232 Translation from the Astronomical Jour. of Hamburgh. 
at the temperature of melting ice, this toise measures 
76,74192710 inches of the scale of Troughton. By the 
normal temperature of both, 
1,0002036843 So 
=76,741 927107 o603 159709 = /6:73336 English inches. 
As the meter is = 443,296 lines of the toise, (Base metrique, 
tome ili, page 433,) the proportion between the English and 
French feet, according to Mr. H. will be by the 
| 39,36861 | og 
meter, = 443,296 12 =1,0657063, 
" 76,73336 
toise, se Se =1,0656411, 
be the ten millionth part of the earth’s quadrant, was lost. 
If certain copies of these measures do not agree together, it 
shews only that the law is not exactly fulfilled by them ; and 
‘as it is much more difficult to transfer to another metallic bar 
443,296 lines of the toise than the whole length of the toise, 
the comparison of the meter is a circuitous and unprofitable 
* . . 
Copies of the meter have been made of platinum, but it will be obvious 
from these remarks of Bessel, that it is by no means a fit substance for such 
purposes, inasmuch as it is both difficult to work and to free from adventitious 
