a measure of capacity for things dry; as grains, pulse, dry fruits, &c. containing four pecks, or eight gallons, or one-eighth of a quarter.

Du Cange derives the word from bussellus, bustellus, or bisellus, a diminutive of bus, or busa, used in the corrupt Latin for the same thing; others derive it from bussulus, an urn, wherein lots were cast; which seems to be a corruption from buxulas. Bussellus appears to have been first used for a liquid measure of wine, equal to eight gallons. Octo librae faciunt galonem viini, et octo galones viini faciunt bussellum London, quae est octava pars quarterr. It was soon after transferred to the dry measure of corn of the same quantity.—Pondus octo librorum frumenti facit bussellum, de quibus octo consistit quarterrum.

By 12 Henry VII. c. 5. a bushel is to contain 8 gallons of wheat; the gallon 8 pounds of wheat troy weight; the pound 12 ounces troy-weight; the ounce 20 shillings; and the sterling 32 grains or corns of wheat, growing in the midst of the ear. This standard bushel is kept in the Exchequer; when being filled with common spring-water, and the water measured before the house of commons in 1696, in a regular parallelopped, it was found to contain 2145.6 solid inches; and the said water being weighted, amounted to 1131 ounces and 14 penny-weights troy. Besides the standard or legal bushel, we have several local bushels, of different dimensions in different places. At Abington and Andover, a bushel contains nine gallons; at Appleby and Penrith, a bushel of pease, rye, and wheat, contains 16 gallons; of barley, big, malt, mixt malt, and oats, 20 gallons. A bushel contains, at Carlisle, 24 gallons; at Chester, a bushel of wheat, rye, &c. contains 32 gallons, and of oats 40; at Dorchester, a bushel of malt and oats con- At Paris, the bushel is divided into 2 half-bushels; the half-bushel into 2 quarts; the quart into 2 half-quarts; the half-quart into 2 litrons; and the litron into 2 half-litrons. By a sentence of the provost of the merchants of Paris, the bushel is to be 8 inches 2½ lines high, and 10 inches in diameter; the quart 4 inches 9 lines high, and 6 inches 9 lines wide; the half-quart 4 inches 3 lines high, and 5 inches diameter; the litron 2½ inches high, and 3 inches 10 lines in diameter. Three bushels make a minot, 6 a mine, 12 a septier, and 144 a muid. In other parts of France the bushel varies: 14½ bushels of Amboise and Tours make the Paris septier. Twenty bushels of Avignon make 3 Paris septiers. Twenty bushels of Blois make 1 Paris septier. Two bushels of Bordeaux make 1 Paris septier. Thirty-two bushels of Rochelle make 19 Paris septiers. Oats are measured in a double proportion to other grains; so that 24 bushels of oats make a septier, and 248 a muid. The bushel of oats is divided into 5 picotins, the picotin into 2 half-quarts, or 4 litrons. For salt, 4 bushels make a minot, and 6 a septier. For coals, 8 bushels make a minot, 16 a mine, and 320 a muid. For lime, 3 bushels make a minot, and 48 minots a muid. Such were the measures by bushel before the revolution; for the changes that have since taken place, see Measure and Weight.