Other units

The Egyptian Cubit

Contrary to various claims, Thomas Jefferson opposed metric, one reason being its failure to coordinate time with length, volume or weight. In this respect, the French scientists- who invented the metric system were not as efficient as the ancient Egyptians who related their measurement system directly to time 4,000 years ago. They did this by making 1 second of rotation of the vault of heaven (sidereal time) equal 1000 geographic cubits. Thus the cubit is really far more scientific than the meter is.

Sidereal time means that when a star is directly over one point on the ground, 1 second later the same star will be directly over another point 1000 cubits from the first, westwardly in line with the earth's rotation from the first point. The inventors of the metric system should have looked up the history of Egyptian measurement.

Barleycorns and shoe sizes

"It is ordained that three grains of barley, dry and round, do make an inch."

There is a relic of this in shoe sizes; a number 8, for instance, is 11" long, a number 9 is 11-1/3", a number 10 is 11-2/3", the sizes increasing by 1/3 of an inch, i.e. a barleycorn. Some old books, by the way, go even lower than the barleycorn, and give twelve hairsbreadths = 1 poppy-seed; four poppy seeds = 1 barleycorn.