Tue European foot-measure has come down from the Greeks and Romans, and singularly enough it has nearly kept its value through two thousand years. Thus the Roman foot com. pared with the English is found to be 11.6 inches, while the Greek is 12.13 inches. The variation is at th one-twenty-fourth of a foot. This is a proof of steady adherence to old custom in measurements, and the differ. ence in the value of the old and new Chinese foot is so much the more remarkable. The present number of values to the Chinese foot is very large, and they range from less than ten inches, in"the ense of the carpenter's rule at Ningpo, to nearly sixteen inches in the ease of the foot used by jauk builders at Shanghai. Between these wide extremes, a medium value of 12 inches is not common, The house-bauder's foot in Peking,{for instance, is not more than three-eighths over an English foot, This agrees very nearly with the foot used by the Board of Works, a diagram of which is prin ted in the illustrations to the la Tsing Huei Tien in the fortieth chapter, and measures 124 English inches. The old regulation foot made of a bamboo tube is stated to be eight-tenths of this (more nearly ystbs) and the tailor's foot is stated to be one inch, and Zvesths of the same. The Board of Works's foot is of course used in the construction of all Imperial buildings and articles for Palace use, All residence of official persons, all public bridges, all Imperial temples, all erect tions in Palace grounds and parks, when built or repaired, will call this foot into employment. This is doubtless the ranson that the Peking care penters have it, or at least ouo not differing more than the eighth of an inch from it, Under these circumstances it is plain that the foot of 12} English inches is the best for foreigners to regard as a standard measure. The Shanghai enrpentor's foot of eleven inches is too short to be regarded as a standard, and the tailor's foot of fourteen inches too long.
A very interesting relic, 8 copper foot-measure of the date A.D. 81, is preserved in the Temple of Confucius under the care of his descendant the Dake styled Yon Sheng Kung, at Chiifu Hsien in Shantung. It is 94 inches long and of an inch wide, The day of its manufacture is engraved upon it, It is eaid to be one ordered to be made after the size of a foot-mensure made of jade, found at that time under. ground in the land occupied by one of the public offices, and belonging to the Chou dynasty. But in fact it is inch and a half longer, for there is algo a Chou dynasty foot-measure pre. served, and this measures eight English inches, as given in a native book containing copies of antique objects. It is very advantageous to have these and other ancient relics of the times long past. They help us to form a vivid picture of China as she was in the days of Confucius and the great Han revival. The width of the foot mensure was an inch, so that when the copper foot was graded, it present. ed to the eye ten perfect squares, Copper cash were made of such a size, sometimes, as just to cover an inch on the foot measure. There is an account preserved in the history of the T'sin dynasty of a discovery made in the year 273, It was found that the foot bad increased half an inch during the preceding two centuries, A difference in the dimensions of musical instruments resulted. Want of har-many was the consequence, and this suggested a careful comparison with the old measures, An order was given to follow the ancient Chou dynasty ritual, and construct another exactly the same in length, This was issued with the year 274 inscribed on it. Now we have a foot measure of the period, and it measures according to the native drawing nine English inches. It ha no date on it, and must be a local measure different from the oe just
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.