Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/495

 9«-s. vi. NOV. a*, i9oo.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 411 kr^^v There is no doubt that the chaldron was the measure corresponding to a ton of heav wheat, 62J Ib. to the Winchester bushel; and curiously, it would be so now in Canada anc the United States since the reduction there of the ton to 20 centals. But in England the raising of the hundredweight from 100 Ib. to 112lb.—a change which probably occurret early in Edward III.'s reign, if not before- necessitated the raising of the chaldron so that it should continue to be a ton-measure of wheat. So it became by law 36 bushels which at 62 Ib. gave only 8 Ib. short of the now ton. The Quarter was left behind, ai least as an aliquot part of the chaldron, anc the wev seems to have tried to take the place of the latter as 5 quarters. I venture to sug- gest that the wey was one of the kings measures that were unpopular. Certainly the wool wey was part of the system which de- prived the people of their 16 Ib. stone, only leaving its hair, the present butcher's stone, and substituted the objectionable 14 Ib. stone and 7 Ib. nail, not multiples of the pound, but fractions of the new hundredweight. An effort was made by the mercantile community to preserve the chaldron by raising the Quarter to 9 bushels. The statute book gives the story—how in 1391 it was ordained "that 8 bushels striked should make the quarter of corn, nevertheless that divers people will not buy but of 9 bushels for the quarter "; how in 1413 the London practice was again made illegal, " using a measure called the Faat in which after the seller has put 8 bushels he is made to put another, making the quarter of 9 bushels"; how again, in 1432, penalties were repeated against "the use of the Faat in London whereby they make sellers give 9 bushels to the Quarter "(see 'Fat," H.E.D.'). Foiled in the long attempt to raise the Quarter, people strove to raise the bushel. Worlidge gives the bushel as being of ten = 9 gallons = 70 Ib. wheat; and to this day a bushel of wheat in some markets is 70 Ib., exactly one- eighth of the long quarter, which is a fourth both of a chaldron of 36 bushels and of a ton. I may observe that the Quarter has, in another name at least, a history of its own. It is the old English seam = "& seam of corn, 8 bushels " (Worlidge). And the seam, a name older than that of the quarter, is probably the salma, or load, still extant in Sicily as a measure equal to 7'6 bushels. EDWARD NICHOLSON. 1, Huskisson Street, Liverpool. PAOINATION (9th S. vi. 147, 258,373).—Your correspondent MR. RICHARD HEnwiixr. would appear not to be aware of tbb fact that the double pagination of books is not mere arbitrary arrangement, but that there are serious practical difficulties in the way of its abolition. In the case of nearly all books of solid and serious information, the preface, table of contents, and other "preliminary matter " are the last parts of the MS. to be prepared. It frequently happens that for lack of type, economy of timo, or other reasons, a con- siderable portion of the text is worked off before these are ready, and it would be im- possible to forecast how many pages to leave for them. Even if this number were accu- rately known beforehand, unless it amounted to 16, 32, Ac., it would throw out the pagination of the " signatures " throughout the book and lead to endless confusion. Again, your correspondent appears to sup- pose that folio, quarto, octavo, &c., indicate a size. This is, strictly speaking, not the case. The size of the book is indicated by the old-fashioned names of the sheets of paper—royal, demy, crown, foolscap, &c. These have become so confused by new names and intermediate sizes that to abandon them in favour of some other and more accurate description is a desirable change, but I think most bibliophiles would prefer to retain the words folio, quarto, octavo, &c., which describe the manner in which the sheet (of whatever size) is folded. JOHN MURRAY. 50, Albenmrle Street. SIR JEREMIAH MURDEN, SHERIFF OF LON- DON, 1725-6 (9th S. v-i.369).—He died 27 March, and was buried 4 April, 1726, at Richmond, co. Surrey. Will registered in C.P.C., 70 Ply- mouth. He had married, 30 December, 1714 'being then of St. Augustine's, London), at Lee, co. Kent, Mary, sister of Sir Robert Bayliss, Lord Mayor 1728-9. She died about 1741, without issue. Administration granted 19 January, 1741/2, to the said Robert, her Brother and next of kin. O. E. C. " LANTED ALE " (9th S. vi. 367).—I remember dirty things, were recommended for the cure of jaundice. Urine must have been ised for medicinal purposes for centuries, in a curious treatise on medicine and surgery, written by John Woodall, "Surgeon of His klaiesties Hospitall of S1 Bartnolomewes," mblished by Nicholas Bourne, London, 1039, here is given a list of drugs and other sub- tances with their characters (symbols), and, description of their various properties and ises. Concerning urina the author says : ' Men's urine and children's urine, it is coin-
 * he time when this mixture, and many other