April 6, 1871 | 
NATURE 
449 

3. The unit of the measure of capacity, as well for liquids as 
for dry goods, shall be the cube of a tenth of the metre, and the 
same shall be and is hereby denominated the “ litre.” 
4. The unit of weight shall be and is hereby denominated the 
‘‘oram.” A thousand grams shall be and is hereby denominated 
the “kilogram.” A standard of the kilogram shall be prepared 
un ler the authority of the Privy Council for Trade, verified by 
comparison with the original standards in Paris, and have the | 
words ‘‘Standard Kilogram, 1871,” engraved upon it, and the 
same shall be kept in the custody of the Warden of the | 
Standards. 
5. For the more convenient use of metric weights and measures, 
it shall be lawful to take the double and the half of all the said 
units, and their decimal multiples and decimal parts. 
6. The said weights and measures hereby established shall be 
and are hereby denominated the standard metric weights and 
measures, as showr in the table hereto annexed. 
7. Copies and models of the same standard metre and kilo- 
gram shall be sent to the Lord Mayors of London and Dublin, 
to the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and to all counties, shires, 
stewartries, ridings, divisions, cities, towns, liberties and places 
in which by law copies and models of the standard imperial 
weights and measures are required to be kept, and to such other 
places and persons as the President of the Committee of the 
Privy Council for Trade may from time to time direct. 
8. All judges, magistrates and other person or persons who 
now are or shall hereafter be authorised by law to order or pro- 
vide copies of the present imperial standard weights and measures, 
shall at all times hereafter have like power and authority in every 
respect to order and provide copies of the standard metric weights 
and measures, and to charge the expenses thereof upon the fund 
or funds, money or moneys, that would have been liable in case | 
it had been copies of imperial weights and measures that had 
been ordered or provided. 
g. Alland every the provisions and provision which are by 
law in force with respect to the inspection, verification, reveri- 
fication, stamping, counterfeiting and modes of conviction, with 
the penalty or penalties relating thereto, of the present imperial 
standard weights and measures, shall apply to and be in force with 
regard to the ‘standard metric weights and measures in every 
respect as if the said standard metric weights and measures were 
comprised in and designated by the imperial weights and mea- 
sures in the Acts relating to such inspection, verification, reveri- 
fication, stamping, counterfeiting and modes of conviction, and 
the penalty or penalties relating thereto as aforesaid. 
10. From and after the expiration of ( ) years from the 
passing of this Act, the imperial and all local or customary 
weights and measures shall be abolished, and every person who 
shall sell by any denomination of weights or measures other than 
those of the standard metric weights and measures, or such 
decimal multiples or decimal parts thereof as are authorised by 
this Act, shall, on conviction, be liable toa penalty not exceeding 
the sum of qos. for every such sale. 
11. From and after the expiration of (_) years after the pass- 
ing of this Act, if any person or persons shall print, or if the 
clerk of any market or other person shall make any return, price 
list, price current, or any journal or other paper containing price 
list or price current in which the denomination of weights and 
measures quoted or referred to shall denote or imply a greater or 
less weight or measure than is denoted or implied by the same 
denomination of the metric weights and measures under and ac- 
cording to the provisions of this Act, such person or persons or 
clerk of the market shall forfeit and pay any sum not exceeding 
tos, for every copy of every such return, price list, price current, 
journal, or other paper which he or they shall publish. / 
12. As soon as conveniently may be after the passing of this 
Act, accurate tables shall be prepared and published, under the 
authority of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade, show- 
ing the proportions between the imperial weights and measures 
heretofore in use and the standard metric weights and measures 
hereby established, with such other conversions of weights and 
measures as the said Committee of the Privy Council for Trade 
may deem necessary, and after the publication of such tables all 
future payments to be made shall be regulated according to such 
tables. A 
13. And whereas the weights and measures by which the rates 
and duties of the customs and excise and other Her Majesty's 
revenue have been heretofore collected, are different from the 
metric weights and measures directed by this Act to be used : It 
is hereby enacted, that so soon as conveniently may be after the 
passing of this Act, accurate tables shall be prepared and pub- 

lished under the direction of the said Committee of the Privy 
Council for Trade, in order that the several rates and duties of 
customs and excise, and other Her Majesty’s revenue, may be 
adjusted and made payable according to the respective quantities 
of the standard metric weights and measures directed by this 
Act to be used, and that on the expiration of ( ) years after 
the passing of this Act, the several rates and duties thereafter to 
be collected by any of the officers of Her Majesty’s customs or 
excise, or other Her Majesty’s revenues, shall be collected and 
taken according to the calculations in the tables to be prepared 
as aforesaid. 
14. From and after the passing of this Act, and until the use 
of the metric weights and measures shall be made compulsory, 
the said metric weights and measures shall be deemed and taken 
to be legal weights and measures, and as such may be used for 
all purposes whatsoever. 
15. Assoon as conveniently may be after the passing of this 
Act, the metric standards to be provided under this Act shall 
be placed in the custody of the Warden of the Standards, and 
the Committee of the Privy Council for Trade shall cause the 
metric weights and measures in use under the present Act to be 
verified and stamped in the same manner as the imperial weights 
and measures are now required to be. 
16. From and after the passing of this Act the ‘‘ Metric 
see and Measures Act, 1864,” shall be and is hereby re- 
pealed. 

FLOATING ISLANDS IN VICTORIA 
IPPSLAND isa province of Victoria. It is bounded 
by the Australian Alps on all sides except on the 
south, which the sea washes for over 100 miles. It may 
be called the Piedmont of Australia, rich fertile plains 
intersected by rivers flowing into a lake system extending 
all along the coast, and separated from the sea by a sandy 
narrow ridge, with one navigable opening. From a local 
paper, the Gifps/and Times, | send the following descrip- 
tion of “ floating islands” on the lakes. 
The alluvial deposit constantly brought ‘down from the 
mountain ranges by the numerous rivers in this district, 
enables us to see a very decided process of land making 
| continually going on, and thus teaches a useful lesson in 
geology. AUSTRAL-ALPINE 
Melbourne 
‘As one of the Gippsland Steam Navigation Company’s 
“steamers was recently crossing Lake Wellington, the 
man at the wheel suddenly observed land right in the 
track of the steamer, apparently only a short distance 
from the straits separating Lakes Wellington and Vic- 
toria. He called the captain’s attention to the strange 
sight, and on coming up close, the land was discovered to 
be a small island, about thirty yards in length by twenty 
broad. It was covered with a rich coating of luxuriant 
grass ; and small trees, tea tree, and bush shrubs appeared 
to be growing in profusion. The only occupants of this 
remarkable apparition were a few pigs, feeding away con- 
tentedly and apparently enjoying their novel journey by 
water, A second island of the same description, but much 
smaller, was noticed a little farther on, but this had evi- 
dently detached itself from the larger piece of land, or 
most probably had been separated by the rooting depre- 
dations of the porkers. From what portion of the main 
land this floating island came, is, of course, matter of con- 
jecture, but it is known that a portion of the soil at Marley 
Point, on the southern shore of Lake Wellington, became 
detached recently, and floated miles across the lake with 
some twenty or thirty head of pigs aboard. As longas the 
wind drove it in that direction, the island drifted towards 
M‘Lennan’s Straits, but a change of wind brought it back 
again, after a three days’ trip, within a mile of the spot 
from which it had broken away. We believe it is the 
opinion of the district surveyor, Mr. Dawson, that the 
area of the Roseneath run, west of Lake Wellington, has 
been increased some twenty or thirty acres by the 
addition of drift islands.” 
