374 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF cbap. 



The weights and measures being, in this man- 

 ner, fixed and adjusted, the head burgh of eve- 

 ry county ought to be furnished with a com- 

 plete set of them, constructed of the best and 

 most durable materials, for the purpose of regu- 

 lating all those that may- be used in their seve- 

 ral districts. And as the inch is the radical 

 measure, upon which all the rest depend, and to 

 which recourse must be had, whenever any ad- 

 justment in future may be requisite, it must be 

 preserved with the utmost care. For this pur- 

 pose let a piece of brass, or any other solid and 

 durable substance, such as may be least capable 

 of expansion, contraction, or waste, be chosen, 

 and let the inch be marked upon it with all pos- 

 sible accuracy. Perhaps it would be adviseable 

 to make it three feet long, divided by inches, as 

 the same instrument would answer as a standard 

 for the yard and foot, as well as the inch. And 

 that there may be the least possible variation, 

 when applied for trial and adjustment, let the 

 state of the atmosphere be ascertained by a ther- 

 mometer, at the time when the inches are mark- 

 ed, and let the application of it for trial be made 

 at the time only when the atmosphere shall be 

 found to be in the same state. Let one of these 

 instruments be lodged along with the sets of 

 standard measures in the several head boroughs, 

 and, for the more complete preservation, it ought 

 to be kept as much as possible from the action 

 of the air, and from the extremes of heat and 

 cold. 



But whatever become of this or any other 

 scheme that may be projected for reducing 

 weights and measure to one uniform standard, I 



