Feets Don't Fail Me Now

Introducing the foot: one of those "fractions of a Cubit".

But the foot is also a multiple of the "palm" (breadth of four fingers), and a multiple of the "digit" (breadth of middle finger at the middle).

The picture implies that the foot is based on the length of a foot, which is it what we would assume. And the foot is a much better body part than the forearm to base a measurement on.

The importance of the fathom throughout history is, er, unfathomable.

It does seem a bit odd, though. We associate fathoms with ocean depths (a vertical measurement), yet the fathom is determined by the outstreched arms of the galley master (a horizontal measurement). Isn't the length of person's outstretched arms supposed to roughly equal his height? And if so, why not make the fathom equal to the height of the guy at front of the boat?

Check out that crazy method for determing the length of the rod! More feet, this time at church.

The cubit is looking better all the time.

We also learn that man (silly, silly man) prefers measurements he can see and verify, to those that are still theory as "he fights the acceptance of the decimal system."

We all know what "decimal system" is code for: Metric System.

Is this innocent little comic part of a Euro-plot to foist the metric system on the unsuspecting youth of America?

Let's read on, with a wary eye.