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The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898; Volume 47, 1728-1759: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century

History

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898; Volume 47, 1728-1759: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century

Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources

to make the standards [of weight]. In fact, they were made by this
rule, weights of metal being made which should correspond to one,
two, and three grains of wheat, and which together should weigh as
much as the weight which is called a grano of silver; another of one,
two, and three granos of this sort, the aggregate of which should be
equivalent to the weight of one adarme; and by this [were established]
the rest of the weights corresponding [to those of Castilla], as far
as that one which would contain one onza, from which resulted the
greater weights of libras and arrobas. Metal weights were also made
equivalent to half a grain of wheat, and to one-fourth, one-eighth,
one-sixteenth, and one-thirty-second of a grain, which last is the
same as the eleven hundred and fifty-second part of the adarme; or,
if this latter weight were divided into so many and small parts,
each one of them would alike agree with the weight made for the
thirty-second part of the grain of wheat.



The standard of weight kept in the repository

This careful attention to details is better set forth by a statement of
the skill and delicacy [displayed] in the construction of the weighing
instrument which serves as standard in this capital, and is kept in the
archives in the building of the municipal cabildo; it is a work which
for its elegance might be valued in any one of the principal cities
of España and of the Indias. It is a small one, such as is required
by the weights which it carries; it is made in the form of a cross, of
rich tombac [32] and the finest gold. In the semicircle which indicates
the play of the index needle, a pendent pearl serves as ornament. The
scales are of the same metal, gold and tombac, and the silken threads
which sustain them of silk dyed red. The whole instrument works with
so rigid exactness that when the smallest weight--a thirty-second of
a grain of wheat, or the eleven hundred and fifty-second part of an
adarme--which is an almost imperceptible amount, is placed in either
of the said scales the index of this steelyard shows the difference.



Remarkable agreement of weights

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898; Volume 47, 1728-1759: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century

Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources

to make the standards [of weight]. In fact, they were made by this
rule, weights of metal being made which should correspond to one,
two, and three grains of wheat, and which together should weigh as
much as the weight which is called a grano of silver; another of one,
two, and three granos of this sort, the aggregate of which should be
equivalent to the weight of one adarme; and by this [were established]
the rest of the weights corresponding [to those of Castilla], as far
as that one which would contain one onza, from which resulted the
greater weights of libras and arrobas. Metal weights were also made
equivalent to half a grain of wheat, and to one-fourth, one-eighth,
one-sixteenth, and one-thirty-second of a grain, which last is the
same as the eleven hundred and fifty-second part of the adarme; or,
if this latter weight were divided into so many and small parts,
each one of them would alike agree with the weight made for the
thirty-second part of the grain of wheat.



The standard of weight kept in the repository

This careful attention to details is better set forth by a statement of
the skill and delicacy [displayed] in the construction of the weighing
instrument which serves as standard in this capital, and is kept in the
archives in the building of the municipal cabildo; it is a work which
for its elegance might be valued in any one of the principal cities
of España and of the Indias. It is a small one, such as is required
by the weights which it carries; it is made in the form of a cross, of
rich tombac [32] and the finest gold. In the semicircle which indicates
the play of the index needle, a pendent pearl serves as ornament. The
scales are of the same metal, gold and tombac, and the silken threads
which sustain them of silk dyed red. The whole instrument works with
so rigid exactness that when the smallest weight--a thirty-second of
a grain of wheat, or the eleven hundred and fifty-second part of an
adarme--which is an almost imperceptible amount, is placed in either
of the said scales the index of this steelyard shows the difference.



Remarkable agreement of weights

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

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