In Belgium the proportion of 29 hectolitres to 10 quarters is officially recognised; masters complain that this is much against the ship. The remedy is to fix the French measures when chartering.

RUSSIA.

1 Tschetwert wheat weighing 10 poods=0.72 quarters.

The conventional weights and measures in usage in this place are as follows:

100 Chetwerts hard wheat equal to

......

70 quarters.

:

ODESSA

1 pood 36 lbs.; 63 poods=1 ton; 37 vedros=100 gallons.

SALONICA

PANORMA

JEDDAH

SPAIN

72 quarters English=100 tschewerts; 1 pood=36 lbs. English; 1 vedro 10 quarters English.

1 kilo grain 4 bushels=3.78 kilos of Smyrna.

1 kilo grain-1 Winchester bushel.

100 ardebs=63 English quarters; 54 kilos=1 ardeb.
At Setubal 1 moie is equal to about two-thirds of a ton.

447. GRAVITY (SPECIFIC). From the following table of specific gravities, the weights of bodies may be calculated from cubical measurement. By specific gravity is meant the weight of bodies compared with similar bulks of water. Thus, a cubic foot of water weighs 1,000 ounces; by reference to the table, turpentine will be found 872, meaning that a cubic foot will weigh 872 ounces;

iron 7,780, meaning that a cubic foot will weigh 7,780 ounces. By taking the cubical measurement of any body the weight may be ascertained by multiplying into its weight in water the number found against its name in the following table. Thus, suppose we have a 100 bars of iron, each one inch square and 10 feet long, the cubical contents are found by multiplying 10 feet long by 1-144ths of a square foot, or 00694, the product being 0694 of a cubical foot. As a cubic foot of water weighs 1,000 ounces the weight of a bulk of water equal to the bulk of the bar will be 06,944 × 1,000=6·946 × 100 bars=6,946 ounces or 434 lbs. x 7.78, the figures opposite in the table. The product is 3,376 lbs.

448. GROATS or Grits are oats freed from their husks. Eight sacks of Irish groats go to a ton.

449. GROUND NUTS, shelled. Bombay ton 16 cwt.

450. GUANO. The original name of guano is huanu, which is a term in the Quichua dialect, meaning "animal dung;" for example huanacuhuanu, excrement of the huanu. As the word is now generally used, it is an abbreviation of pishu huanu, bird-dung. The Spaniards have converted the final syllable nu into no, as they do in all words adopted from the Quichua which have the like termination. The European orthography, guano, which is also followed in Spanish America, is quite erroneous; for the Quichua language wants the letter g, as it does several other consonants. Spaniards pronounce the word as if written wauno; the gu and hu in Spanish being equivalent to one w. The guano districts of Bolivia are under Forsyth Island, Constitution Roads; also in Mexilones Bay; and Paquiqui; the guano districts of Peru for foreign vessels are the Chincha Islands.

451. The best guano is the excrement of sea-fowl and seals, allowed to accumulate in countries where there is no rain; it sometimes includes the bodies of seals, which seek the highest points of land on feeling the approach of death. It owes its virtue as a manure, first to the presence of ammoniacal salts, and secondly to that of the phosphate of lime or bone earth, derived from the bones of fish, &c.

452. To test the ammonia, put a spoonful of guano and a spoonful of powdered quick lime in a mortar, and rub them with a pestle for a few seconds; if the guano be genuine the smell will

resemble that of a bottle of salts, and will make the eyes water in the same manner. In this way it may be proved whether the sample be guano or not, and the strength of different samples may be estimated by the comparative strength or effluvia of the ammonia disengaged. To test for the phosphate of lime, place a small quantity (say 100 grains) in an iron ladle or earthenware pipkin, or any similar vessel, and heat it red hot over a clear fire for twenty minutes; if the guano be genuine it will be reduced to a white ash, weighing about 35 grains; if the 100 grains, when burned, weigh much more than 35 grains, it is not genuine, or contains an undue proportion of sand or similar matter.

453. The ashes from genuine guano will be found to be phosphate of lime, nearly pure. If it be required to prove this, a small bottle of acetic acid or white vinegar will dissolve the phosphate and hold it in solution, leaving the silica and alumina (probably amounting to three or four grains) undissolved. The ashes should be left in the acetic acid for two days, and the bottle shaken occasionally. It is assumed that the guano to be tested is dry.

454. Professor NESBITT says "good Peruvian guano ought to contain 16 or 17 cent. of ammonia, and from 25 to 30 cent. of the phosphate of lime." He made an experiment as follows:-A stoppered bottle, capable of holding 3,000 grains of water, had four ounces avoirdupois of good guano placed in it. Water was then added, and the materials shaken until well mixed. A little more water was added, and the bottle again agitated, and then allowed to rest for three or four minutes to permit the air bubbles to arise. The bottle was now filled completely with water, the froth running over; the stopper was then gently, but accurately, fitted to its place, and the bottle wiped with a cloth. A counterpoise, previously made equal to the weight of the bottle alone, was then placed in one pan of a small pair of ordinary scales, and the bottle, with the guano, in the other. From a numerous series of experiments, it was found that the bottle and the guano, on an average, weighed 664 grains more than the bottle and water alone: that is, the water in the bottle would weigh 3,000 grains, and the guano and water 3,664 grains.

COMPOSITION OF GOOD PERUVIAN GUANO.

Water

Organic matter, and ammoniacal salts*

Phosphates of lime and magnesia (bone earth)

17:400

49.970

23.660

Alkaline salts, chiefly chlorides of potassium and sodium...
Sand

7:430

1.540

* Yielding Ammonia ...... 18.96

100.000

T