176 Report J'rovi the Select Committee 



the advantag-e of bearina: very simple relations to the gallon 

 measures which are employed in measuring ale aud wine. The 

 calculations therefore which would be necessary for ascertaining 

 the corresponding duties, which must bo charged upon excise- 

 able liquors, would be easily made. 



The proportions between the proposed gallon and the measures 

 now in use, vvill be Ibusid in the Appendix. 



Your committee vvill now proceed 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 juamd is 

 so much more generally known and used, that your committee 

 cannot hesitate to recommend it in preference to the troy pound. 

 Your committee are however inclined to recommend two ex- 

 ceptions : As the goldsmiths regulate their traffic by the troy 

 "neight ; and considering the connection of this Inanch of trade 

 with the standard of the coin, it appears advisable that gold and 

 silver should be sold by troy weight. 



Y'our connnittee would also recommend that the apothecaries 

 weight should remain without any alteration, as any change in 

 the ivcights employed by them in compounding their medicines 

 might be attended with dangerous consequences. 



It appears to vour committee tha4; the most accurate mode of 

 ascertaining the standard poimd, is to immerse in water a solid 

 cylinder of brass containing 27'64S cubical inches, and to as- 

 certain the difference between its weight in water and its weight 

 in air, by means of the common hydrostatic balance. The dif- 

 ference between its weig'it in water and its weight in air (or 

 the weight of the volume of water occuj)ying the Sanie 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 mannei-, 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 Irave not gone into any detail of the inaccu- 

 racies 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 woidd recommend that no 

 person be allowed to make or sell any weights or measures with- 

 out having obtained a license for that purpose, on payment of 

 a certain sum ; aud that all weights and measures should be 

 marked with the name of the maker, and the initials of the per- 

 son who examines them. The person who last examines the 



weiglits 



