Marcu 3, 1904] 
NATURE 
425 
CaraLoGuE or New Dousie Stars.—Prof. R. G. Aitken 
hhas just published, in No. 50 of the Lick Observatory | 
Bulletins, a sixth list of new double stars discovered by him 
during the systematic search he has prosecuted since 1899. 
The present list contains 216 new pairs, none of which 
appear in Prof. Burnham’s General Catalogue. These 
doubles were discovered with the 36-inch and 12-inch re- 
fractors, 61 of them—several of which are separated by less 
than o”.25—being credited to the smaller instrument. 
About 30 per cent. of the included stars have distances 
uunder o”-50, 50 per cent. under 1”-0, and in more than 72 
per cent. the distance of separation is less than 2”-o. The 
numbers assigned to the stars in the present list are in | 
continuation of those in the former lists, and the star places 
are given for the epoch of 1900-0. 
NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF THE METRICAL 
MEASURES AND WEIGHTS. 
AN TRADITION exists in this country that towards the 
3 end of the eighteenth century the French Govern- 
ment invited the English Government to cooperate in form- 
ing a joint committee for the measurement of the seconds 
pendulum at the latitude of 45°, which was to be used as 
a standard of length, and from this length a universal 
system of measures and weights was to be derived; the 
English Government having declined to accede to the re- 
‘quest, the French savants took the matter in hand and 
devised the metre and its derivatives. 
Although this tradi- | 
tion existed, if did not appear to be easy to obtain docu- | 
mentary evidence with regard to it, and it was quite natural | 
that Mr. Alexander Siemens, who was interested in the 
subject, should apply to the Royal Society in the expect- 
sation that some record of the transaction would be found 
in the minutes of council; these were searched, but without 
wesult. 
Hearing accidentally of the application, I thought that 
I could at once place my hand on a reference that would 
settle the question, but found myself mistaken, so I con- 
«cluded that I must have heard the statement made by one | 
of my former professors, Hofmann or Frankland. 
Having succeeded ultimately in tracing the early history 
of the negotiations and allied matters, it is possible that 
the following notes may be not without interest. 
Inquiries amongst several friends being without avail, it 
struck me that there might be some record at the Foreign 
Office that would throw light on the subject; I therefore | 
~wrote to Lord Cranborne, then Under Secretary for Foreign | 
Affairs, asking if the index of their foreign correspondence 
mentioned the matter. He replied that the correspondence 
was not indexed, and that it was now at the Record Office ; 
the was also good enough to obtain for me a permit to search 
‘the original documents. Before I had proceeded very far 
in the search, Dr. R. T. Glazebrook suggested a reference 
t) the book by Méchain and Delambre, ‘‘ Base du Systéme 
métrique Décimal,’’ Paris, 1806. In the introduction, or 
“ Discours préliminaire,’’? there occurs on p. 14 an extract 
{rom a decree of the National Assembly asking the King to 
write to His Britannic Majesty requesting him to submit 
the decree of the National Assembly to the English Parlia- 
ment, 
In vol. xxxiv. of the Foreign Office French Corre- 
spondence, January to June, 1790, at the Record Office, is 
a letter from the French Ambassador in England, the 
Marquis de la Luzerne, enclosing a copy of the decree of 
the National Assembly to the Duke of Leeds, the Secretary 
cf State for Foreign Affairs.* 
The Marquis de la Luzerne to the Duke of Leeds. 
' “Portman Square le 22 Mai, 1790. 
“Le M* de la Luzerne a l’honneur de faire bien des 
‘compliments 4 Monsieur le Duc de Leeds et se conforme 
aux ordres de sa Cour en lui envoyant ci-joint la copie d’un 
<decret de l’Assemblée Nationale concernant les poids et 
mesures. Ces ordres lui prescrivent de faire au Ministére 
‘de sa Majesté Britannique les demandes qui y sont 
indiquées, et de l’assurer que le Roi son Maitre verra avec 
1 The orthography and the accentuation of the original documents are 
there followed. 
NO. 1792, VOL. 69] 
satisfaction que Sa Majesté Britannique les juge de nature 
a @tre prises en considération. 
“ Décrét de 1’Assemblée Nationale du 8 Mai, 1790. 
“*L’Assemblée Nationale desirant faire jouir A jamais la 
France entiére de l’avantage qui doit résulter de l’uniformité 
des poids et mesures, et voulant que les rapports des 
anciennes mesures avec les nouvelles soient clairement 
determinés et facilement saisis, décréte que Sa Majesté sera 
suppliée de donner des ordres aux administrateurs des divers 
départemens du Royaume, a fin qu’elles se procurent et 
qu’elles se fassent remettre par chacune des Municipalités 
comprises dans chaque département, et qu’elles envoyent a 
Paris, pour étre remis au secrétaire de |l’Académie des 
Sciences, un modéle parfaitement exact des différens poids 
et des mesures élémentaires qui y sont en usage. 
““Décreté ensuite que le Roi sera également supplié d’écrire 
a Sa Majesté Britannique, et de la prier d’engager le 
Parlement d’Angleterre a concourir avec 1’Assemblée 
Nationale a la fixation de l’unité naturelle de mesures et 
de poids: Qu’en conséquence, sous les auspices des deux 
nations, des commissaires de 1’Académie des Sciences de 
Paris pourront se réunir en nombre égal avec des Membres 
choisis de la Société Royale de Londres, dans le lieu qui 
sera jugé respectivement le plus convenable, pour déterminer 
a la latitude de quarante cinq degrés, ou toute autre 
latitude qui pourroit étre préférée, la longueur du pendule, 
et en déduire un modéle invariable pour toutes les mesures 
et pour les poids; Qu’aprés cette opération faite avec toute 
la solemnité nécessaire, Sa Majesté sera suppliée de charger 
l’Académie des Sciences, de fixer avec précision pour chaque 
municipalité du Royaume, les rapports de leurs anciens poids 
et mesures avec le nouveau modéle, et de composer ensuite 
pour l’usage de ces municipalités des livres usuels et 
élémentaires ot seront indiquées avec clarté toutes ces 
proportions. 
““Décréte en outre que ces livres élémentaires seront 
addressés 4 la fois dans toutes les municipalités pour y étre 
repandues et distribuées; Qu’en méme tems il sera envoyé 
a chaque municipalité un certain nombre de nouveaux poids 
et mesures, les quels seront délivrés gratuitement par elles 
A ceux que ce changement constitueroit dans les dépenses 
trop fortes: Enfin que six Mois seulement aprés cet envoi, 
les anciennes mesures seront abolies et remplacées par les 
nouvelles. 
““Collationnée a Il’original par nous Président et 
Secrétaire de 1’Assemblée Nationale a Paris le 9 Mai 
1790. Signé Gouttes, curé d’Argilliers, Président, L’Abbé 
Collaud de la Salcette, de Champeaux Palame, Le Cte de 
Crillon, Chabrond, de la Revelliere, de 1’épaux, et de 
fermon, Secrétaires.’’ 
It will be observed that this decree does not specifically 
| state that a new standard is to be introduced, but that the 
existing standards are to be corrected by one that has been 
compared with the length of the seconds pendulum. 
Delambre states (loc. cit.) that the above decree was 
sanctioned on August and that the Academy of Sciences 
nominated a commission consisting of MM. _ Borda, 
Lagrange, Laplace, Monge and Condorcet. He does not 
say that any reply was received from the English Govern- 
ment, and there is not any mention in the papers at the 
Record Office before the end of August that any reply had 
22 
22, 
| been sent. 
| further search the draft of this letter was found 
xxxv. of the Foreign Office French Correspondence, July to 
It was considered probable that the reply, if any, might 
have been forwarded through the French Ambassador with- 
out having been recorded at the Foreign Office, or that 
the draft of the letter might have been lost. Sir Eric 
Barrington, Private Secretary to the Marquess of Lansdowne, 
very obligingly obtained, through the British Embassy at 
Paris, a copy of a letter from the Duke of Leeds to the 
Marquis de la Luzerne, dated December 3, 1790. On 
in vol. 
December, 1790, at the Record Office, together with the 
note from the Marquis de la Luzerne reminding the Duke 
of Leeds of his letter of May 22. 
The Marquis de la Luzerne to the Duke of Leeds. 
““M. De la Luzerne a I’honneur de faire bien des compli- 
ments 4 Monsieur le Duc de Leeds et de lui rapeller qu’il 
a eu cetui de lui addresser, Le 22 mai dernier, par ordre 
