19

Logic II 19

had its own pound, like its own patois. See the article
"pound" in the Century Dictionary, which was based on a list of
some three hundred of such pounds whose values were known to me, with their
a list now kept in MS. in the Astor Library. That the same
state of things must have been true in ancient Egypt may
be inferred from the looseness of the tie which bound the
different provinces of that empire together. Even their religions were
different; so that a fortiori their kets would be so. Besides, non
of the kets carry any authoritative mark; which is pretty
conclusive proof that the central government did not intervene.
It is, therefore, probable that the five standards were
those of five towns with which Naucratis carried on trade.
Yet virtual standards may be created in other ways. For example,
when where government does not insure uniformity in weights, it
is usual for buyers to bring their own weights. These It would thus
naturally happen that some balance-weights would be manufactured for the
use of buyers, and others for the use of sellers, and thus there