That the Boll be divided into 4 Firlots, and contain 29 inches
within the boords, and above 27 and an half-inch even over, and
in deepness 19 inches; that the Firlot contain in breadth even
over 16 inches under and above within the boords, and in
deepness 9 inches; that the Firlot contain 2 gallons and a pint,
and the Pint to weigh, of the water of Tay 41 ounces or 2 pounds
9 ounces; so the Gallon weighs 20 pounds 8 ounces, the Firlot 41
pounds and the Boll 164 pounds.
This seems as clear as the water of Tay; unfortunately the three firlots
mentioned in the first half of the quotation are three different
firlots.
There is also a difficulty about the pint. An Act of James VI gives ‘the
pint of Stirling two pounds and nine ounces Trois, of clear water,’ the
same weight as above. But another and previous Act of the same king
(1618) orders ‘that the Pint weigh three pounds seven ounces Trois of
the running water of the Water of Leith’; and this pint is also called
the Stirling Pint, Jug or Stoup, so there were two pints, as well as
several firlots.
Of the two pints, the standard of one is still extant, which we will
call the Stirling Jug or larger pint. It contains 104·2 cubic inches =
60·1 ounces of water, almost exactly 3 Imperial pints, and was 55 ounces
or 3 lb. 7 oz. Scots of water. It was not an aliquot part of any of the
firlots, but was itself a standard basis of measure, of which the firlot
might be 18, 19, 21-1/4, &c. There is little doubt that it was one of
the ‘Kanne’ of North Germany (Du. _stoop_); these kanne vary at the
present day between 2·83 pints in Bremen and 3·2 pints in Hamburg. There
was in Prussia until quite recently the Metze of 6 pints or 120·8
ounces, almost exactly twice the larger Stirling Jug.
The other pint, of 41 Scots ounces = 44-1/2 English ounces or 2-1/4
pints, was not a standard measure. It was merely a divisional unit,
one-sixteenth of the above-described wine firlot containing 41 lb.
Scots, or 44-1/2 English pounds, of water. This firlot was divided into
2 gallons = 20-1/2 lb. Scots, or 22-1/4 English pounds; and the gallon
into 8 pints of 41 ounces Scots.
What was the origin of this firlot, or rather of the Boll, of which it
was a fourth? There is only one measure with which it has any affinity:
the half-Cargo of Marseilles,[31] divided like it, sexdecimally. The two
series run thus:
SCOTLAND MARSEILLES (original Standard)
Imp. Gall. Imp. Gall.
Boll 164 lb. Scots = 17·8 Half-Cargo = 17·76
Firlot 41 „ = 4·45 Panau, Eimino = 4·43
Gallon 20-1/2 „ = 2·22 Half-Eimino = 2·21
Pint, Jug 41 oz. = 2·2 Pechié (Pitcher) = 2·21
Footnote 31:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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