RICHARDS. — THE STANDARD OF ATOMIC WEIGHTS. 181 



Laboratory. If an adequate internationally representative body of 

 chemists should in the future decide that some other standard is better, 

 immediate change of practice will be made to suit the new decision. 

 One regrets that so much time should have been spent in discussing a 

 matter which involves no fundamental principle, but is simply a question 

 of form and of convenience. 



The subject matter of the present paper may be summed up in the 

 following sentences. It is pointed out that oxygen has actually served 

 as the experimental standard of reference in a great majority of cases, 

 that a great bulk of valuable work has already been published on the 

 basis O = 16.000, and that the use of this standard involves no impor- 

 tant didactic difficulties. It is further contended that the decision of 

 the representative International Committee is in itself an important rea- 

 son for adopting this standard, and that uniformity of usage is more 

 important than any of the special advantages claimed by either side in 

 the discussion. 



Seal Harbor, Mt. Desert, Maine, 

 July 22, 1901. 



