[ 521 J 
ABSTRACT OF THE ae RELATING TO THE NEM WEIGHTS: 
ND: MEASURES. |...» . 
important “ind bI1 
ie cat oc 
re-modelled by 
The first 
i ‘of these acts (which may be 
hale as nO mean specimen of le- 
ive wisdom and. scientific acumen, 
by not an inconclusive evidence of the en- 
ent liberal policy of the present 
e), pg forth ia the preamble, 
it is for the security of 
commerce, and the good of the community, 
that weights and measures should be just 
uniform; and that notwithstanding it 
provided by the Great Charter that there 
should be but-one weight and one measure 
throughout the realm, and by the Treaty 
of Union between. England and Scotland, 
. that the same weights. should be used 
fhout Great. Britain as were then 
established in England, yet different weights 
and measures, some larger and some less, 
are still in use in various places throughout 
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
, and the true measure of the pre- 
sent standards is not verily known, which 
is the ¢ause of great confusion and manifest 
frauds,” and that a prevention and remedy 
of these evils should be devised for the fu- 
ture, proceeds to accomplish this desirable 
purpose, by enacting an equalization in the 
proportions, and a conformity, in the re- 
spective weights and measures of the em- 
pire; and these objects it promotes by 
adopting more certain and correct standards 
than those which had hitherto been in use, 
‘This aet was to have been put in force on 
on of May, 1825, but by the last men- 
“statute (6th Geo. IV. chap. 12), 
its’ operation was deferred till the Ist of 
January, 1826, and a singular oversight 
co we shall presently notice) in its 
s remedied. 
ert provisions of the first men- 
tiohed of these beneficial statutes, imme- 
daly ap core ‘to the intercourse of so- 
oo iw be’ briefly stated as follow :—It 
the length of the standard yard, the 
eight ‘py Lap mente wher and the ca- 
ities of the st gallon and of the 
cent dwiliel. The first of these objects 
provide: ny = lee te gobo ere 
the 6 second in the fourth and fifth 
third in the sixth clause; and 
two re- 
( ber ‘the deseription of 
goods to h ired "by heaped measure, 
ad te ag ate’ to be measured: by stricken 
sure. This ig the pu of the ninth 
rs the ‘fifteenth clause enacts, 
if Bead ‘dealings, by weight 
hdl gecorsie to the 
i ei Peetnioht 
i i cat specific 
and detailed monhiage are 60° initinostely 
blended with the welfare and interests of 
the community at large, that‘ minute enu- 
meration of its enactments is: aapenbaax 
necessary. 
The first clause of the act relates to. ‘mea- 
sures, and enacts that the straight line or dis- 
tance between the centres of the two points 
in the gold studs in the straight brass rod in 
the custody of the Clerk of the House of 
Commons, whereon the words and figures 
“ standardyard,1760,” are engraved, shall be 
denominated and is tobe thegenuine Imperial 
Standard Yard, and shall be the unit or only 
standard from ‘which all other measures of 
extension whatever, whether lineal, super- 
ficial, or solid shall be derived, computed, 
and ascertained; and that all measures. of 
length shall be taken in parts or multiples 
of the same; and that one-third part. of the 
said standard yard. shall be a foot, andthe 
twelfth part of such foot shall be an inch ; 
and that the pole or perch in length shall 
contain 54 such yards, the furlong 220 such 
yards, and the mile 1'760 such yards. 
The second clause directs all superficial 
measure to be computed and ascertained by 
the said standard yard, or by certain parts, 
multiples, or proportions thereof; and that 
the rood of land shall contain 1/210 such 
square yards, and the acre 4,840, ‘being 160 
square perches, poles, or rods. 
And in order to counteract or provide 
against any possible inaccuracy from thecon- 
traction or expansion consequent from change 
of temperature of the brass rod on which the 
standard yard is marked, the first clause of 
the act directs that it shall be only deemed 
a standard when the rod is at the tempera- 
ture of 62° of Fahrenheit’s thermometer, 
The third clause makes provision, incase 
the standard yard should be lost, destroyed, 
defaced, or otherwise injured, for testing 
its accuracy by some invariable natural 
standard. The invariable natural standard 
to which reference is to be had for this pur- 
pose is directed to be a pendulum, vibrating 
seconds of mean time in the latitude of 
London, in a vacuum at the level of the 
sea, the length of which, when compared 
with that of the standard yard, was ascer- 
tained by the commissioners appointed to 
inquire into the Subject of weights and 
measures, to be in the proportion of 39 
inches 1393 decimal parts to 36 inches. It 
is therefore provided, that if the standard 
should ever be lost, for in any manner de- 
stroyed, defaced, or otherwise injured,a new 
one shall be made under the directions of 
the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, 
according - to the above stated relative. 
proportions of the pendulum and the stand- 
ard. 
The fourth clause relates to’ ights, vend 
declares the standard brass Of one 
pound eye made in 1758, and now in the 
3X : custody 
