E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Gunter’s Chain,
for land surveying, is so named from Edmund Gunter, its inventor (1581–1626). It is sixty-six feet long, and divided into one hundred links. As ten square chains make an acre, it follows that an acre contains 100,000 square links.
1
According to Gunter. According to measurement by Gunter’s chain.
