Pound
Pound names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Pound a unit of weight
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a unit of weight. Pounds are of different kinds, as pounds Troy (containing 12 ounces), pounds avoirdupois (containing 16 ounces), etc. A cubic inch of distilled water, at 62° F., the barometer being 30 inches, weighs 252.458 Troy grains, and the Troy pound is equal to 5,760 of these grains. The avoirdupois pound is equal to 7,000 Troy grains, so that the Troy pound is to the avoirdupois as 144 to 175. Pound is also the principal English coin of account, and corresponding to the "coin of circulation" called a sovereign, of the value of about $4.80. It is divided into 20 shillings or 240 pence, and weighs 123.27447 Troy grains (7.98805 grammes), as determined by the British Mint regulation, in virtue of which a mass of gold weighing 40 pounds Troy is coined into 1,869 sovereigns. The name is derived from the fact that in the time of the Conqueror, one Tower pound of silver was coined into 240 silver pence; Tower pennyweight was whence the really and truly the weight of a penny. The word is also applied to an inclo inclosure, erected by authority, in which cattle or other beasts found straying are impounded or confined.
Pound ROSCOE, American legal scholar and educator
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
ROSCOE, American legal scholar and educator, was born at Lincoln, Nebraska, Oct. 27, 1870. He was graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1888 and studied law for two years at the Harvard Law School, being admitted to the bar in 1890. In 1899 he became professor of law in the University of Nebraska and was afterward professor of law successively at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and the Harvard Law School, of which institution he was chosen dean in 1916. He has written authoritative books on Roman and modern law, and in 1921 was nominated by several foreign countries for one of the judgeships on the Court of International Justice. PROHIBITION. (See UNITED STATES, 1921: ANTI-BEER ACT.) (See DIRECTION FINDER.)
Pound The pound is a standard weight
The Encyclopedia of Founding (1892)
The pound is a standard weight, and consists of 16 ounces avoirdupois, or 12 ounces Troy. The avoirdupois pound weighs 7000 Troy grains, and the Troy pound 5760 grains.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's fixed the pound sterling at "about $4.80" and 240 pence; Britain left the gold standard in 1931 and decimalised on 15 February 1971, so a pound is now 100 pence and floats, trading nearer $1.20-$1.30 in recent years. The weight has been pinned down rather than replaced: since the international agreement of 1959 the avoirdupois pound is defined as exactly 0.45359237 kilogramme, making it a derived metric unit, while the troy pound of 5,760 grains survives only for precious metals. Roscoe Pound, described in 1921 as newly chosen dean of Harvard Law, held that post until 1936 and died in 1964, remembered chiefly as the founder of "sociological jurisprudence" and one of the most-cited American legal thinkers of his century.
Written for this edition, 2026.