46 MICHAEL A. LANE 



kind of gem, resembling the diamond and the emerald, in 

 considerable quantities near San Diego, Cal. Still another 

 discovery, which may eventuate in the establishment of an 

 entirely new American industry, is that of a mineral rubber, 

 found in a crude state in Utah by one of the survey's men. 

 The material is thought to be of vegetable origin and the 

 quantity is large enough to last indefinitely. When worked 

 up and made fit for use it can replace rubber in most of its 

 rougher functions. 



Continental Europe, and the whole world of science, is 

 waiting for the United States to get into line with a national 

 system of weights and measures. At the present time we 

 have in Washington a bureau of standards which costs the 

 country nearly $200,000 a year. Uniformity is thus main- 

 tained, but the people are still chained to the old system of 

 pounds, ounces, quarts and pints, when the metric system, 

 were it adopted, would simplify everything. The metric 

 system is legal in the United States, but it is tolerated rather 

 than sought for by the people. 



If the United States were to abolish the old standards 

 and enforce the French system there would be no such thing 

 as cheating or lack of uniformity in weights and measures, 

 and the last vestige of the crude, antiquated, and barbarous 

 system now in use would vanish from the earth. 



It may be said, in view of the various possibilities sug- 

 gested in the foregoing paragraphs, that the United States 

 has made a fair start as a nation of science. Already in the 

 lead of the world, so far as practical, or applied, science is 

 concerned, the American government, it is to be hoped, will 

 soon widen its sphere as a patron, and begin the encourage- 

 ment on a large scale, of science for the pure sake of science. 

 Forge ahead ! should be the bugle note of America in science 

 as well as in industry. Doing which, American inventiveness 

 will take care of the practice. 



