GAS PRESSURE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Gas pressure

... same level in both arms, but when the cock is opened, the gas whose pressure is being measured forces the mercury up the opposite arm. If the pressure of the gas is small, the mercury changes its level but very little. It is clear that the height of a column of mercury is a measure of the gas pressure. Now it is known that one cubic inch of mercury weighs about half a pound. Hence a column of mercury one inch high indicates a pressure of about one half pound to the square inch; a column two inches high indicates a pressure of about one pound to the square ...

— General Science • Bertha M. Clark