RECORDS OF MEETINGS OF 1906 273 



resolution regarding the use of the metric system had been adopted by the 

 Council and referred to the Academy with recommendation for adoption: 



To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the United 

 States in Congress Assembled, 



The New York Academy of Sciences of New York City in the State of New York, 

 respectfully submits the following resolution advocating the substitution in the 

 United States of the metric system of weights and measures for the diverse and 

 cumbersome standards now in use. 



Whereas the metric system has already been adopted by all civilized" countries 

 with the exception of the United States and the British Empire. 



Whereas it is a simple, uniform, exact and widely knowTi system of weights and 

 measures based on a decimal ratio harmonizing with our decimal system of currency. 



Whereas our foreign commercial relations will be greatly benefited by the adoption 

 of the system which is in use in many other nations, and 



Whereas the metric system of weights and measures has been universally adopted 

 for scientific work in other nations as well as our own. Be it 



Resolved that the New York Academy of Sciences respectfully urges that a 

 law be enacted making the metric system of weights and measures compulsory in 

 all departments of the Government of the United States in which the transaction of 

 business requires the use of weight and measurement. 



It was voted to approve the report of the Council, and to adopt the 

 resolution. 



A memorial notice of the late John H. Hinton, prepared by the com- 

 mittee appointed by the Academy for the purpose, was then read as fol- 

 lows : 



Doctor John Henry Hinton, bom New York city, January 1, 1827, died New 

 York city, 1905. After completing a course of study in elementary schools, he be- 

 came clerk in his father's drug store, beginning, at the same time, preparation for 

 practice of dentistry. He was successful in this practice for several years, but, in 

 fulfilment of a promise to his mother, he entered the College of Physicians and 

 Surgeons and was graduated in medicine in 1852. He served as assistant in the 

 New York Hospital for two years, after which he continued his studies in Paris. On 

 returning to this country he became resident surgeon to the New York Hospital and 

 associated himself with Doctor Cornelius R. Agnew in the New York Eye and Ear 

 Infirmary. Throughout life, he was connected actively with hospitals and infirm- 

 aries, devoting a great part of his time to practice which brought no pecuniary reward. 



Doctor Hinton was treasurer of this Academy for twenty years. For a long 

 period he attended the meetings with great regularity, though he rarely took part in 

 the discussions; latterly, however, he seldom appeared at evening gatherings, so 

 that he ceased to be a familiar figure to the majority of our members; but those of 

 the older group will always remember him as a man of extraordinary good common 

 sense, a wnse adviser and a delightful companion. 



D. S. Martin, 

 J. J. Stevenson, 



Committee, 



