yune 22, 1876] 



NATURE 



169 



tions of the cubit, farther accuracy would be nearly useless, 

 especially in view of the width and deficient symmetry of the 

 dividing lines. 



The zero point of the series is adjusted so as to fit the normal 

 scale of equal spaces deduced from it, with equal errors + and — , 

 on the series of palms, 



BritUh Inches. 



End of rod 



Palms 



Digit ... 

 Condyle ... 

 Digit ... 

 Palm 



Condyle ... 

 End of rod 



Cubit Divisions, 

 ... — '026 

 i 2-952 



5 91 1 



8-873 

 1 1 -820 



H779 

 17735 

 20 702 

 23-665 

 26-605 

 29-582 

 32-516 

 ,35-481 



36-195 

 36-922 



37-694 

 38-417 

 39-910 

 41 -402 



Normal Scale. 

 -000 

 2956 



5-913 

 8869 

 11-826 

 14-785 

 17-739 

 20-695 

 23-652 

 26608 

 29-565 

 32-521 



35-477 

 36-217 



36-956 

 37-695 

 38-434 

 39-912 

 41-390 



The average probable error of these determinations of each 

 line (omitting the ends) is -oooS inch, so that it may be called 

 I on the last place of figures here given. 



The total length of the rod is 41 -428 with a probable error of 

 -t -0025, Sir Gardner Wilkinson (and Queipo from him ?) 

 states it as 41 -30 ; John Taylor, 41 -46 ; and Col. Sir Henry 

 James, 41-398. Thus the above determination falls between 

 these three authorities, and is in fact about reached by the pro- 

 bable error of the mean of them. 



Besides the total length of the rod, the divisions must be con- 

 sidered as giving a value for the cubit. Leaving, therefore, for 

 separate consideration the lesser subdivisions and ends, we will 

 look only to the series of palms. As these were probably 

 copied mechanically from another standard, and were apparently 

 not produced by stepping lengths on the rod, we should ascer- 

 tain the mean value they give for a Normal scale, and their 

 errors from it. This carefully computed from these palm divi- 

 sions is 41 '390 for the cubit, or 2-956 for each palm ; and the 

 average error of the palm divisions is -007 (the maximum error 

 is -018), so the probable error of this value for the mean cubit 

 is about -002. This average error of yVir inch is rather 

 large, but not worse than would probably be made at the present 

 time in such work. By having a standard scale for comparison, 

 hand dividing maybe done on a still longer rod with a quarter of 

 the error of this cubit, or even less ; but as a mason's measure, 

 this cubit is at least as accurate as modem examples. 



The digit divisions are remarkable ; the two last fit the 

 Normal scale as accurately as the palms, but in makii^ the 

 divisions 36-195 and 36-922, the scale has apparently shppol 

 away from that end of the rod about -028 ; and thus these have 

 an average — error of that amount. The ends appear to have 

 been left rather long, perhaps to allow for wear, being -026 and 

 -on too long respectively, giving an average surplus of -019. 

 This may be intentional, or may result from being copied from a 

 longer standard than the subdivided prototype, or may be merely 

 an error. In any case, the tolerable equaJity of the surplus at 

 each end, seems to show that the subdividing was from another 

 standard, and not by stepping successive distances, as the differ- 

 ence is only -5-^^^ of the total length. 



In Queipo's Metrology the value of each palm of this exam- 

 ple of the cubit is stated to the millionth of a metre, two places 

 farther than really measured, as they are merely reduced from 

 English inches and hundredths, with an occasional half-hun- 

 dredth. These values are all about -^\j; too short (their 

 sum being 41-3, as Sir Gardner Wilkinson's statement), but 

 otlierwise they agree closely with the series given above ; and 

 their mean ditference from it (when corrected for their general 

 shortness) is -oil, or but little more than the hundredth of an 

 inch to which they were originally read. 



If from the other eight or nine examples of the Kamak cubit 

 the mean cubit was deduced from the subdivisions, and the iu- 

 temal errors of it thus obtained, we should have more knowledge 

 of the accuracy of the earliest known civilisation, a datum of 

 pauch interest from a scientific and historical point of view, A 



similar examination of the measures of classical and mediaeval 

 times, including our ancient national standards of all kinds, 

 would also give an idea of the accuracy which in various ages, 

 and for various purposes, has been considered to be the utmost 

 requisite ; a maximum datum very different to that obtainable from 

 other remains, which only show the amount of accuracy usually 

 employed. As a chapter of the history of science, now so much 

 considered, this subject should not be longer neglected, 

 Bromley, Kent W. M, Flinders Pktrie 



The Chemical Society 



The article which appears in Nature, vol, xiv, p, 125, on the 

 Organisation of the Profession of Chemistry throws doubt on the 

 expediency of effecting the proposed organisation through the 

 instrumentality of a society which has solely occupied itself with 

 the extension and diffusion of knowledge, viz,, the Chemical 

 Society, It farther proposes that as it would be a wide depar- 

 ture from the functions which the Chemical Society has hitherto 

 performed to undertake the appointment of a Board of Exa- 

 miners, the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London 

 should be asked to co-operate in the matter, being already 

 formed examining bodies, which would probably command and 

 deserve greater confidence than a board nominated by a newly 

 formed Institute, or even by the Chemical Society, 



On these remarks I beg to offer the following comments : — 



1, The Chemical Society never has promoted the acquisition 

 of such knowledge and skill as are necessary for the discharge of 

 such duties as a professional chemist is required to undertake, 



2, If the Chemical Society has performed all other functions 

 but this— the fact is no argument against it appointing a Board 

 of Examiners, or of conferring some distinction on those who 

 are capable of acting in the service of the public as chemists ; 

 indeed, if this may conduce to the "general advancement of 

 chemical science," the Society, by not taking such steps, is 

 scarcely fulfilling the duties for which it was originally foimded, 

 and by opposing any such scheme it may actually retard the 

 progress of chemistry in this country. 



3, The writer of the article is apparently unaware of the fact 

 that it would be very difficult to make any examination answer 

 the purpose of testing a man's skill and technical as well as 

 scientific knowledge in a satisfactory manner. An organisation 

 scheme has been designed by a few gentlemen in conjunction 

 with myself, so as to obviate examination as far as possible, or, 

 in other words, to extend the examination over a period of six 

 years. Those of us who are teachers in medical schools, and 

 particularly those who at times have had to take to " coaching " 

 for a livelihood, see the defects of a system which entirely de- 

 pends upon examination as a test of qualification. Certainly no 

 University examination would have the confidence of profes- 

 sional chemists. There are many business details besides 

 granting certificates of competency which an organisation of 

 chemists would be obliged to undertake, as, for instance, im- 

 posing such observances on the members as would tend to sup- 

 press objectionable practices which are somewhat too common at 

 the present time. 



The Chemical News for June 9 contains a sketch of an organi- 

 sation scheme, and the conditions of admission for original 

 members are there set forth. If the Chemical Society as a body 

 agrees to accept such a scheme, by all means let it do so, but it 

 does not appear clear whether the qualified Fellows of the 

 Society could constitute a separate body, managing their own 

 affairs, within the Society, without the interference of other 

 Fellows not of the same class. 



British chemists are now in request all over the world, Japan, 

 India, China, Canada, and California, and some mark of dis- 

 tinction as *' chemists " which those who go abroad might carry 

 with them would be valuable to them and enhance the value of 

 the science in this country. Walter Noel Hartley 



Scientific Club, 7, Saville Row, W. 



Lectures on Meteorology 



In these days of the rapid development ot the standard 

 sciences, and the multiplication of their offshoots into con- 

 siderable sections nearly as big as their originators, it may not 

 be inappropriate to represent the claims of meteorology for a 

 separate existence apart from others. As geology and mineralogy 

 have been developed out of the natural history of former times, 

 so it may obviously be suggested that meteorology might be 

 detached from natural philosophy with which it has been 



