MEGALITHIC MADNESS AND MEASUREMENT. OR HOW MANY OLIVES COULD AN OLIVE PRESS PRESS?

Summary. Nineteenth century explorers and travellers in north-west Libya were intrigued by the hundreds of well-preserved stone structures which they took to be prehistoric megaliths of ritual significance. H.S. Cowper made a particular study of them in this belief, measuring, sketching and photographing quite a number of the monuments. The admirably meticulous character of his work was undone by his fanciful interpretation and it was soon revealed that the stone structures were, in fact, parts of Roman olive presses.
This article, however, considers the lasting importance of Cowper's work in the context of a detailed discussion of the processing capacity of ancient olive presses (that is what quantity of olives comprised a single press load and how much olive oil was likely to be yielded). Comparison with literary and ethnographic evidence suggests that the Tripolitanian presses had a large potential capacity. An order of magnitude figure of c. 9–10,000 kg is proposed for the annual output of olive oil from one of these large presses.     

John Robinson's ‘State’ for the General Election of 1774

This note prints two documents of the 1774 general election compiled by John Robinson, secretary to the treasury. One is a list of the old house of commons in the summer of 1774, prior to its dissolution. MPs are listed, from the government standpoint, as Pro, Hopeful, Doubtful and Con. The other document is a list of the constituencies with the same political designations for MPs, both for the existing house of commons and the expected new House: no names are given for actual or prospective MPs. The election saw an unusually large number of contests, with 183 seats at stake in 102 constituencies, a higher total than has hitherto been known.