STATE PAPERS. 



361 



The proportions between the 

 proposed gallon and the measures 

 now in use will be found in the 

 appendix. 



Your Committee will now pro- 

 ceed to state their opinion with 

 regard to the standard of weight. 

 Although the troy pound is the 

 only weight established by law, 

 yet the avoirdupois pound is so 

 much more generally known and 

 used, that your Committe cannot 

 hesitate to recommend it in pre- 

 ference to the troy pound. Your 

 Committee are, however, inclined 

 to recommend two exceptions : as 

 the goldsmiths regulate their traffic 

 by the troy weight, and consi- 

 dering the connection of this 

 branch of trade with the standard 

 of the coin, it appears advisable 

 that gold and silver should be sold 

 by troy weight. 



Your Committee would also re- 

 commend that the apothecaries' 

 weight should remain without any 

 alteration, as any change in the 

 weights employed by them in com- 

 pounding their medicines, might 

 be attended with dangerous con- 

 sequences. 



It appears to your Committee 

 that the most accurate mode of 

 ascertaining the standard pound, 

 is to immerse in water a solid 

 cylinder of brass containing 27,648 

 cubical inches, and to ascertain 

 the difference between its weight 

 in water and its weight in air, by 

 means of the common hydrostatic 

 balance. The difference between 

 its weight in water and its weight 

 in air, (or the weight of the volume 

 of water occupying the same space) 

 is the pound avoirdupois. 



This method is recommended, 

 as it has been found to be much 

 more easy to ascertain the solid 



contents of any body, by taking its 

 external dimensions, than to find 

 the exact contents of any measure 

 by gauging. 



In this manner, the standard of 

 length is kept invariable, by means 

 of the pendulum ; the standard of 

 weight by the standard of length ; 

 and the standard of capacity by 

 that of weight. 



Your Committee have not gone < 

 into any detail of the inaccuracies 

 of the present system, as they are 

 very fully stated in the Report of 

 the Committee of 1758, before 

 alluded to. 



In order to preserve uniformity 

 in the weights and measures to be 

 used in future, your Committee 

 would recommend that no person 

 be allowed to make or sell any 

 weights or measures without hav- 

 ing obtained a licence for that pur- 

 pose, on payment of a certain sum; 

 and that all weights and measures 

 should be marked with the name 

 of the maker, and the initials of 

 the person who examines them. 

 The person who last examines 

 the weights and measures should 

 not be permitted to alter them; 

 but if he finds them to be incor- 

 rect, should return them to the 

 maker, to be properly sized and 

 adjusted. All new weights and 

 measures will, therefore, in this 

 manner, undergo a double exami- 

 nation. Your Committee are of 

 opinion, that the powers given to 

 Justices of Peace by the Acts of 

 35 Geo. III. cap. 102, and 37 

 Geo. III. cap. 143, to search for 

 and destroy deficient weights, and 

 to punish the persons in whose 

 possession they are found, should 

 be extended, so as to give them 

 the same powers with regard to 

 false or deficient measures. 



