THE student of the Bible meets with some difficulty in adapting the names of weights, measures and coins, to the standards now in use, and finds that the authorities are not agreed upon the precise signification of the Bible terms used in relation to these subjects. These difficulties and discrepancies arise from three facts: 1. The Oriental mind has never been accustomed to the exactness of our systems of measurement. Among eight cubit measures found on the Egyptian monuments, no two were precisely alike. 2. The models or standards of weights and measures referred to in Hebrew history were long ago lost, and it is not easy to reproduce them. 3. The Jews adopted the measurements of peoples among whom they were dispersed, yet often retained the names of such of their own as were nearest to them in amount, so that at different periods in Bible history the standard was different. The same word may refer to different measurements at different times. We have adopted in this section the measurements of F. R. and C. R. Conder in "The Hand Book of the Bible," except where other authorities are specified. [Illustration: SMALLER MEASURES OF LENGTH.] I. =Smaller Measures of Length.= 1. The lowest dimension, as in our own table of linear measure, was the Barleycorn. 2. Two barleycorns laid endways made the Finger-breadth (Hebrew, Atzbah), two-thirds of an inch. 3. Four finger-breadths made the Palm (Heb., Tupah), 2-2/3 inches. 4. Sometimes the Hand-breadth and Palm are the same; elsewhere, the hand-breadth (Heb., Zereth) is double the palm, or 5-1/3 inches. 5. Three palms made the Span (Heb., Sit), 8 inches, the width of the outspread hand, from the end of the thumb to that of the little finger. 6. Four palms made the Foot (Heb., Regal), 10-2/3 inches. 7. Six palms made the Cubit (Heb., Ameh), 16 inches (Conder), or the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, when held in a straight line. The cubit, however, varied (just as the pound with us varies in troy and avoirdupois weight), as indicated in the expressions "the cubit of a man" (Deut. 3:11), "a great cubit" (Ezek. 41:8), etc. In the length of the cubit, authorities vary from 15 to 21 inches. We have adopted the general opinion, and place it, conjecturally, at a foot and a half, or 18 inches.