ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 



PHILADELPHIA, PA., MARCH, 1916. 



Discontinue the Fahrenheit Thermometric Scale. 



In the House of Representatives, on December 6, 1915, Mr. 

 Albert Johnson, of Washington, introduced the following bill, 

 which was referred to the Committee on Coinage, Weights and 

 Measures, and ordered to be printed. 



A Bill (H. R. 528) to discontinue the use of the Fahrenheit thermom- 

 eter scale in Government publications. 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 

 United States of America in Congress assembled, That the centigrade 

 scale of temperature measurement shall be the standard in United 

 States Government publications, the use of the Fahrenheit scale being 

 discontinued, at the option of Heads of Departments or other inde- 

 pendent branches of the Government, either immediately upon the sign- 

 ing of this bill or at any time before January I, 1920, except as pro- 

 vided in Section 3. 



Sec. 2. During the period of transition, the Fahrenheit equivalent 

 of centigrade degrees may be added in parentheses or as a footnote or 

 in any other way, if in the opinion of Heads of Departments or inde- 

 pendent officers it seems necessary. 



Sec. 3. The use of the Fahrenheit scale shall be permitted after 

 January i, 1920, in cases where it is required by State and municipal 

 law, or in certificates of tests of instruments graduated in the Fahren- 

 heit scale.' 



On December 14, 1915, this bill being under consideration, 

 Mr. Johnson spoke in its favor. His speech, followed by ex- 

 tracts from letters of 200 scientific men whom he addressed on 

 the subject, has been printed and furnishes a strong body of 

 evidence in favor of this change. 



The subject is one which largely affects entomologists and 

 their work. All of us have surely experienced the inconveni- 

 ence of translating values from one thermometric scale to an- 

 other. As long as the Fahrenheit scale is used by the United 

 States Weather Bureau we shall have to take it into account, 

 and yet the Centigrade scale is that in which temperatures are 

 stated in the majority of scientific publications of the rest of the 

 world. There can be no question as to the desirability of one 

 international scale. Dr. S. W. Stratton, Director of the United 



