1767, he was consulted by the trustees for procuring surveys of the lines proposed for the canal between the Forth and Clyde, and received their thanks for his remarks, afterwards communicated to them in writing, on Mr Smeaton's first printed report. About this time, he was introduced to Stuart Mackenzie, lord privy seal of Scotland, who, as a lover of the arts and sciences, highly respecting his genius and acquirements, obtained for him soon after, the office of one of his majesty's chaplains in ordinary; and, during the remainder of his life, honoured him with his friendship and patronage.

He planned for that gentleman the elegant observatory at Belmont castle, where also are still to be seen, an instrument contrived by him for ascertaining the magnifying powers of telescopes, and a horizontal marble dial, made with great precision, to indicate the hour, the minute, and every ten seconds. In 1770, his lordship having communicated an account of a phenomenon observed by lord Charles Cavendish, doctor Habberden, and himself, viz., " that a less quantity of rain (by a difference which was considerable) fell into the rain gauges placed on the top of Westminster abbey and an adjoining house, than into those placed below," and for which they found it difficult to account, Mr Bryce sent to his lordship, on the 14th December, an ingenious solution of the fact.