Assuming the Russian observations to be the best, as they probably 

 are, it will be seen that a troy pound deduced according to the method 

 prescribed by the Act, would be 2' 829 grains too heavy ; while, if the 

 Austrian observations had been accepted as the best, the troy pound 

 would have been 4*707 grains too heavy. On the other hand, it 

 was possible to recover the weight of the lost standard in air to 

 within a fraction of O'OOl grain, by means of the troy pounds which 

 had been compared with it, and could be easily brought together for 

 recomparison. Seeing, then, that the error of one of these two me- 

 thods of restoring the lost standard, is at least 2829 times as large 

 as the error of the other method, the Committee could not hesitate 

 to recommend the adoption of the latter. 



A Committee was appointed by a Treasury Minute of June 20, 

 1 843, to carry out the recommendations contained in the Report re- 

 ferred to above. The evidence for ascertaining the weight of the lost 

 standard, placed at the service of this Committee, consisted of the 

 following weights : The brass troy pounds of the Exchequer Office ; 

 the brass troy pounds from the cities of London, Edinburgh and 

 Dublin ; the platinum troy pound and the two brass troy pounds 

 then in the possession of Professor Schumacher ; the platinum troy 

 pound of the Royal Society ; the troy pound used by the late 

 Mr. Robinson of Devonshire Street, purchased by the Committee ; 

 four troy pounds made in 1758, two of which were formerly in the 

 possession of Mr. Bingley of the Royal Mint, one the property of 

 Messrs. Vandome and Titford, and one the property of the Bank of 

 England. 



The troy pounds of the Exchequer, and of the cities of London, 

 Edinburgh and Dublin had been compared with the lost standard by 

 Captain Kater in 1824. The three troy pounds in the custody of 

 Professor Schumacher, and the troy pound of the Royal Society, 

 were compared with the lost standard with extraordinary care in 

 1829 by the late Captain v. Nehus. The troy pounds bearing the 

 date 1758 were constructed, along with the lost standard, by 

 Mr. Harris, Assay Master of the Mint. These were referred to at 

 the suggestion of Professor Schumacher, in the hope of arriving at a 

 knowledge of the volume of the lost standard, which, unfortunately, 

 had never been determined by weighing it in water. For, as long 



