LECTURE X. 



THE YARD, THE PENDULUM, AND THE 



METRE. 



CONSIDERED IN REFERENCE TO THE CHOICE OF A 

 STANDARD OF LENGTH.* 



["HE attention of the public has of late been 

 strongly drawn to the subject of a proposed 

 alteration of our national system of weights 

 and measures, by the attempt made during 

 the last session of Parliament to carry through a bill, 

 having for its object the aboUtion of our existing system 

 in its entirety, and the introduction, in its place, of what 

 is known as the " French Metrical System." The bill, it 

 is true, was withdrawn after passing the second reading 

 (by which the House, as is usually supposed, ^^ affirmed 



* This Lecture or Essay was communicated to the Leeds Astrono- 

 mical Society, and read at a meeting of that Society on October 27, 

 1863. 



