Weights and Measures in Scotland: A European Perspective (review)

This is a big book—842 pages of meticulously researched detail accompanied by wonderful illustrations. It is divided into two parts. The first tells the history of approximately eight centuries of north Britain's weights and measures (roughly from the end of the twelfth to the end of the nineteenth century), and the second comprises text and pictures illustrating the vast range of metrological standards. If the expression "labor of love" has any meaning, it surely applies to this work. It is not, however, always a gripping read. The winding trails and messy histories of weights and measures are not easy to follow. This is not the fault of the authors, R. D. Connor and A. D. C. Simpson, but simply reflects the nature of the subject and suggests why metrology has been neglected by historians.

One of the central themes concerns the mutation of Scottish metrological standards through European trade. Even though dominated by English influences, much of the basis for standards came through commerce with the Low Countries and France. The other principal focus is on everyday practices. Weights and measures originally gained their meaning (and practice of gauging) from local understandings of the objects being exchanged. As the narrative develops, it becomes clear that the emergence of an integrated national market required a reduction in the number of different types of weights and measures (and containers). This became particularly true after Scotland joined England and Wales in the Act of Union in 1707.

From the outset, material artifacts play an important role in informing the authors' history. There is, of course, very little material that actually records how weights and measures were used (as opposed to prescribed) in customary practice. Connor and Simpson conclude that "It would be fair to say that we could not have reached our conclusions about the customary allowances without the independent evidence of crucial surviving items" (p. xiii). The result is entirely successful and demonstrates how important it is for historians of technology to engage with material culture.

There is much to admire about this book, from the analysis on the interaction of the marketplace and legislation to the influence of trade with England and Europe—especially France and the Low Countries. It also sheds light on the actors who influenced the forging of weights and measures—from politicians and state officials to instrument makers and philosophical advisors. The authors trace the rise of precision measurement in eighteenth-century Scotland and show how this informed the country's metrology. Despite an official desire for a single system of metrological standards after the early seventeenth century, the chance of this actually happening was for a long time negligible. Different transactions tended to define the type of weights, while assize definitions were not constant and alternative weights were used for foreign or domestic operations. Attempts to obtain original standards and compare them to prevailing legislation typically failed.

One impediment to establishing standards concerned differences among state institutions holding original weights and measures. Metrological standards in Scotland (as in the whole of Europe) had no abstract denomination, and accounting for the weight or measure of a commodity was a qualitative process that varied from region to region, and indeed within regions. It was a process suited to small communities and local markets. Consequently, it was extremely difficult to make measures accountable to a centralized source of social authority.

The problematic introduction of the metric system in France is well-known, but an equally stormy history accompanied the Act of Union in 1707 when an attempt was made to force the English system of weights and measures on Scotland. The Scots would have none of it; Scotland simply used two systems. The Scottish courts defended the continued use of local measures for internal trade, while London directed customs and excise to collect duties using English measures. Trying to make a coherent and therefore predictable tax policy under...