Hand (unit) inches for the handsbreadth; Mortimer gives the same, three inches for the Hand's-breadth, and four for the "Handful, or simply, Hand", but adds "The hand among horse-dealers, &c. is four-fingers' breadth, being the fist clenched, whereby the height of a horse is measured", thus equating "hand" with both the palm and the fist. Similarly, Wright's 1831 translation of Buffon mentions "A hand breadth (palmus), the breadth of the four fingers of the hand, or three inches", but the "Encyclopædia Perthensis" of 1816 gives under Palm (4): "A hand, or measure of lengths comprising three inches". Today the hand is used
The Measure of Civilization eastern and western civilizations across 15,000 years. The International Studies Association and Social Science History Association devoted panels to discussing the book at their 2013 annual meetings. The book has been translated into Chinese. The Measure of Civilization The Measure of Civilization: How Social Development Decides the Fate of Nations is a history book by the British historian Ian Morris, published in January 2013. It is the companion volume to Morris's 2010 award-winning book, "Why the West Rules—For Now". The book explains in details the evidence and statistical methods used to construct the social development index in "Why the West