FUNDAMENTAL UNITS OF MEASURE. 143 



of tlie Government to the present time is the act of Congress of July 

 28, 18G0, legalizing the metric system of weights and measnres throngh- 

 out the United States. It has not been generally recognized that this 

 system is and has been fcir more than a quarter of a century the only 

 system whose use is made legal throughout the whole country by act 

 of Congress, Since the passage of this act there has been a decided 

 advance in the use of this system among all civilized nations. This 

 remarkable movement, in which the United States Government, through 

 annual contributions of money and diplomatic negotiations, has had a 

 large i^art, leaves no room for doubt that in the comparatively near 

 future all mankind will be in tlie fullest enjoyment of the great boon of 

 a single, universal system of weights and measures, and one as nearly 

 perfect in form and design as could well be expected. 



The recognition of this fact has led to recent action on the jiart of the 

 office of weights and measures at Washington, which is of such impor- 

 tance as to justify the repetition here of the words of Bulletin No. 2(>, 

 U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, A^^ril 5, 1893, in which it was first 

 announced. 



Fundamental Standauus of Length and Mass. 



"While the Constitution of the United States authorizes Congress 

 to 'fix the standard of weights and measures,' this power has never 

 been definitely exercised, and but little legislation luis been enacted 

 upon the subject. Washington regarded the matter of sufticient impor- 

 tance to justify a sj)ecial reference to it in his first annual message to 

 Congress (January, 1790), and Jefi'erson, while Secretary of State, pre- 

 pared a report at the request of the House of Eepresentatives, in which 

 he proposed (July, 1790) 'to reduce every branch to the decimal ratio 

 already established for coins, and thus bring the calculation of the prin- 

 cii)al affairs of life within the arithmetic of every man who can nndtiply 

 and divide.' The consideration of the subject being again urged by 

 Washington, a committee of Congress reported in favor of Jefferson's 

 plan, but no legislation lollowed. In the meantime the executive branch 

 of the Government found it necessary to procure standards for use in 

 the collection of revenue and other operations in which weights and 

 measures were required, and the Troughton 82-inch brass scale was 

 obtained for the Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1814; a platinum kilo- 

 gram and meter, by Gallatin, in 1821; and a Troy pound from London 

 in 1827, also by Gallatin. In 1828 the latter was, by act of Congress, 

 made the standard of mass for the mint of the United States, and, 

 although totally unfit for such purpose, it has since remained the stand- 

 ard for coinage xmrjwses. 



"In 1830 the Secretary of the Treasury was directed tocauseacom- 

 l)arison to be made of the standards of weight and measure used at 

 the principal custom-houses, as a result of which large discrepancies 

 were disclosed in the weights and measures in use. The Treasury 

 DepaTtment being obliged to execute the constitutional provision that 

 all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United 

 States, adopted the Troughton scale as the standard of length; the 

 avoirdupois pound to be derived from the Troy pound of the mint, as 

 the unit of mass. At the same time the Department adoi)ted the wine 

 gallon of 231 cubic inches for liquid measure and the Winchester bushel 



