Page:On the economy of machinery and manufactures - Babbage - 1846.djvu/198

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164
OF RAW MATERIALS.

(212.) We may trace the relative influence of the two causes above referred to, in the prices of fine gold chains made at Venice. The sizes of these chains are known by numbers, the smallest having been (in 1828) No. 1, and the numbers 2, 3, 4, &c. progressively increasing in size. The following Table shews the numbers and the prices of those made at that time.[1] The first column gives the number by which the chain is known; the second expresses the weight in grains of one inch in length of each chain; the third column the number of links in the same length; and the last expresses the price, in francs worth ten-pence each, of a Venetian braccio, or about two English feet of each chain.

VENETIAN GOLD CHAINS.
No. Weight of
One Inch, in Grains.
Number of Links
in One Inch.
Price of a Venetian
Braccio, equal to
Two Feet 1/8 Inch
English.
0
1
11/2
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
24
.44
.56
.77
.99
1.46
1.61
2.09
2.61
3.36
3.65
3.72
5.35
9.71
98 to 100
92
88
84
72
64
64
60
56
56
56
50
32
60 francs.
40
26
20
20
21
23
24
27
29
32
34
60
  1. A still finer chain is now manufactured (1832).