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 Science Networks
Historical Studies
57

Jan Gyllenbok

Encyclopaedia of
Historical Metrology,
Weights,
and Measures
Volume 2
Science Networks. Historical Studies
Science Networks. Historical Studies
Founded by Erwin Hiebert and Hans Wußing
Volume 57

Edited by Eberhard Knobloch and Olivier Darrigol

Editorial Board:

J. Barrow-Green, Milton Keynes J. Peiffer, Paris

U. Bottazzini, Milano W. Purkert, Bonn
K. Chemla, Paris D. Rowe, Mainz
A. Cogliati, Milano Ch. Sasaki, Kasugai
S.S. Demidov, Moskva T. Sauer, Mainz
C. Eckes, Nancy A. Simões, Lisboa
J. Hughes, Manchester V.P. Vizgin, Moskva
R. Kr€omer, Wuppertal

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/4883

Jan Gyllenbok

Encyclopaedia of
Historical Metrology,
Weights, and Measures
Volume 2
Jan Gyllenbok
Lomma, Sweden

ISSN 1421-6329 ISSN 2296-6080 (electronic)

Science Networks. Historical Studies
ISBN 978-3-319-66690-7 ISBN 978-3-319-66691-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66691-4

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017946468

Mathematics Subject Classification (2010): 28A12, 28A75, 91C05, 97F70

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Preface

This second volume of the Encyclopaedia, as well as the third volume,

addresses many of the units of measure used in sovereign states and land
areas in the modern world, roughly 46,000 different measures in total. By
using “modern world” in this context, I normally refer to the era starting with
the Western European countries’ colonization of land areas, mainly in the
Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, during the mid-18th century, and
ending in 2016. But for some Western cultures, such as the Anglo-Saxon
and Germanic peoples, I have been able to track information about units of
measure going back to at least the 800s or 900s.
The principal states are recorded alphabetically. Minor states are noted
within the text with cross-references to the major headings under which their
full entries are to be found.
As the estimated values for the units of measurement often vary consider-
ably from one source to another, I have chosen to mention the sources used
consistently at the head of each section.

Lomma, Sweden Jan Gyllenbok

August 2017

v
Contents

National Systems of Units and Currencies: A–C . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679

National Systems of Units and Currencies: D–G . . . . . . . . . . . . 983
National Systems of Units and Currencies: H–I . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1313

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1545

Volume One
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Systems of Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
A–Z of Scientific and Informal Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Time Measurements and Calendars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Ancient Systems of Weights, Measures and Currencies . . . . . . . 451

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575

Volume Three
National Systems of Units and Currencies: J–S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1649
National Systems of Units and Currencies: T–Z . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2267

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2463

vii
List of Symbols and Abbreviations

! A symbol for the factorial expression, i.e., 8! ¼ 8  7  6  5  4  3 

2  1.
% A symbol for percentage.
* An alternative multiply symbol.
cf. compare
depr. deprecated
D Dutch
Dan Danish
e.g. for example
Fr French
Fin Finnish
G German
Gr Greek
Heb Hebrew
i.e. that is
Imp Imperial
L Latin
N Norwegian
OE Old English
OF Old French
ON Old Norwegian
OS Old Swedish
q.v. which see
Sp Spanish
Swe Swedish
UK United Kingdom
US United States
W Welsh

ix
 National Systems of Units and Currencies:
A–C
This chapter compiles the measurement systems
of sovereign states of the modern world; some
are unrecognised states, others are consistent
areas and there are also many nations that no
longer exist as independent countries.
Conversions to precise metric units are offered
as a rough guide for estimation rather than a
definitive accounting, which would warrant
sophisticated supporting statistical analysis.
The principal states are recorded alphabeti-
cally. Minor states are noted within the text
with cross-references to the major headings
under which their full entries are to be found. A
short history is included of most states and
sub-states. [TURN] has been a most valuable
source for this endeavour, as has [CUHA]. The
listings also indicate the time during which most
countries adopted the metric system. Because
metrication is an evolutionary process that takes
place over time, any attempt to assign a single
year to a country’s conversion is only an approx-
imation. Frequently, both old and new systems
function simultaneously for an indeterminate
amount of time, often for more than one
generation.
The set of entries is followed by a list of the
main sources, articles, books, personal
interviews and correspondences that have been
used for this particular chapter. The most utilized
sources are [BAUE], [DOUR], [ECON],
[GRUN], [GUIL], [KELL4], [KLIM], [KRAE],
€
[KRUG], [MART3], [ROCH], [ROSS], [ROTT],
# Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018
J. Gyllenbok, Encyclopaedia of Historical Metrology, Weights, and Measures, Science Networks.
Historical Studies 57, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66691-4_1
[TECH], [UN55], [UN66], [WAGN2] and
[WASH]. These sources notwithstanding, this is
not only a compilation of data from more than
four hundred different written sources, but also
includes some of my own assumptions, in reac-
tion to instances in which sources have been
contradictory or contained obvious errors.
Below this, you will also find the monetary
systems of most countries, as well as a short
presentation of the evolution of each system.
The most utilized sources for this section have
been [BERL], [BRUC], [CUHA], [CUHA2],
[DUNK], [KAHN], [ROOM], [SNOD] and
[YALC]. Since, according to [TOYN], more
than 650 separate primitive societies have been
categorized by anthropologists, the monetary
systems used in these societies being only
vaguely known, and since the systems used by
the medieval states in Europe and Asia have not
been fully identified, it is difficult to survey and
compile these systems. In addition, a wide range
of pre-metallic monies has been used as mediums
for exchange, e.g., whale-teeth, Yap stones and
cowrie shells, as well as cattle.1
1
The ovoid shells of the cowrie (especially Monetaria
moneta) were commonly used as a medium of exchange
in many areas of Africa, Asia and the Pacific islands until
the early twentieth century. In ancient China, its picto-
graph was adopted in the written language for ‘money.’
Cowries were also traded to Native Americans by
European settlers. The sperm whale’s tooth, also known
as a tambua, was used as money on the Fijian group of
679
680 National Systems of Units and Currencies: A–C

Table sections for systems of weights and 1.1 Currency

measures are usually presented under headings
like “units of quantities,” “units of length,” “units 2008–: 1 Abkhazian apsar (seldom used)
of area,” “units of volume,” “units of dry capac- 1993–: 1 Russian ruble ¼ 100 kopek
ity,” “units of liquid capacity” and “units of
weight.” As far as possible, I sought to present
a simple overview of the units of measurement
generally used in each country, well aware that
2 Abyssinia
the measurement practice of any nation must be
influenced by the customs and practices of its
See Ethiopia.
trading partners. To detail “all” varieties would
certainly occupy a space manifestly dispropor-
tionate to their practical interest, and it is doubt-
ful whether it would provide valuable 3 Achaea
information or simply contribute to greater con-
fusion, causing an even greater number of errors See also Ottoman Empire and Greece.
to occur. The Scottish historians Ian Levitt and Achaea is now the northernmost region of the
Christopher Smout once expressed these Peloponnese. The Principality of Achaea
thoughts: “Any list that gives local or national (1205–1432), at its zenith, covered most of
standards, however comprehensive and carefully Morea and Attica in present Greece. It fell to
compiled, needs to be used with caution, because the Ottoman Empire during the mid-fifteenth
slips are easily made, and because such standards century, was invaded by Venetians during the
could evidently vary in a disconcerting way late sixteenth century, by the Ottoman Empire
depending on the period of history and even on again later, and finally became part of Greece
districts within countries. Weights and measures in 1821.
are a bramble bush full of good fruit, but no one Main source: [KRUG]€
can come away completely unscratched.”

3.1 Units of Dry Capacity

1 Abkhazia
€ p. 326]
For grain in Patras, based on [KRUG,
See also Georgia. Metric
This area is partially recognised as an inde- staro 71.839 or 89.799 L
pendent state. 22=5 or 3 bachel 29.933 L

islands until the mid-nineteenth century. On Yap, an

island in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific
4 Aceh Sultanate
Ocean, stones known as ‘fei’ were used as money until
mid-1960s. Indians in northeastern America used the See also Sumatra.
shells of the clam Venus mercenaria and other similar This Kingdom was located in the north of
bivalves. The shells are mostly white. The scarcer blue-
black shells were usually traded at double the price of the
Sumatra, from the coronation of the first Sultan
white. Last but not least, cows, goats, buffalo, sheep, and in 1496, until the end of the Aceh War in 1903.
camels were used as a primitive money. The cattle were Main sources: [BAUE], [KREE], [MARS],
counted by head, thus quantity was more important than [SNOU], and [SRC]
quality in this respect.
4 Aceh Sultanate 681

4.1 Currency 1 deppo ¼ the span between the extent of the

arms from each extremity of the fingers;
Before 1903 1 etto ¼ the span between the elbow and the tip
tael,
of the fingers;
tayell, 1 cakee ¼ a foot;
or tale 1 janca ¼ a span;
4 pardoh 1 jarree ¼ the breadth of a finger.
or
pardouw
British linked system:
16 4 mas,
meh, or
mace 1 cubit ¼ ½ yd ¼ 457.2 mm.
64 16 4 koepang,
coopang, or
kapeng
25,600 6400 1600 400 cash
4.3 Units of Land Area

1 katòë Atjèh ¼ 12 boengkaj ¼ 192 manjam 1 yō‵ ¼ a piece of land that requires a nalèh
of seed.
In Pidiē:
According to [SNOU], this varied between 1800
1 Spanish dollar ¼ 2 djampaj ¼ 16 goepang ¼ and 3500 m2.
32 boesō´

In Gajōland: 4.4 Units of Capacity

1 Spanish dollar ¼ 2 djampal ¼ 24 koepang toe€o
¼ 40 koepang rĕpe ¼ 48 boesoe´ toe€o ¼
80 boesoe´ rĕpe
The Rejang people estimated the quantity of
most species of dry commodity. During the
early eighteenth century, weights like the pecul
and the cattee were only used along the coast,
and at places that the Malays used to visit.

4.2 Units of Length

The measures of length were originally taken

from the dimensions of the human body:
682 National Systems of Units and Currencies: A–C

Traditional system for peeled and unpeeled raw rice, based on [SNOU]
Metric
kuyana 1098.72
kg
10 gunchab 109.872
kg
80 8 katéng 13.734 kg
or
gaténgc
100 10 1¼ nalèh 10.987 kg
400 40 5 4 pikōj 2.747 kg
800 80 10 8 2 gantang 1.373 kg
1600 160 20 16 4 2 arè 686.7 g
3200 320 40 32 8 4 2 chupà 343.35 g
6400 640 80 64 16 8 4 2 kayd 171.67 g
12,800 1280 160 128 32 16 8 4 2 blakay 85.84 g
25,600 2560 320 256 64 32 16 8 4 2 nië 42.92 g
or
ndië
51,200 5120 640 512 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 put 21.46 g
a
Also reported as koyan
b
Also reported as goentja
c
Sometimes reported as one nalèh
d
Originally meaning a cocoanut shell

Malay-linked system during the late nineteenth century

Metric
Koyan 2240 kg
5 kuncha 448 kg
50 10 nalèh 44.8 kg
800 160 16 gantang 2.8 kg
3200 640 64 4 chupak 1.4 kg

For cereals and liquids during the late nineteenth century

Metric Metric
coyan or 1330.4 kg 1745 L
coyang
10 guncha 133.04 kg 174.5 L
382=21 317=21 maunda 34.923 kg 45.8 L
100 10 25=8 nellie or 13.304 kg 17.45 L
nelli
800 80 21 8 coolab, bamboo, 1.663 kg 2.18 L
or bamboub
1600 160 42 16 2 quarter 831.50 g 1.09 L
3200 320 84 32 4 2 chopa, 415.75 g 545 mL
copa, or
caul
a
[BAUE] reported it as equal to 34.02 kg for rice
b
[BAUE] also reported it as holding 1.662 L of pure water
4 Aceh Sultanate 683

Other measures reported during the nineteenth For gold and silver until the late eighteenth century
century: Metric
marc 246.1 g
1 parah (for salt) ¼ 25 bamboos ¼ 41.55 L; 9 réal or reel 27.34 g
1 gasay ¼ the amount of seed that one hand
can hold. Other measures:

1 loxa or laxar ¼ 10,000 sound betel nuts ¼

about 76.2 kg.
4.5 Units of Weight

Traditional system
Metric
bahar or 192.043 kg
candil
200 catty 960.217 72 g
4000 20 buncal 48.010 886 g
12,800 64 31=5 coyanga 15.003 401 g
20,000 100 5 19=16 taela 9.602 177 g
56,000 280 14 43=8 24=5 pagoda 3.429 349 g
64,000 320 16 5 31=5 11=7 maxan, 3.000 680 g
miam, or
mayon
320,000 1600 80 25 16 55=7 5 mace, 600.14 mg
meh, or
massa
1,280,000 6400 320 100 64 226=7 20 4 coopanga 150.03 mg
a
Usually also used for gold and silver

Traders usually allowed an extra percentage,

Mercantile system, based on [BAUE] often as much as 25%, for unsound nuts.
Metric
bahar 192.064 08 kg
200 catty 960.320 4 g 4.6 Units of Time
4000 20 buncal 48.016 02 g
Some measures of time:
For opium, based on [KREE]
1 sı̀ uròë seupōt ¼ a whole day;
Metric
1 yamam ¼ 2.4 hours;
katòë 648 g
1 tı́khan ueroë or sikjan uròë ¼ about 6 hours;
16 tahé 40.5 g
160 10 tji 4.05 g
1 masa´ bu sinaléh brenëh or matá ´boc tı́nalèh
1600 100 10 mata 405 mg brenëh ¼ the time required to cook a naléh of
rice ¼ about 3 hours;
1 masa´ bu sigantang brenëh ¼ the time
For fine use
required to cook a gantang of rice ¼ about
Metric 1½ hour;
pikōj 64.8 kg 1 masa´ bu sikay brenëh ¼ the time required to
100 katòë Tijnaa 648 g cook a kay (cocoanut shell-full) of rice ¼
a
The weight of 24 Spanish dollars about 30 minutes;
684 National Systems of Units and Currencies: A–C

1 chèh ranub sigapu ¼ the time required to 6.1 Currency

chew a quid of sirih ¼ about 5 minutes;
1 siklèb mata ¼ a moment, or the blink of 1965–1968: 1 South Arabian dinar ¼ 1000 fils
an eye. 1951–1965: 1 East African shilling ¼
100 cents
Some Malay measures used: 1918–1951: 1 Indian rupee ¼ 16 anna ¼
192 pies
1 sěmpat makan rokò sa-batang ¼ the time
required to smoke a cigarette;
1 sà kejap ¼ the blink of an eye.
6.2 Units of Length

British Imperial-linked system

5 Acre
Imperial Metric
qama 5½ ft 1.676 4 m
See also Bolivia and Brazil.
15=6 war or 1 yd 914.4 mm
The area declared its independence, as the yarda
Republic of Acre, from Bolivia in 1899, and 32=3 2 dra or 18 in 457.2 mm
was annexed to Brazil in 1903. dira

6.3 Units of Area

6 Aden
1 fadan, faddan, or dhumd ¼ an area that could
be ploughed by a yoke of oxen in a working
See also Ottoman Empire, United Kingdom and
day of about 8 hours.
South Yemen.
Aden is a seaport, located by the eastern
Traditionally reported as about 4 050 m2, but
approach to the Red Sea. It was used as a harbour
during the twentieth century, reported as 1 acre
by the Kingdom of Awsan during the fifth, sixth
¼ 4 046.856 4 m2.
and seventh centuries BC. The region was
occupied by the Portuguese and then the Otto-
man Empire during the sixteenth century. Later,
it was ruled by the Sultanate of Lahey, until 6.4 Units of Dry Capacity
1838, when it became part of British India. In
1937, it became a British Crown colony. From Dry commodities were generally sold by weight.
1967 to the present, the city has been part of British Imperial-linked system for grain
Yemen.
Imperial Metric
The ancient Arabian systems for weights and
qadah 200 lbs 90.72 kg
measures were used well into medieval times.
4 keilaa 50 lbs 22.68 kg
During the late eighteenth century, many 80 20 qasa 2½ lbs 1.134 kg
measures were linked to the systems used in a
Varied in size from place to place, but according to
British India. [GBCO2, p. 147], the volume enclosing 50 lbs av was
Main sources: [ECON], [GBCO2], [MART3], used most often
[UN55], and [UN66]
6.5 Units of Liquid Capacity
1 qasa ¼ ~2.5 L.
7 Afghanistan [Formerly: Aryana and Khorasan] 685

6.6 Units of Weight 1973. Since the late 1970s, Afghanistan has
experienced a continuous state of civil war,
Traditional system punctuated by foreign occupations.
Metric
jehn 6.248 kg
10 rahn 624.8 g

British Imperial-linked upper scale, based on [UN66]

Imperial Metric
khandi or kandi 672 lbs 304.813 8 kg
39=25 qadah 200 lbs 90.718 4 kg
856=329 2142=329 Imperial maund 82¼ lbs 37.307 942 kg
1311=25 4 1129=200 keilaa 50 lbs 22.679 6 kg
24 71=7 215=16 111=14 frasila or maund 28 lbs 12.700 576 kg
128 382=21 152=3 911=21 51=3 thamin 5¼ lbs 2.381 358 kg
a
For grain

British Imperial-linked lower scale, based on [UN66]

Imperial Metric
thamin 5¼ lbs 2.381 360 kg
21=10 qasa 2½ lbs 1.133 981 kg
253=96 131=144 seer 22=35 lbs 933.103 54 g
5¼ 2½ 22=35 ratl, rattel, or rattle 1 lbs 453.592 37 g
2041=6 972=9 80 388=9 tola 180 gr 11.663 803 8 g
20416=9 9722=9 800 3888=9 10 tia 18 gr 1.166 380 38 g

The traditional systems for weights and

measures were mainly influenced by the Arabic
system. Until the early twentieth century, there
7 Afghanistan [Formerly: Aryana
was no central standard, and each region or city
and Khorasan]
had its own system. The metric system has been
compulsory since 1926.
The area was divided into small states until c.
Main sources: [ECON], [HUNT7], [UN54],
1220. The region was ruled by the Mongol
[UN55], and [UN66]
Emperor (c 1220–thirteenth century), divided
between local Mongol leaders (mid-thirteenth
century–1404), and then became part of the 7.1 Currency
Timurid Empire until 1504. In 1747, the area
was united by Ahmed Shah Abdali. The country
2002–: 1 new afgháni ¼ 100 puli
was, for much of the nineteenth and twentieth
2001–2002: 1 Rabbini afghani ¼ 100 puli
centuries, strongly influenced by Britain, which
1 Dostumi afghani ¼ 100 puli
formally recognised its independence in 1921. In
1 Shah afghani ¼ 100 puli
1926, the emirate became a kingdom, but it fell
1927–2001: 1 afgháni ¼ 100 puli
again in 1929 at the time of the Water Boy’s
?–1927: 1 habibi ¼ 3 tilla ¼ 30 rupees ¼
Revolt. The revolt was put down within the
3000 paise
year by Mohammed Nadir Khan, who became
1881–1927: 1 Kabuli rupee ¼ 2 kran ¼
the new monarch. A republic was established in
3 abbassis ¼ 12 shahis ¼ 60 pice
686 National Systems of Units and Currencies: A–C

–1881: 1 Persian qiran ¼ 20 shahi ¼ 7.3 Units of Area

100 dinar
1 Indian rupee ¼ 16 anna ¼ Traditional system in Kabul
192 pies Metric
1 Russian ruble ¼ 100 kopeks kulba 78 131.5 m2
40 džaríb, 1 953.29 m2
djerib,
gereeb,
jerib, or
7.2 Units of Length jirib
800 20 bisvá 97.66 m2
or
Traditional system, based on [UN54] beswa
Metric 16,000 400 20 bisvása 4.883 m2
side of a 44.183 m or
djerib or beswasa
gereeb 144,000 3600 180 9 gaz 54.258 dm2
2 side of a 22.091 5 m gereeb2
bisvá or or gazi-
beswa jerib2
4½ 2¼ side of a 9.818 4 m
bisvása or
beswasa
Metric-linked system during the twentieth century
Metric
British Imperial-linked system in Kabul kulba 46,000 m2
Imperial Metric 23 džaríb, 2000 m2
djerib,
side of a 1 740 in 44.196 m
gereeb,
džaríb
jerib, or
or
jirib
djerib
460 20 bisvá 100 m2
44=9 side of 391½ in 9.944 1 m
or
a bisvá
beswa
or
beswa 9200 400 20 bisvása 5 m2
or
20 4½ side of a 87 in 2.209 8 m
beswasa
bisvása
or
beswasa

7.4 Units of Dry Capacity

Other reported measures:
Dry commodities were generally measured by
1 arshin (for wool) ¼ 1.120 m; weight.
1 gazi sha ¼ 42 in ¼ 1.066 8 m;
1 arshin (normal) ¼ 1.027 8 m; 1 artaba (for cereals) ¼ 65.238 L.
1 gazi memar ¼ 32 in ¼ 812.8 mm;
1 gazi djerib, gazi gareeb, or gazi jerib ¼ 29 in
¼ 736.6 mm;
1 gereh gaz sha or gazi sha gereh ¼ 16 gazi sha
¼ 25=8 in ¼ 66.675 mm.
7 Afghanistan [Formerly: Aryana and Khorasan] 687

7.5 Units of Weight

Traditional system
Metric
kharvar 447.880 kg
12½ maund 35.830 4 kg
62½ 5 seer 7.166 08 kg
100 8 13=5 man 4.478 8 kg
400 32 62=5 4 oka 1.119 7 kg
4000 320 64 40 10 khord 111.97 g
100,000 8000 1600 1000 250 25 misqual 4.479 g
9,600,000 768,000 153,600 96,000 24,000 2400 96 wheat grain 46.6 mg

In Kabul during the nineteenth century

Metric
kharvar 565.280 kg
16 maund 35.330 kg
80 5 seer 7.066 kg
320 20 4 charak 1.766 5 kg
1280 80 16 4 pao, pau, 441.625 g
paw, or pow
5120 320 64 16 4 khurd, kourd, 110.406 g
or churd
122,880 7680 1536 384 96 24 misqual or 4.600 260 g
methgal
2,949,120 184,320 36,864 9216 2304 576 24 nakhoda 191.678 mg
a
Usually reported as 71/24 grains, but [SIMM] reported it as 259.2 mg

In Kandahar during the nineteenth century

Metric
kharvar 251.25 kg
40 mana 6.90 kg
a
Also reported [RAVE, p. 936] as about 3.5 kg

In Kandahar during the early twentieth century, based on

[HUNT7]
Metric
kharvar 402.4 kg
100 man 4.024 kg
4000 40 seera 100.6 g
8000 80 2 misqal 50.3 g
1 seer ¼ 8 British Indian tola. 1 tola ¼ 180 Troy grains
a 5=
8
688 National Systems of Units and Currencies: A–C

In Kabul during the mid-twentieth century, based on [UN66], [FARE, p. 1596] and www.afghanvoice.com
Metric Metric Metric
kharvar 565.28 kg 564.528 kg 580.60 kg
16 maund 35.33 kg 35.28 kg 36.29 kg
80 5 seer 7.066 kg 7.057 kg 7.257 kg
320 20 4 charak 1.766 kg 1.764 kg 1.814 kg
5120 320 64 16 khord 110.41 g 110.28 kg 111.97 g

weighing the gold dust, but so were salt and

8 Ajman
merchandise. The same weight-standard is used
in present-day Ghana and Ivory Coast. All
See United Arab Emirates.
amounts below 1.4 grams were weighed with
Ajman’s first act as an autonomous entity was
seeds and amounts from 1.4 grams upwards
entering into a treaty with Britain in 1820, along
with metal weights, usually made of an alloy
with Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Umm
whose composition was similar to that of brass
al-Quwain, to form the Trucial States. In 1971,
and bronze. The metal weights are miniature
Ajman became one of the six original members
representations of various items well known in
of the United Arab Emirates.
the Akan cultural environment these days, such
as adinkra symbols, geometric figures, plants,
animals and people. The Akan systems of
8.1 Currency
weights consisted of three series of weights.
1967–1971: 1 riyal ¼ 100 dirhams
1964–1967: 1 rupee ¼ 100 naye paise Larger weight series
ba Metric
pereguan 478 71.92 g of gold
banna 432 67.44 g of gold
9 Akanland banda 384 56.80 g of gold

See also Asante Empire, Ghana and Ivory Coast.

In what is now part of Ghana and the Ivory
Coast, there were 33 independent Akan states in
the early seventeenth century.
Medium weight series
Main sources: [DEMA2], [GARR], [GLUC],
[JUST], [NIAN], [SALE4], [SAVA2], and Monetary value
[ZELL] tyasue 5
anan 5
gua 5
Anui 5
9.1 Units of Weight
tya 5
gbangbandia 4
Well before their first contact with Portuguese assan 4
and Dutch traders, the Akan people of West
Africa, such as the Abe, Adiukru, Agona,
Akyem, Anyi, Aowin, Asante, Assin, Atie, Each of these seven units comprises five mon-
Baule, Bono, Brong, Ebrie, Fanti, Gyaman, etary values.
Kwahu, Nzima, Sefwi, Twifo, Wassa and other
related groups, used gold dust as a medium of
exchange. Standard weights were used for
9 Akanland 689

gua-series
ba Metric
guagnan 192 28.40 g of gold
2 gua 96 16.20 g of gold
4 2 tra 48 7.54 g of gold
8 4 2 adjratchui 24 3.55 g of gold
16 8 4 2 météba 12 1.77 g of gold

Smaller weight series, used for small transactions

Metric
babrou 1.480 g of gold
– bamotchué 1.184 g of gold
– 11=7 banzo 1.036 g of gold
12=3 11=3 11=6 banzien 0.888 g of gold
2 13=5 12=5 11=5 banou 0.740 g of gold
2½ 2 1¾ 1½ 1¼ banan 0.592 g of gold
31=3 22=3 21=3 2 12=3 11=3 bansan 0.444 g of gold
5 4 3½ 3 2½ 2 1½ bagnon 0.296 g of gold
10 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 ba 0.148 g of gold

Timothy F. Garrard did a tremendous job of

Value
interviewing people from various Akan
domma 8s
sub-groups, who, during childhood, had used or
dommafa 4s
heard of gold weights. Below, I have compiled
takuo nsia or soafa 3s
some of those results. taku anum 2s 6d
taku anan 2s
Adansi system, based on [GARR, pp. 346–347] taku miensa 1s 6d
Value taku miensu or kokwa miensa 1s
ntansa £24 kokwa mienu 9d
pereguan tasuanu £20 taku 6d
ntaanu esiabo mienu £18 12s kokwa 4d
ntaanu £16 sempowa 3d
pereguan asia £9 6s damma 2d
pereguan £8 pesewa 1d
bennaa £7 powa ½d
asuasa £6
asuanu ne nsano £4 13s
asuanu £4 Akyem system, based on [GARR, p. 347]
osua ne somma £2 8s Value
osua £2 ntansa £24
dwoa Value forgotten ntaanu £16
asia or esiabo £1 6s tasuanu £12
suduo ne dommafa £1 4s pereguan asia £9 10s
suru £1 pereguan £8
nsano ne soafa 16s bennaa £7
nsano 13s asuasa £6
nsoansa 10s asuanu ne dwoasuru £4 18s
(continued) (continued)
690 National Systems of Units and Currencies: A–C

Value Value
asuanu £4 bandiesue 13s
nnwoa mienu £3 12s tuabo 11s
osua ne suru £3 nsoansa 10s
osua ne domma £2 8s agyirawotwe 8s 6d
osua £2 nso nsa or edoma 8s
dwoa £1 16s esoa 6s 9d
asia £1 10s meteba 4s 6d
suru ne dommafa £1 4s ba nso 2s 6d
suru £1 ba nsyi 2s 3d
dwoasuru 18s ba nu 2s
nnomanu 16s ba na 1s 6d
nsano 13s ba nsa 1s 3d
nsoansa 10s bae 9d
agyiratwe 9s dei or ba n’damma 6d
domma 8s sempowa 3d
fiaso 6s 6d damma 2d
soa 6s
dommafa 4s
fiasofa 3s 3d
soafa 3s Asante system, based on [GARR, pp. 348–349]
taku 6d Value Metric
kokoa 4d mpereguan anum £40
takufa 3d mpereguan anan £32
damma 2d ntansa £24
pesewa 1d ntaanu esiabo mienu £18 12s
ntaanu or pereguan mienu £16
pereguan asia £9 6s
pereguan £8
Aowin system, based on [GARR, pp. 351–352] bennaa or asuasa ne suru £7
Value asuasa £6
ndalae nsa £18 asuanu ne suru £5
ndalae £12 abuanu ne nsano £4 13s
pereguan asia £9 7s asuanu £4
pereguan £8 osua ne suru £3
bennaa £7 2s osua ne domma £2 7s
djua nsa or ta £6 osua pa £2
atape bandiesue £4 13s onansua £1 16s
atape £4 onamfi £1 12s
anui nyo £3 dwoa £1 10s
esua domma £2 8s asia £1 6s
esa nyo £2 4s techimansua £1 3s 6d
djua £1 16s 6d peresuru £1 2s
anlui or anui £1 10s suru pa £1
etea £1 7s bremanansuru 17s
Name forgotten £1 4s 6d anamfisuru 16s
esa £1 2s dwoasuru 15s
bale £1 nsano 13s
simale or samale 18s nnomanu 12s
talae 16s bodommo 11s
(continued) nsoansa 10s
(continued)
9 Akanland 691

Value Metric Value

agyiratwe 9s dwoa £1 10s
borofa (called domma at the 8s asia £1 7s
coast) suru ne dommafa £1 4s
domma 7s peresuru £1 2s
soa 6s suru £1
bodommofa 5s 6d dwoasuru 18s
nsoansafa 5s 2.30 g nsano soafa 16s
agyiratwefa 4s 6d nsano 13s
brofa 4s 1.85 g nsoansa ntaku anan 12s
fiasofa or dommafa 3s 6d bodommo 11s
soafaa 3s 1.39 g nsoansa or domma ntaku anan 10s
ntaku anum 2s 6d agyiratwe 9s
ntaku anan 2s 0.70 g domma 8s
ntakuo miensa 1s 6d 0.57 g soa or asensua 6s
ntakuo mienu 1s 0.35 g agyiratwefa 4s 6d
nkokoa mienu 9d 0.33 g dommafa 4s
taku 6d 0.22 g soafa 3s
kokoa 4½d 0.16 g takuo anan 2s
sempowa or takufa 3d 0.11 g takuo miensa 1s 6d
dammab 2d 0.08 g sempowa miensa 9d
pesewac 1d 0.04 g taku or takufa 6d
powa or powa hud ½d 0.02 g kokwa 4d
mo abae 1/3d 0.013 g sempowa 3d
a
The smallest metal weight damma 2d
b
A red and black seed of the Abrus precatorius
c
A dark blue Rhynchosia seed
d
This was a rarely mentioned measurement, and could not
be regarded as an actual weight Brong-Ahafo system, based on [GARR, pp. 349–350]
e
Reported as a grain of rice, but withonly a notional value,
and subsequently not regarded as an actual weight Value
pereguan anum £40
ntansa £24
ntaanu asuanu £20
Assin-Fosu system, based on [GARR, pp. 345–346] ntaanu esiabo mienu £18 12s
Value ntaanu £16
mpereguan anum £40 tasuanu £12
ntansa £24 pereguan asia £9 6s
ntaanu esiabo mienu £18 14s pereguan £8
ntaanu or pereguan mienu £16 asuasa ne suru £7
tasuanu £14 asuasa £6
pereguan asia £9 7s asuanu ne suru £5
pereguan £8 asuanu nsano £4 13s
bennaa £7 asuanu £4
asuasa £6 sua domma £2 7s
asuanu dwoasuru £4 18s esiabo mienu £2 12s
asuanu £4 sua £2
osua ne suru ne bodommo £3 11s techimansua £1 17s
osua ne suru £3 onansua £1 16s
osua ne domma £2 8s onamfi £1 13s
osua £2 dwoa £1 10s
asia ne soa £1 13s asia £1 6s
(continued) (continued)
692 National Systems of Units and Currencies: A–C

Value Value
takimansua £1 5s edomma 8s
peresuru £1 2s fiaso 7s
suru £1 esoa 6s
namfisuru Value forgotten brofa 4s 6d
nnomanu 14s dommafa 4s
nsano 13s taku 6d
bodoma Value uncertain damma 2d
nsoansa 10s pesewa 1d
agyiratwe 9s
borofa 8s
domma 7s Fanti system, based on [GARR, p. 341]
soa 6s
Value Metric
nsoansafa 5s
agyiratwefa 4s 6d ntansa £24
domafa 3s 6d ntaanu £16
soafa 3s bende ebien £14
taku 6d pereguan £8 2s
kokwa 4d banda or bende £7 4s 62.027 g (2 troy
ounces)
sempowa 3d
bennaa £7
damma 2d
asuasu £6 1s 6d
pesewa 1d
ejua miensa £5 8s
powa ½d
asuanu £4 2s
ejua mienu or jua £3 12s 31.103 g (1 troy
abien ounce)
sua na suru £3 1s
Denkyira-Bremang system, based on [GARR, pp. 343–344] sua ne dumba £2 8s
sua £2 1s
Value
ejua £1 16s
pereguan asia £9 6s kanjua £1 10s or £1
pereguan £8 14s
bennaa £7 esia £1 7s
asuasa £6 suru ne dommafa £1 4s
asuanu nsano £4 13s piresuru £1 2s 6d
asuanu £4 juasuru 18s
osua ne domma £2 8s nsan 13s 6d
osua £2 bodumbo 11s
takimansua or onansua £1 15s agyiratwe or 9s
anamfi £1 14s agyirawotwe
dwoa £1 10s dumba 8s
asia £1 6s brambalambo 6s 6d
peresuru £1 2s 6d name forgotten 6s
suru or sudu £1 dadaako or metua 4s 6d
nansuru 18s dumbafa 4s
ananfisuru or nnomanu 16s ntaku miensa 2s 3d
dwoasuru 15s sempowa miensa 9d
nsano 13s takufa 6d
bodommo 11s asamankamu 4d or 5d
nsoansa 10s sempowa 3d
agyiratwe 9s dambaa 2d 140 mg
(continued) pesewa 1d
a
This is equal to the weight of a grain from Abrus
precatorius
9 Akanland 693

Nzima system, based on [GARR, p. 352] Value

Value domma 8s
epeleguane £8 bodommafa 5s 6d
bennaa £7 4s nsoansafa 5s
anla nsa Value forgotten agyiratwefa 4s 6d
edeazue or asua £2 edommafa 4s
bale £1 taku anan 2s
simale 18s taku miensa 1s 6d
tranye 16s 6d ba nsa 1s 3d
bandeazue 13s 6d ba nyo 9d
nzoanza Value forgotten de or taku 6d
egyalawotwe or agyiratwe 9s
edoma 8s
esoba or esoa 6s 9d
Twifo system, based on [GARR, pp. 342–343]
nzu nwio Value forgotten
meteba or metaba 4s 6d Value
eteku nsia 2s 3d mpereguan anum £40
eteku na 1s 6d mpereguan anan £32
maa za 1s 3d ntansa £24
maa nwio 9d ntaanu £16
eteku 6d pereguan asuasa or bennaa mienu £14
sempowa 3d pereguan asuanu £12
edema or elama 2d pereguan osua £10
kpesaba or kpesewa 1d pereguan asia £9 7s
pereguan £8
bennaa £7
asuasa £6
Sefwi system, based on [GARR, pp. 350–351] asuanu ne suru £5
Value asuanu ne nsano £4 13s
ntansa £24 asuanu £4
ntaanu esiabo mienu £18 12s bennaafa £3 10s
ntaanu £16 osua ne suru £3
pereguan asia £9 6s osua ne nsano £2 13s
pereguan £8 osua ne domma £2 8s
bennaa £7 osua £2
asuasa £6 nansua £1 14s
asuanu ne nsano £4 13s namfi £1 12s
asuanu £4 dwoa £1 10s
esua ne suru £3 asia £1 7s
osua ne domma £2 8s sudu dommafa £1 4 s
sua £2 peresuru £1 2s 6d
takimansua £1 15s suru £1
dwoa £1 10s nansuafa 18s
asia £1 6s namfisuru 16s
mpresuru £1 2s dwoasuru 15s
suru £1 nsano 13s
nsano suafa 16s 6d nnomanu 12s
bandeasue or nsano 13s bodommo 11s
bodommo 11s nsoansa 10s
nsoansa or eduma taku anan 10s agyiratwe 9s
agyiratwe 9s domma 8s
(continued) (continued)
694 National Systems of Units and Currencies: A–C

Value 10 Akwa Akpa [Formerly: Old

fiaso 7s Calabar and Duke Town]
soa 6s
bodommofa 5s 6d See also Nigeria.
nsoansafa 5s Main source: [RUGG]
agyiratwefa 4s 6d
dommafa 4s
fiasofa 3s 6d
soafaa 3s 10.1 Units of Length
nkoko asiab 2s 6d
nkoko anumc 2s 1 covado ¼ 577.5 mm.
nkoko anan or ntaku miensa 1s 6d
nkokwa miensad 1s 3d
nkokwa mienu 1s
10.2 Units of Liquid Capacity
kokwa n’damma 9d
kokwa or taku 6d
damma 2d
1 kruh or tabb ¼ 10 old English wine gallons ¼
pesewa 1d 37.854 L.
powa ½d
mo abae 1/3d
a
b
The smallest metal weight 11 Albania
Equal to six seeds
c
Equal to five seeds
d
Equal to three seeds See also Ottoman Empire.
e
Reported to equal the weight of a grain of rice, but not This region was a province of the Roman
regarded as an actual weight Empire, then of Byzantium in 395, before falling
to the Normans, Goths, Venetians, Serbs,
Bulgari, and Turks. Albania was autonomous
Wassa-Amenfi system, based on [GARR, pp. 344–345]
between 1443 and 1467, when it became part of
Value the Ottoman Empire. An independent Albania
ntaanu £16 was proclaimed in 1912. In 1914, it became a
pereguan asia £9 7s
principality, in 1925, a republic, and in 1928, a
pereguan £8
kingdom. In 1939, it was united with the Italian
bennaa £7
asuasa £6
Crown, but once again became independent
asuanu ne nsano £4 13s in 1944.
asuanu £4 The famous Greek historian and geographer
sua ne domma £2 8s Strabo (c.63 BCE–c. 24 CE) wrote that the
osua or sua £2 Albanians were unacquainted with weights,
onamfi Value forgotten measures, and the use of money, that they could
asia £1 7s not count above one hundred, and that trade was
peresuru £1 2s carried on among them only through exchange.
suru £1 The metric system has been compulsory since
anamfisuru 16s April 19, 1951.
nsano 13s
Main sources: [BELD2], [INAL], [MART3],
nsoansa 10s
[SALE2], and [UN55]
agyiratwe or agyirawotwe 9s
domma 8s
brofa 4s 6d
11 Albania 695

11.1 Currency For charcoal in northern Albania during the fourteenth

century
1926–: 1 Albanian lek ¼ 100 qindarka or Local
qindar leku relations Metric
1925–1926: 1 Albanian franga or frang ar ¼ large 597.456 kg
hiyača
100 qindar ari or hiče
1912–1925: 1 French franc ¼ 100 centimos 2 small 298.728 kg
1 Italian lira ¼ 100 centesimo hiyača
1 Greek drachma ¼ 100 lepta or hiče
1881–1912: 1 piastre ¼ 40 para 6 3 himl
˙
77 okka
˙˙
99.576 kg
or and
–1881: 1 lira ¼ 162=3 altilik ¼ 20 beshlik ¼
hyças 140 dirhem
331=3 uechlik ¼ 40 yuzluk ¼ 24 12 4 kıbıl 19 okka 24.894 kg
50 ikilik ¼ ˙
or and
˙˙
100 piastres ¼ 4000 paras ¼ kabal 135 dirhem
˙
10,000 minas ¼ 12,000 aspers
During the fourteenth–seventeenth centuries
Metric
11.2 Units of Area
brassea 2,388,946 kg
– mozb, 205.280 kg
1 d€ um ¼ 918.7 m .
on€ 2
iml, or
y€
uk
– 11=3 bar 153.936 kg
11.3 Units of Dry Capacity or
barrë
– 2 1½ karta 102.640 kg
1 kilo (for grain, legumes, and seeds at Avlona, – 5 3¾ 2½ muzer 41.056 kg
present-day Vlorë, during the late nineteenth 1 862 160 120 80 32 okka 1.283 kg
century) ¼ 90.232 5 L. a
Used for wood
˙˙
b
Formerly reported as 3 karta

11.4 Units of Liquid Capacity

During the late fourteenth century
Metric
For oil at Avlona, present-day Vlorë, during the late
nineteenth century istatra or ustatra 225.772 kg
176 okka 1.283 kg
Metric Metric ˙˙
400 23=11 lodra 564.4 g
salma 162.971 L 147.312 kg
10 Staio 16.297 1 L 14.731 2 kg
For wheat at Avlona, present-day Vlorë, during the late
nineteenth century
11.5 Units of Weight Metric
kiasseh 56.365 603 kg
21=5 tagari 25.620 729 kg
For grain during the fourteenth century
44 20 okka 1.281 kg
˙˙
Metric
large kabala 180.04 kg In Berat during the mid-nineteenth century
˙
10 small kabal 18.004 kg
˙ Metric
140 14 okka 1.286 kg
˙˙ okka 1.601 295 kg
a
Also reported as 144 okka ¼ about 185.2 kg ˙˙
˙˙ 500 dirhem 3.202 6 g
696 National Systems of Units and Currencies: A–C

11.6 Units of Weight 1 pataca gouda or pataca gorda ¼ 3 patacas

chicas ¼ 24 teminas ¼ 696 aspers
At Iskodra, present-day Shkodër, in 1520 and 1536
1 pataca chica ¼ 8 tomins ¼ 232 aspers
1 saime or dobla ¼ 50 aspers
ока Metric ока Metric
1 karub ¼ 14 aspers
kile 102.535 kg kile 46.285 kg
80 okka 1.282 kg 36 okka 1.285 7 kg
˙˙ ˙˙ Coins previously used in the area: budju,
dinar, dirham saghir, mangir, mazuna, sultani,
and zeri mahbub.

12 Algeria
12.2 Units of Length
See also Byzantine Empire and Ottoman Empire.
Coastal Algeria was controlled by the Traditional system
Carthaginians (seventh century BCE–202 BCE), Metric
the Roman Empire (until the fifth century), the dohar 4446.0 m
3 mil 1482.0 m
Vandals (during the fifth century), the Byzantine
8980 29931=3 dhra or 495.10 mm
Empire, the Arabs, Barbary pirates, and the Otto- pik
man Empire (c 1516–1830). Spanish enclaves 17,960 59862=3 2 nus 247.55 mm
were established from the early sixteenth century 35,920 11, 9731=3 4 2 rebia 123.775 mm
71,840 23, 9462=3 8 4 2 termin 61.887 5 mm
until the late eighteenth century. The region was
controlled by France starting in 1830 and was
annexed to France in 1842–1848. Independence
was proclaimed in 1962. Other reported measures:
The metric system has been officially used
since March 1, 1843. Some sources2 say 1 farsech ¼ 244.0 m.
since 1845.
Main sources: [DECO2], [DUBO], [DOUR], For fabrics
[JOUF], [KAHN], [KELL], and [MART3] Metric
pic turco, pic o 636.0 mm
zerà a chebı̀r, or
dhra á torkya
12.1 Currency 11=3 pic arabo, pic o 477.0 mm
zerà a sogher, or
1964–: 1 Algerian dinar ¼ 100 centimes dhra á rabyb
1959–1964: 1 nouveau Algerian franc ¼ 8 6 robi 79.5 mm
a
100 centimes The Turkish pic used for silk and cloth
b
1848–1959: 1 Algerian franc ¼ 100 centimes The Moorish pic used for linen
1830–1848: 1 Algerian dinar ¼ 100 centimes
–1830: 1 Algerian budju or rial budchu ¼
24 munzunas ¼ 48 karubs
12.3 Units of Area
During the late eighteenth century:
There were no agrarian measures.
1 sequin ¼ 10 patacas chicas ¼ 2 320 aspers
1 sultanin ¼ 8½ patacas chicas ¼ 1 972 aspers

2
[BROW9, p. 178].
12 Algeria 697

12.4 Units of Dry Capacity Metric-linked system in Constantine

Metric
tupsia, 480 L
Traditional systems, two reported scales tuptia or
Metric Metric tultia
caffiso, 319.584 L 317.4 L 4 saa, saah, 120 L
caffise, saha, or
cafiz, or ssah
calisse 10 2½ psa 48 L
5½ saa, 58.106 L 57.7 L 24 6 22=5 tarri, tarrier, 20 L
saah, terrie, or
saha, tarie
or ssah
63=5 11=5 psa 48.421 L 48.1 L
16 210=11 214=33 tarri, 19.974 L 19.8 L
12.5 Units of Liquid Capacity
tarrier,
terrie, or Traditional system and metric-linked system
tarie
Metric Metric
caffiso, 317.104 L 320 L
cafiz, or
British Imperial-linked system calisse
Imperial Metric 62=3 saa, 47.566 L 48 L
saah,
caffiso, 9 bu 317.15 L or
caffise, ssah
cafiz, or
16 22=5 tarri 19.819 L 20 L
calisse
1=
or
8 saa, 1 bu
8 39.64 L tarie
saah,
191=5 222=25 11=5 kolleh, 16.516 L 162=3 L
saha,
kulla, or
or ssah
khoulléa
16 2 tarri, 9/16 bu 19.82 L a
tarrier, The metric-linked khoullé, khoul, khoull, kulla, or
terrie, or khollah ¼ 16 or 162=3 L. Fractions of a khoullé (1/2, 1/4,
tarie 1/8, etc.) were also in use until the late nineteenth century

Other reported measures:

Metric-linked system in Algiers and Oran
Metric 1 metallo (for oil) ¼ about 17.90 L, but usually
tupsia, 480 L 16.961 kg. According to [KELL] ¼
tuptia 16.951 kg.
or 1 hollah ¼ 16.67 L.
tultia
412=17 fanega 102 L
8 17=10 saa, 60 L
saah,
saha,
or ssah
10 21=8 1¼ psa 48 L
24 51=10 3 22=5 tarri, 20 L
tarrier,
terrie, or
tarie
698 National Systems of Units and Currencies: A–C

12.6 Units of Weight For brass, bronze, copper, drugs, and wax in Algiers
during the early nineteenth century, based on [MART3],
[KELL] and [DOUR]
For medical use Metric Metric Metric
Metric cantaro 54.608 53.970 g 50.383
quintal 60.060 kg kg kg
attaria 100 rottolo 546.08 g 539.70 g 503.82 g
11=10 kantar 54.600 kg attári
attari
110 100 ratl 546 g
attari For lead, wool, oil, and honey during the late nineteenth
1760 1600 16 once 34.125 g century (officially until 1843), based on [MART3]
a
Also reported as 69.069 kg Metric
cantaro kébir 81.912 kg
For flax and linen in Algiers during the early nineteenth or cantaro or
century, based on [MART3], [KELL] and [DOUR] kebyr 92.151 kga
100 rottolo kébir 819.12 g or
Metric Metric Metric or rottolo 921.51 ga
cantaro 109.216 kg 107.940 kg 100.764 kg kebyr
200 rottolo 546.08 g 539.70 g 503.82 g 2400 or 2700 24 or 27 wakea 34.13 g
attári or
ukkia
a
Values reported by [NOBA]

For butter, dates, figs, fruits, honey, oil, raisins, and soap
in Algiers during the early nineteenth century, based on For fruits and fresh vegetables during the late nineteenth
[MART3], [KELL] and [DOUR] century (officially until 1843), based on [MART3]
Metric Metric Metric Metric
cantaro 90.649 28 kg 89.590 kg 83.634 kg cantaro grédouri 61.434
166 rottolo 546.08 g 539.70 g 503.82 g or cantaro kg
attári khaldary
100 rottolo grédouri 614.34 g
or rottolo
khaldary
For lead, iron, and wool in Algiers during the early 1800 18 wakea 34.13 g
nineteenth century, based on [MART3], [KELL] and or
[DOUR] ukkia

Metric Metric Metric

cantaro 81.912 kg 80.955 kg 75.573 kg For spices and drugs during the late nineteenth century
150 rottolo 546.08 g 539.70 g 503.82 g (officially until 1843), based on [MART3]
attári
Metric
cantaro 54.608 kg
attari or
cantaro
For almonds, cheese, and cotton in Algiers during the thary
early nineteenth century, based on [MART3], [KELL] 100 rottolo 546.08 g
and [DOUR] attari or
Metric Metric Metric rottolo
thary
cantaro 60.068 59.367 kg 55.420 kg
8 kg 1600 16 wakea 34.13 g
or
110 rottolo 546.08 g 539.70 g 503.82 g
ukkia
12,800 128 8 drahem 4.266 g
14 Andaman Islands 699

Some other relations

Metric
cantar kebyr 819.12 kg
29/4 cantar khaldary 61.434 kg
116 16 cantar thary 54.608 kg
261/2 18 9/8 rottolo kebyr 819.12 g
174 24 1½ 11=3 rottolo khaldary 614.34 g
11,600 1600 100 800/9 200/3 rottolo thary 546.08 g

For silver during the mid-nineteenth century, two reported scales

Metric Metric
rotl feuddi or rotl fedhi 497.435 g 497.521 g
˙ ˙
16 wakea, ukkia, or uchiah 31.090 g 31.095 g
feuddi
1062=3 62=3 mitkal, metsquat, or métikal 4.663 45 g 4.664 26 g

For silver during the early twentieth century

Metric
rotl feuddi or rotl fedhi 494.885 g
˙ ˙
14½ wakea, ukkia, or uchiah feuddi 34.130 g
1051=8 7¼ mitkal, metsquat, or métikal 4.707 59 g

For gold, pearls, and diamonds, in Algiers, as reported during the early nineteenth century and early twentieth century
Metric Metric
mitkal, metsquat, or métikala 4.663 45 g 4.707 59 g
24 kharub, karoube, or karrouba (carob seed) 194.3 mg 196.1 mg
At El Oued ¼ 4.17 g, and at Eegdezi ¼ 4.27 g. According to [KELL], 1 métical (for gold, silver, pearls, and diamonds)
a

¼ 4.745 g

Other reported measures: The metric system is now used along with the
customary U.S. system.
1 balle (for flour in Constantine) ¼ 122.50 kg;
1 rotolo (in Oran) ¼ 503.758 g.
13.1 Currency

1904–: 1 US dollar ¼ 100 cents

13 American Samoa (Territory
of American Samoa)

These islands were discovered by the Dutch

explorer Jacob Roggeveen in 1722. After years
of rivalry during the early nineteenth century,
Germany and the U.S. divided the Samoan archi-
pelago between themselves in 1899. Today, the
eastern part of the archipelago, known as Ameri-
can Samoa, is an unincorporated territory of the
United States.
14 Andaman Islands
See also Nicobar Islands.
In 1788, the British rule in Bengal started to
investigate the possibility of establishing a penal
colony on the islands, and in 1789, they founded
Port Cornwallis. But many died of diseases, and
Another random document with
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 ON PERSONAL IDENTITY

The Monthly Magazine.]

[January, 1828.
‘Ha! here be three of us sophisticated.’—Lear.

‘If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes!’ said the

Macedonian hero; and the cynic might have retorted the compliment
upon the prince by saying, that, ‘were he not Diogenes, he would be
Alexander!’ This is the universal exception, the invariable reservation
that our self-love makes, the utmost point at which our admiration
or envy ever arrives—to wish, if we were not ourselves, to be some
other individual. No one ever wishes to be another, instead of
himself. We may feel a desire to change places with others—to have
one man’s fortune—another’s health or strength—his wit or learning,
or accomplishments of various kinds—
‘Wishing to be like one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope:’

but we would still be our selves, to possess and enjoy all these, or we
would not give a doit for them. But, on this supposition, what in
truth should we be the better for them? It is not we, but another, that
would reap the benefit; and what do we care about that other? In
that case, the present owner might as well continue to enjoy them.
We should not be gainers by the change. If the meanest beggar who
crouches at a palace-gate, and looks up with awe and suppliant fear
to the proud inmate as he passes, could be put in possession of all the
finery, the pomp, the luxury, and wealth that he sees and envies on
the sole condition of getting rid, together with his rags and misery, of
all recollection that there ever was such a wretch as himself, he
would reject the proffered boon with scorn. He might be glad to
change situations; but he would insist on keeping his own thoughts,
to compare notes, and point the transition by the force of contrast.
He would not, on any account, forego his self-congratulation on the
unexpected accession of good fortune, and his escape from past
suffering. All that excites his cupidity, his envy, his repining or
despair, is the alternative of some great good to himself; and if, in
order to attain that object, he is to part with his own existence to take
that of another, he can feel no farther interest in it. This is the
language both of passion and reason.
Here lies ‘the rub that makes calamity of so long life:’ for it is not
barely the apprehension of the ills that ‘in that sleep of death may
come,’ but also our ignorance and indifference to the promised good,
that produces our repugnance and backwardness to quit the present
scene. No man, if he had his choice, would be the angel Gabriel to-
morrow! What is the angel Gabriel to him but a splendid vision? He
might as well have an ambition to be turned into a bright cloud, or a
particular star. The interpretation of which is, he can have no
sympathy with the angel Gabriel. Before he can be transformed into
so bright and ethereal an essence, he must necessarily ‘put off this
mortal coil’—be divested of all his old habits, passions, thoughts, and
feelings—to be endowed with other lofty and beatific attributes, of
which he has no notion; and, therefore, he would rather remain a
little longer in this mansion of clay, which, with all its flaws,
inconveniences, and perplexities, contains all that he has any real
knowledge of, or any affection for. When, indeed, he is about to quit
it in spite of himself, and has no other chance left to escape the
darkness of the tomb, he may then have no objection (making a
virtue of necessity) to put on angels’ wings, to have radiant locks, to
wear a wreath of amaranth, and thus to masquerade it in the skies.
It is an instance of the truth and beauty of the ancient mythology,
that the various transmutations it recounts are never voluntary, or of
favourable omen, but are interposed as a timely release to those who,
driven on by fate, and urged to the last extremity of fear or anguish,
are turned into a flower, a plant, an animal, a star, a precious stone,
or into some object that may inspire pity or mitigate our regret for
their misfortunes. Narcissus was transformed into a flower; Daphne
into a laurel; Arethusa into a fountain (by the favour of the gods)—
but not till no other remedy was left for their despair. It is a sort of
smiling cheat upon death, and graceful compromise with
annihilation. It is better to exist by proxy, in some softened type and
soothing allegory, than not at all—to breathe in a flower or shine in a
constellation, than to be utterly forgot; but no one would change his
natural condition (if he could help it) for that of a bird, an insect, a
beast, or a fish, however delightful their mode of existence, or
however enviable he might deem their lot compared to his own.
Their thoughts are not our thoughts—their happiness is not our
happiness; nor can we enter into it except with a passing smile of
approbation, or as a refinement of fancy. As the poet sings:—
‘What more felicity can fall to creature
Than to enjoy delight with liberty,
And to be lord of all the works of nature?
To reign in the air from earth to highest sky;
To feed on flowers and weeds of glorious feature;
To taste whatever thing doth please the eye?—
Who rests not pleased with such happiness,
Well worthy he to taste of wretchedness!’

This is gorgeous description and fine declamation: yet who would be

found to act upon it, even in the forming of a wish; or would not
rather be the thrall of wretchedness, than launch out (by the aid of
some magic spell) into all the delights of such a butterfly state of
existence? The French (if any people can) may be said to enjoy this
airy, heedless gaiety and unalloyed exuberance of satisfaction: yet
what Englishman would deliberately change with them? We would
sooner be miserable after our own fashion than happy after their’s. It
is not happiness, then, in the abstract, which we seek, that can be
addressed as
‘That something still that prompts th’ eternal sigh,
For which we wish to live or dare to die,—’

but a happiness suited to our taste and faculties—that has become a

part of ourselves, by habit and enjoyment—that is endeared to us by
a thousand recollections, privations, and sufferings. No one, then,
would willingly change his country or his kind for the most plausible
pretences held out to him. The most humiliating punishment
inflicted in ancient fable is the change of sex: not that it was any
degradation in itself—but that it must occasion a total derangement
of the moral economy and confusion of the sense of personal
propriety. The thing is said to have happened, au sens contraire, in
our time. The story is to be met with in ‘very choice Italian’; and Lord
D—— tells it in very plain English!
We may often find ourselves envying the possessions of others,
and sometimes inadvertently indulging a wish to change places with
them altogether; but our self-love soon discovers some excuse to be
off the bargain we were ready to strike, and retracts ‘vows made in
haste, as violent and void.’ We might make up our minds to the
alteration in every other particular; but, when it comes to the point,
there is sure to be some trait or feature of character in the object of
our admiration to which we cannot reconcile ourselves—some
favourite quality or darling foible of our own, with which we can by
no means resolve to part. The more enviable the situation of another,
the more entirely to our taste, the more reluctant we are to leave any
part of ourselves behind that would be so fully capable of
appreciating all the exquisiteness of its new situation, or not to enter
into the possession of such an imaginary reversion of good fortune
with all our previous inclinations and sentiments. The outward
circumstances were fine: they only wanted a soul to enjoy them, and
that soul is our’s (as the costly ring wants the peerless jewel to
perfect and set it off). The humble prayer and petition to sneak into
visionary felicity by personal adoption, or the surrender of our own
personal pretensions, always ends in a daring project of usurpation,
and a determination to expel the actual proprietor, and supply his
place so much more worthily with our own identity—not bating a
single jot of it. Thus, in passing through a fine collection of pictures,
who has not envied the privilege of visiting it every day, and wished
to be the owner? But the rising sigh is soon checked, and ‘the native
hue of emulation is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,’ when
we come to ask ourselves not merely whether the owner has any taste
at all for these splendid works, and does not look upon them as so
much expensive furniture, like his chairs and tables—but whether he
has the same precise (and only true) taste that we have—whether he
has the very same favourites that we have—whether he may not be so
blind as to prefer a Vandyke to a Titian, a Ruysdael to a Claude;—
nay, whether he may not have other pursuits and avocations that
draw off his attention from the sole objects of our idolatry, and which
seem to us mere impertinences and waste of time? In that case, we at
once lose all patience, and exclaim indignantly, ‘Give us back our
taste and keep your pictures!’ It is not we who should envy them the
possession of the treasure, but they who should envy us the true and
exclusive enjoyment of it. A similar train of feeling seems to have
dictated Warton’s spirited Sonnet on visiting Wilton-House:—
‘From Pembroke’s princely dome, where mimic art
Decks with a magic hand the dazzling bowers,
Its living hues where the warm pencil pours,
And breathing forms from the rude marble start,
How to life’s humbler scene can I depart?
My breast all glowing from those gorgeous towers,
In my low cell how cheat the sullen hours?
Vain the complaint! For Fancy can impart
(To fate superior and to fortune’s power)
Whate’er adorns the stately storied-hall:
She, mid the dungeon’s solitary gloom,
Can dress the Graces in their attic pall;
Bid the green landskip’s vernal beauty bloom;
And in bright trophies clothe the twilight wall.’

One sometimes passes by a gentleman’s park, an old family-seat,

with its moss-grown ruinous paling, its ‘glades mild-opening to the
genial day,’ or embrowned with forest-trees. Here one would be glad
to spend one’s life, ‘shut up in measureless content,’ and to grow old
beneath ancestral oaks, instead of gaining a precarious, irksome, and
despised livelihood, by indulging romantic sentiments, and writing
disjointed descriptions of them. The thought has scarcely risen to the
lips, when we learn that the owner of so blissful a seclusion is a
thorough-bred fox-hunter, a preserver of the game, a brawling
electioneerer, a Tory member of parliament, a ‘no-Popery’ man!—‘I’d
sooner be a dog, and bay the moon!’ Who would be Sir Thomas
Lethbridge for his title and estate? asks one man. But would not
almost any one wish to be Sir Francis Burdett, the man of the people,
the idol of the electors of Westminster? says another. I can only
answer for myself. Respectable and honest as he is, there is
something in his white boots, and white breeches, and white coat,
and white hair, and red face, and white hat, that I cannot, by any
effort of candour, confound my personal identity with! If Mr.
Hobhouse can prevail on Sir Francis to exchange, let him do so by all
means. Perhaps they might contrive to club a soul between them!
Could I have had my will, I should have been born a lord: but one
would not be a booby lord neither. I am haunted by an odd fancy of
driving down the Great North Road in a chaise and four, about fifty
years ago, and coming to the inn at Ferry-bridge, with out-riders,
white favours, and a coronet on the panels; and then I choose my
companion in the coach. Really there is a witchcraft in all this that
makes it necessary to turn away from it, lest, in the conflict between
imagination and impossibility, I should grow feverish and light-
headed! But, on the other hand, if one was born a lord, should one
have the same idea (that every one else has) of a peeress in her own
right? Is not distance, giddy elevation, mysterious awe, an
impassable gulf, necessary to form this idea in the mind, that fine
ligament of ‘ethereal braid, sky-woven,’ that lets down heaven upon
earth, fair as enchantment, soft as Berenice’s hair, bright and
garlanded like Ariadne’s crown; and is it not better to have had this
idea all through life—to have caught but glimpses of it, to have
known it but in a dream—than to have been born a lord ten times
over, with twenty pampered menials at one’s back, and twenty
descents to boast of? It is the envy of certain privileges, the sharp
privations we have undergone, the cutting neglect we have met with
from the want of birth or title, that gives its zest to the distinction:
the thing itself may be indifferent or contemptible enough. It is the
becoming a lord that is to be desired; but he who becomes a lord in
reality is an upstart—a mere pretender, without the sterling essence;
so that, all that is of any worth in this supposed transition is purely
imaginary and impossible. Had I been a lord, I should have married
Miss ——, and my life would not have been one long-drawn sigh,
made up of sweet and bitter regret![41] Had I been a lord, I would
have been a Popish lord, and then I might also have been an honest
man:—poor, and then I might have been proud and not vulgar! Kings
are so accustomed to look down on all the rest of the world, that they
consider the condition of mortality as vile and intolerable, if stripped
of royal state, and cry out in the bitterness of their despair, ‘Give me
a crown, or a tomb!’ It should seem from this as if all mankind would
change with the first crowned head that could propose the
alternative, or that it would be only the presumption of the
supposition, or a sense of their own unworthiness, that would deter
them. Perhaps there is not a single throne that, if it was to be filled by
this sort of voluntary metempsychosis, would not remain empty.
Many would, no doubt, be glad to ‘monarchise, be feared, and kill
with looks’ in their own persons and after their own fashion: but who
would be the double of ——, or of those shadows of a shade—those
‘tenth transmitters of a foolish face’—Charles X. and Ferdinand VII.? If
monarchs have little sympathy with mankind, mankind have even
less with monarchs. They are merely to us a sort of state-puppets or
royal wax-work, which we may gaze at with superstitious wonder,
but have no wish to become; and he who should meditate such a
change must not only feel by anticipation an utter contempt for the
slough of humanity which he is prepared to cast, but must feel an
absolute void and want of attraction in those lofty and
incomprehensible sentiments which are to supply its place. With
respect to actual royalty, the spell is in a great measure broken. But,
among ancient monarchs, there is no one, I think, who envies Darius
or Xerxes. One has a different feeling with respect to Alexander or
Pyrrhus; but this is because they were great men as well as great
kings, and the soul is up in arms at the mention of their names as at
the sound of a trumpet. But as to all the rest—those ‘in the catalogue
who go for kings’—the praying, eating, drinking, dressing monarchs
of the earth, in time past or present—one would as soon think of
wishing to personate the Golden Calf, or to turn out with
Nebuchadnezzar to graze, as to be transformed into one of that
‘swinish multitude.’ There is no point of affinity. The extrinsic
circumstances are imposing: but, within, there is nothing but morbid
humours and proud flesh! Some persons might vote for
Charlemagne; and there are others who would have no objection to
be the modern Charlemagne, with all he inflicted and suffered, even
after the necromantic field of Waterloo, and the bloody wreath on the
vacant brow of his conqueror, and that fell jailer set over him by a
craven foe, that ‘glared round his soul, and mocked his closing
eyelids!’
It has been remarked, that could we at pleasure change our
situation in life, more persons would be found anxious to descend
than to ascend in the scale of society. One reason may be, that we
have it more in our power to do so; and this encourages the thought,
and makes it familiar to us. A second is, that we naturally wish to
throw off the cares of state, of fortune or business, that oppress us,
and to seek repose before we find it in the grave. A third reason is,
that, as we descend to common life, the pleasures are simple,
natural, such as all can enter into, and therefore excite a general
interest, and combine all suffrages. Of the different occupations of
life, none is beheld with a more pleasing emotion, or less aversion to
a change of our own, than that of a shepherd tending his flock: the
pastoral ages have been the envy and the theme of all succeeding
ones; and a beggar with his crutch is more closely allied than the
monarch and his crown to the associations of mirth and heart’s ease.
On the other hand, it must be admitted that our pride is too apt to
prefer grandeur to happiness; and that our passions make us envy
great vices oftener than great virtues.
The world shew their sense in nothing more than in a distrust and
aversion to those changes of situation which only tend to make the
successful candidates ridiculous, and which do not carry along with
them a mind adequate to the circumstances. The common people, in
this respect, are more shrewd and judicious than their superiors,
from feeling their own awkwardness and incapacity, and often
decline, with an instinctive modesty, the troublesome honours
intended for them. They do not overlook their original defects so
readily as others overlook their acquired advantages. It is wonderful,
therefore, that opera-singers and dancers refuse, or only condescend
as it were, to accept lords, though the latter are so often fascinated by
them. The fair performer knows (better than her unsuspecting
admirer) how little connection there is between the dazzling figure
she makes on the stage and that which she may make in private life,
and is in no hurry to convert ‘the drawing-room into a Green-room.’
The nobleman (supposing him not to be very wise) is astonished at
the miraculous powers of art in
‘The fair, the chaste, the inexpressive she;’

and thinks such a paragon must easily conform to the routine of

manners and society which every trifling woman of quality of his
acquaintance, from sixteen to sixty, goes through without effort. This
is a hasty or a wilful conclusion. Things of habit only come by habit,
and inspiration here avails nothing. A man of fortune who marries an
actress for her fine performance of tragedy, has been well compared
to the person who bought Punch. The lady is not unfrequently aware
of the inconsequentiality, and unwilling to be put on the shelf, and
hid in the nursery of some musty country-mansion. Servant girls, of
any sense and spirit, treat their masters (who make serious love to
them) with suitable contempt. What is it but a proposal to drag an
unmeaning trollop at his heels through life, to her own annoyance
and the ridicule of all his friends? No woman, I suspect, ever forgave
a man who raised her from a low condition in life (it is a perpetual
obligation and reproach); though, I believe, men often feel the most
disinterested regard for women under such circumstances. Sancho
Panza discovered no less folly in his eagerness to enter upon his new
government, than wisdom in quitting it as fast as possible. Why will
Mr. Cobbett persist in getting into Parliament? He would find
himself no longer the same man. What member of Parliament, I
should like to know, could write his Register? As a popular partisan,
he may (for aught I can say) be a match for the whole Honourable
House; but, by obtaining a seat in St. Stephen’s Chapel, he would
only be equal to a 576th part of it. It was surely a puerile ambition in
Mr. Addington to succeed Mr. Pitt as prime-minister. The situation
was only a foil to his imbecility. Gipsies have a fine faculty of evasion:
catch them who can in the same place or story twice! Take them;
teach them the comforts of civilization; confine them in warm rooms,
with thick carpets and down beds; and they will fly out of the
window-like the bird, described by Chaucer, out of its golden cage. I
maintain that there is no common language or medium of
understanding between people of education and without it—between
those who judge of things from books or from their senses. Ignorance
has so far the advantage over learning; for it can make an appeal to
you from what you know; but you cannot re-act upon it through that
which it is a perfect stranger to. Ignorance is, therefore, power. This
is what foiled Buonaparte in Spain and Russia. The people can only
be gained over by informing them, though they may be enslaved by
fraud or force. You say there is a common language in nature. They
see nature through their wants, while you look at it for your pleasure.
Ask a country lad if he does not like to hear the birds sing in the
spring? And he will laugh in your face. ‘What is it, then, he does
like?’—‘Good victuals and drink!’ As if you had not these too; but
because he has them not, he thinks of nothing else, and laughs at you
and your refinements, supposing you to live upon air. To those who
are deprived of every other advantage, even nature is a book sealed. I
have made this capital mistake all my life, in imagining that those
objects which lay open to all, and excited an interest merely from the
idea of them, spoke a common language to all; and that nature was a
kind of universal home, where all ages, sexes, classes met. Not so.
The vital air, the sky, the woods, the streams—all these go for
nothing, except with a favoured few. The poor are taken up with their
bodily wants—the rich, with external acquisitions: the one, with the
sense of property—the other, of its privation. Both have the same
distaste for sentiment. The genteel are the slaves of appearances—the
vulgar, of necessity; and neither has the smallest regard to true
worth, refinement, generosity. All savages are irreclaimable. I can
understand the Irish character better than the Scotch. I hate the
formal crust of circumstances and the mechanism of society. I have
been recommended, indeed, to settle down into some respectable
profession for life:—
‘Ah! why so soon the blossom tear?’

I am ‘in no haste to be venerable!’

In thinking of those one might wish to have been, many people will
exclaim, ‘Surely, you would like to have been Shakspeare?’ Would
Garrick have consented to the change? No, nor should he; for the
applause which he received, and on which he lived, was more
adapted to his genius and taste. If Garrick had agreed to be
Shakspeare, he would have made it a previous condition that he was
to be a better player. He would have insisted on taking some higher
part than Polonius or the Grave-digger. Ben Jonson and his
companions at the Mermaid would not have known their old friend
Will in his new disguise. The modern Roscius would have scouted
the halting player. He would have shrunk from the parts of the
inspired poet. If others were unlike us, we feel it as a presumption
and an impertinence to usurp their place; if they were like us, it
seems a work of supererogation. We are not to be cozened out of our
existence for nothing. It has been ingeniously urged, as an objection
to having been Milton, that ‘then we should not have had the
pleasure of reading Paradise Lost.’ Perhaps I should incline to draw
lots with Pope, but that he was deformed, and did not sufficiently
relish Milton and Shakspeare. As it is, we can enjoy his verses and
their’s too. Why, having these, need we ever be dissatisfied with
ourselves? Goldsmith is a person whom I considerably affect,
notwithstanding his blunders and his misfortunes. The author of the
Vicar of Wakefield, and of Retaliation, is one whose temper must
have had something eminently amiable, delightful, gay, and happy in
it.
‘A certain tender bloom his fame o’erspreads.’

But then I could never make up my mind to his preferring Rowe and
Dryden to the worthies of the Elizabethan age; nor could I, in like
manner, forgive Sir Joshua—whom I number among those whose
existence was marked with a white stone, and on whose tomb might
be inscribed ‘Thrice Fortunate!’—his treating Nicholas Poussin with
contempt. Differences in matters of taste and opinion are points of
honour—‘stuff o’ the conscience’—stumbling-blocks not to be got
over. Others, we easily grant, may have more wit, learning,
imagination, riches, strength, beauty, which we should be glad to
borrow of them; but that they have sounder or better views of things,
or that we should act wisely in changing in this respect, is what we
can by no means persuade ourselves. We may not be the lucky
possessors of what is best or most desirable; but our notion of what
is best and most desirable we will give up to no man by choice or
compulsion; and unless others (the greatest wits or brightest
geniuses) can come into our way of thinking, we must humbly beg
leave to remain as we are. A Calvinistic preacher would not
relinquish a single point of faith to be the Pope of Rome; nor would a
strict Unitarian acknowledge the mystery of the Holy Trinity to have
painted Raphael’s Assembly of the Just. In the range of ideal
excellence, we are distracted by variety and repelled by differences:
the imagination is fickle and fastidious, and requires a combination
of all possible qualifications, which never met. Habit alone is blind
and tenacious of the most homely advantages; and after running the
tempting round of nature, fame, and fortune, we wrap ourselves up
in our familiar recollections and humble pretensions—as the lark,
after long fluttering on sunny wing, sinks into its lowly bed!
We can have no very importunate craving, nor very great
confidence, in wishing to change characters, except with those with
whom we are intimately acquainted by their works; and having these
by us (which is all we know or covet in them), what would we have
more? We can have no more of a cat than her skin; nor of an author
than his brains. By becoming Shakspeare in reality, we cut ourselves
out of reading Milton, Pope, Dryden, and a thousand more—all of
whom we have in our possession, enjoy, and are, by turns, in the best
part of them, their thoughts, without any metamorphosis or miracle
at all. What a microcosm is our’s! What a Proteus is the human
mind! All that we know, think of, or can admire, in a manner
becomes ourselves. We are not (the meanest of us) a volume, but a
whole library! In this calculation of problematical contingencies, the
lapse of time makes no difference. One would as soon have been
Raphael as any modern artist. Twenty, thirty, or forty years of
elegant enjoyment and lofty feeling were as great a luxury in the
fifteenth as in the nineteenth century. But Raphael did not live to see
Claude, nor Titian Rembrandt. Those who found arts and sciences
are not witnesses of their accumulated results and benefits; nor in
general do they reap the meed of praise which is their due. We who
come after in some ‘laggard age,’ have more enjoyment of their fame
than they had. Who would have missed the sight of the Louvre in all
its glory to have been one of those whose works enriched it? Would it
not have been giving a certain good for an uncertain advantage? No:
I am as sure (if it is not presumption to say so) of what passed
through Raphael’s mind as of what passes through my own; and I
know the difference between seeing (though even that is a rare
privilege) and producing such perfection. At one time I was so
devoted to Rembrandt, that I think, if the Prince of Darkness had
made me the offer in some rash mood, I should have been tempted to
close with it, and should have become (in happy hour, and in
downright earnest) the great master of light and shade!
I have run myself out of my materials for this Essay, and want a
well-turned sentence or two to conclude with; like Benvenuto Cellini,
who complains that, with all the brass, tin, iron, and lead he could
muster in the house, his statue of Perseus was left imperfect, with a
dent in the heel of it. Once more then—I believe there is one
character that all the world would be glad to change with—which is
that of a favoured rival. Even hatred gives way to envy. We would be
any thing—a toad in a dungeon—to live upon her smile, which is our
all of earthly hope and happiness; nor can we, in our infatuation,
conceive that there is any difference of feeling on the subject, or that
the pressure of her hand is not in itself divine, making those to whom
such bliss is deigned like the Immortal Gods!
 APHORISMS ON MAN

The Monthly Magazine.]

[October, 1830–June, 1831.

I
Servility is a sort of bastard envy. We heap our whole stock of
involuntary adulation on a single prominent figure, to have an excuse
for withdrawing our notice from all other claims (perhaps juster and
more galling ones), and in the hope of sharing a part of the applause
as train-bearers.
 II
Admiration is catching by a certain sympathy. The vain admire the
vain; the morose are pleased with the morose; nay, the selfish and
cunning are charmed with the tricks and meanness of which they are
witnesses, and may be in turn the dupes.
 III
Vanity is no proof of conceit. A vain man often accepts of praise as
a cheap substitute for his own good opinion. He may think more
highly of another, though he would be wounded to the quick if his
own circle thought so. He knows the worthlessness and hollowness
of the flattery to which he is accustomed, but his ear is tickled with
the sound; and the effeminate in this way can no more live without
the incense of applause, than the effeminate in another can live
without perfumes or any other customary indulgence of the senses.
Such people would rather have the applause of fools than the
approbation of the wise. It is a low and shallow ambition.
 IV
It was said of some one who had contrived to make himself
popular abroad by getting into hot water, but who proved very
troublesome and ungrateful when he came home—‘We thought him a
very persecuted man in India’—the proper answer to which is, that
there are some people who are good for nothing else but to be
persecuted. They want some check to keep them in order.
 V
It is a sort of gratuitous error in high life, that the poor are
naturally thieves and beggars, just as the latter conceive that the rich
are naturally proud and hard-hearted. Give a man who is starving a
thousand a-year, and he will be no longer under a temptation to get
himself hanged by stealing a leg of mutton for his dinner; he may still
spend it in gaming, drinking, and the other vices of a gentleman, and
not in charity, about which he before made such an outcry.
 VI
Do not confer benefits in the expectation of meeting with
gratitude; and do not cease to confer them because you find those
whom you have served ungrateful. Do what you think fit and right to
please yourself; the generosity is not the less real, because it does not
meet with a correspondent return. A man should study to get
through the world as he gets through St. Giles’s—with as little
annoyance and interruption as possible from the shabbiness around
him.
 VII
Common-place advisers and men of the world, are always
pestering you to conform to their maxims and modes, just like the
barkers in Monmouth-street, who stop the passengers by entreating
them to turn in and refit at their second-hand repositories.