Note 92 — NO. XVII.—BABYLON.
Reading edition
It must be confessed, indeed, that in the comparison of ancient and modern measures, nothing certain has been concluded. According to vulgar computation, a cubit is a foot and a half; and thus the ancients also reckoned it; but then we are not certainly agreed about the length of their foot.—Montfaucon.
The doubt expressed by Montfaucon appears unnecessary; these measures being taken from the proportions of the human body, are more permanent than any other. The foot of a moderately-sized man, and the cubit—(that is, the space from the end of the fingers to the elbow), have always been twelve and eighteen inches respectively.—Beloe.