FISCHER: LENGTH STANDARDS AND MEASUREMENTS 153 



requested the French government to call a diplomatic conference 

 at Paris to consider whether the means and appliances for the 

 final verification of the new standards should be provided, with 

 a view to permanence, or whether the work should be regarded 

 as a temporary operation. 



In compHance with thi^ request a conference was held in the^ 

 spring of 1875, at which 19 countries were represented, the 

 United States as usual being of this number, and on May 20, 17 

 of the 19 countries represented signed a convention which pro- 

 vided for the establishment and maintenance of a permanent 

 International Bureau of Weights and Measures to be situated 

 near Paris and to be under the control of an international com- 

 mittee elected by the conference, the committee to consist of 

 14 members, all belonging to different countries. 



In addition to the primarj^ work of verifj'ing the new metric 

 standards the bureau was charged with certain duties, the fol- 

 lowing being the most important: 



(1) The custody and preservation, when completed, of the 

 international prototypes and auxiliary instruments. 



(2) The future periodic comparison of the several national 

 standards with the international prototype. 



(3) The comparison of metric standards with standards of 

 other countries. 



It was agreed that the expenses of the bureau should be de- 

 frayed by contributions of the contracting governments, the 

 amount for each countrj^ depending upon the population and 

 upon the extent to which the metric system is in use in any 

 particular country. In accordance with the terms of the con- 

 vention the French government set aside a plat of ground just 

 outside of Paris, and upon this ground, which was declared to 

 be neutral territory, the International Bureau of Weights and 

 Measures was established. / 



The construction of the meters was entrusted to a special 

 committee, and early in 1887 the committee completed its work 

 and the new meters were turned over to the international bureau 

 for comparison with the standards of the Archives and with one 

 another. 



