MILE. This word is derived from =Ware, the nzille passes, or thousand paces, of the Romans. Each pace was 5 feet, and each foot certainly contained between and 11.64 modern English inches. [WEicsas AND MEASURES.] Taking the Roman foot at English inches, the original Roman mile was therefore 1614 yards, or nine tenths and one-sixtieth of an English statute mile, very nearly; while the English mile is a Roman mile and nine-hundredths of a Roman mile, very nearly.
The English statute mile is 8 furlongs, each of 220 yards, or 40 poles of 54 yards or 164 feet each. It is also 80 surveying chains of 22 yards each. It is therefore 1760 yards, or 5280 feet. The square mile is 6400 square chains, or 640 acres.
The remains of the Roman mile and the Gallic or Celtic league [LEAGUE] are found in the itinerary measures of most European countries. The following list (taken from Kelly's Cambist,' except the statement of the Roman mile) will show the itinerary measures of various countries, as they are usually reputed in English yards and statute miles. We have placed them in order of magnitude. The last column shows in round numbers how many of each make 1000 statute miles :— The metrical mile of 1000 French metres, or one kilometre, or 1093 English yards, is put down among the measures of France, Italy, and the Netherlands ; the geographical mile, or the sixtieth of a degree of latitude, or about 2025 yards, is used in England and Italy; the geo graphical league of three euch miles, or 6075 yards, is used in England and France ; the German geographical mile is four English geogra phical miles, or 8100 yards ; the short mile used in Poland (which is also the league of Brabant) is the geographical league (6076 yards), and the long mile of the same country is the German geographical mile (8101 yards), which is also the length of the mile in Holland. The Arabian mile is 2148 yards ; the Chinese li 632 yards ; the Persian parasang 6086 yards ; the Russian werst 1167 yards ; and the Turkish berri 1826 yards. All the preceding statements relative to modern measures rest on the authority of the work cited.
This diversity of itinerary measures, particularly as observable in countries which were formerly under Roman sway, can only be con jecturally explained ; partly by supposing that the mile (Roman) and the league ( Celtic ) were in process of time confounded with each other (as lngulphus asserts to have been the case in England), partly by recurring to the well-known tendency to give the same name to measures which were multiples one of the other. [LEAGUE.] It would be much beyond us to attempt any derivation of the preceding anomalous measures, either from the mile or the league, and we shall in the present article confine ourselves to the history of the English mile.
It will be necessary to treat this subject at some length, on account of the manner in which our metrologists and antiquaries have passed It over. The legal history is simply this ; that pre viously to the reign of Elizabeth the statutes on weights and measures confined themselves entirely to the regulation of the smaller standards ; while in the 35th year of that queen an act was passed which (perhaps undesignedly on the part of its framers) has fixed the mile at its present length. This statute, though it is always appealed to LI if made for the purpose of settling the ques tion, yet in fact does nothing more than incidentally define a mile for a particular purpose. Persona are forbidden to build within three mike of London, and the smile is to be 8 furlongs of 40 perches of 16i feet each. But whether this mile had become common, and only wanted the sanction of law, whether it was a new measure intended to be generally enforced, or whether it was meant as the measure for the particular purpose indicated, and for that purpose only, cannot be gathered, at least from the recital in the Statutes at large. It will however subsequently appear that we are not with out something like a probable account of the derivation of the measure; end whatever doubt may rest upon the meaning of the statute, it was considered by an authority of the reign of James I. (Cowell) as a general declaration of the length of the mile. Pre viously however to the act of Elizabeth it may be doubted whether any uniform mile was In existence. Most unquestionably many, per haps moat, writers made use of a mile of 5000 feet, probably not being aware of the English foot having become longer than the Roman, and intending to use the Roman mile.. (See the citations in LEAGUE.) Thus, Roger Bacon, in his general description of the earth, follows (except as hereinafter mentioned) the Latin writers, and uses their mile as a matter of course, without the least warning of his being aware that he was using a measure different from the popular one of his time. Accordingly, in a writer on any mathematical or cosmographical topic the mile may be presumed to have 5000 feet. If however the subject had any connection with astronomy, and if Arabian writers were referred to, it was not unusual to use the Arabian mile of 2000 yards (according to Roger Bacon's estimation, Jebb, p. 1411.