THE ART OF WKIGIIING AND MEASURING. 601 



The En.i;lisli measures of lenj;tli have come down from the Saxons, 

 but the ohiest standards now (existing are the exchequer yards of Henry 

 Vir (141)0)* and Elizabeth (lo88).t Tliese are both brass end measures, 

 the former being an octagonal rod about half an inch in diameter, very 

 coarsely made, and as rudely divided into inches on the right-hand end 

 and into sixteenths of a yard on the left-hand end ; the latter, a scjuare 

 rod with sides about half an inch wide, also divided into sixteenths of 

 a yard and provided with a brass bed having end pieces between which 

 the yard fits. One end of the bed is divided into inches and half inches. 

 Francis Baily, who saw this Elizabethan standard in 1836, si)eaks of it 

 as " this curious instrument, of which it is impossible, at the present 

 day, to speak too much in derision or contempt. A common kitchen 

 poker, tiled at the ends in the rudest manner by the most bungling 

 workman, would make as good a standard. It has been broken 

 asunder, and the two pieces have been dove-tailed together, but so 

 badly that the joint is nearly as loose as that of a pair of tongs. The 

 date of this fracture I could not ascertain, it having occurred beyond 

 the memory or knowledge of any of the officers at the Exchequer. And 

 yet, till within the last ten years, to the disgrace of this country, copies 

 of this measure have been circulated all over Europe and America, 

 with a parchment document accompanying them (charged with a stamp 

 that costs £3 10s. exclusive of official fees) certifying that they are true 

 copies of the English standard.^^^ 



In the year 1742 certain members of the Royal Society of London, 

 and of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris, proposed that, in order 

 to facilitate a comparison of the scientific operations carried on in the 

 two countries, accurate standards of the measures and weights of both 

 should be prepared and preserved in the archives of each of these 

 societies. This proposition having been approved, ^Ir. George Graham, 

 at the instance of the Royal Society, had two substantial brass rods 

 made, upon which he laid oft', with the greatest care, the length of 

 three English feet from the standard yard kept at the Tower of London. 

 These two rods, together with a set of troy weights, were then sent 

 over to the Paris Academy, which body, in like manner, had the measure 

 of a French half toise set off upon the rods, and keeping one, as previously 

 agreed, returned the other, together with a standard weightof two marcs, 

 to the Royal Society. In 1835, Baily declared this copy of the half 

 toise to be of little value, because the original toise etalon was of iron 

 and the standard temperature in France dift'ered from that in England. § 

 In his opinion the French should hav^e sent over an iron half toise in 

 exchange for the English brass yard, but this criticism loses much of 

 its force when it is remembered that in 1742 neither England nor France 



*50, p. 34, and 5, pp. 51, 52. (The numbers cited iu the foot-notes refer to those 

 of the Biblioifraphy at the end oftlic article.) 

 t 50, p. 25. 

 i 37, p. 146. 

 $ 37, p. 37. 



