THE ART OF WEIGHING AND MEASURING. 601 



The Euglisli measines of Icn^tii liavo coiiu^ down fioin the iSaxoiis, 

 but the oklest standards now existing are the exchequer yards of Henry 

 Vir (1490)* and Elizabeth (1588).t Tiiesc 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 

 ami 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 tits. One end of the bed is divided into inches and half inches. 

 Francis Baily, who saw this Elizabethan standard in 183G, speaks of it 

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

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

 poker, filed 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 astami) 

 that costs £3 10s. exclusive of ofiticial 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 Koyal 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 prei)ared and preserved in the archives of each of these 

 societies. This proposition having been approved, Mr. George Graham, 

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

 made, upon which he laid off, 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 Acaden^y, which body, in like manner, had the measure 

 of a French half toise set off upon the rods, and keeping one, as i)reviously 

 agreed, returned theother, together with a standard weightof twomarcs, 

 to the Royal Society. In 1S35, Baily declared this copy of the half 

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

 and the standard temperature in France diftered from that in England. § 

 In his o])inion the French should have sent over an iron half toise in 

 exchange lor 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 in the foot-notes refer to those 

 of the Bibliography at the end of the article.) 

 t 50, p. 25. 

 t 37, p. 146. 

 $ 37, p. 37. 



