142 THE HENRY. 



official iiiul iuteiiiatioiial character than that ot* any other. This was 

 the consideration and official ^auction of names and values of units of 

 electrical measure. 



Notwithstanding the fact that more than a hundred million dollars 

 are invested in machines and instruments for the production and con- 

 sumption of electricity and in their manufacture, little legislation has 

 been had looking to the protection of i)roducer and consumer through 

 accurate measurement, as has long been recognized to be imperatively 

 necessary in other commercial transactions. It is true that the science 

 of electrical measurement has been thoroughly explored; excellent 

 methods and instruments have been devised and constructed, and the 

 most perfect system of units of measure ever conceived has been devel- 

 oped during the past quarter of a century. These units, being contin- 

 ually in use anu)ng scientific men, had come to be recognized as in some 

 degree authoritative among those engaged in commercial applications 

 of electricity, but in general no legal values were attached to these 

 units, and in reference to two or three of them scientific men were not 

 yet in entire accord in their nomenclature and definition. One or two 

 electrical congresses, notably that at Paris in 1881, had previously con- 

 sidered these questions, and a tentative agreement upon some of the 

 points at issue had been reached, but not much was accomplished that 

 was satisfactory and lasting, except that an incentive was created for 

 further and more accurate investigation of the values of certain jHiysical 

 constants m doubt. The results of these investigations and the general 

 l>rogress of the science of electricity during the past decade were such 

 as to justify the bc^lief that the time had now arrived when an interna- 

 tional agreement could be reached upon definitive values of the units 

 desirable and necessary in electrical measurement, as well as upon the 

 names they should bear. To this end it Avas desirable that the consid- 

 eration of such important questions should be restricted to a smaller, 

 more deliberative body than the general congress of electricians, the 

 membership of which reached several hundred. It was therefore agreed 

 to create what was technically known as the chamber of delegates, 

 which, as its name implies, consisted of specially commissioned dele- 

 gates from the several countries represented. 



In this chamber the United States, Great Britain, France, and Ger- 

 many were allowed five delegates each. Some other nations were 

 allowed three, others two, and some only one. 



The members bore commissions from their respective Governments, 

 and twenty-six were actually in attendance, representing nine different 

 nations. The four great naticuis named above had full delegations, 

 some others were only partly rei)resented, and two or three nations had 

 ai)pointed delegates who failed to reach Chicago in time for the meet- 

 ing of the congress. The chamber met in regular session every day 

 during the week of the International Congress, with Professor Eow- 

 laud, of Johns Hopkins University, as its presiding officer. At the end 



