grain

グレイン　—　Measuring

An English and American unit of weight. One grain is about 0.0648 grams.

Flowing Hair dollar1794

The United States Coinage Act of 1792 defined one dollar as three hundred seventy-one and one-quarter grains of silver. This weight was determined by assaying Spanish eight-real silver coins. The Gold Standard Act of 1900 redefined the dollar as twenty-five and eight-tenths grains of gold, nine-tenths fine.

In India, too, weights are expressed in this unit. The silver tanka of Iltutmish in the thirteenth century was one hundred seventy-five grains, Sher Shah's rupiya was one hundred seventy-eight grains, and the uniform coinage of 1835 was one hundred eighty grains.

⚠ Over six hundred years, the change was only five grains. No one wanted to alter it because the people receiving the coins were accustomed to it.