6i4 



NA TURE 



[October i8, 1906 



Experience has shown that to hand this Icind of equip- 

 ment over to other than specially trained men is certain 

 to end in failure. For the training of these men in 

 methods of water purification the new School of Army 

 Sanitation has been established at Aldershot, where 

 special provision is provided for practical instruction 

 in every method and the working or trial of any new 

 apparatus or chemical technique adapted for army 

 needs. The success of this effort has been already re'- 

 markable, demonstrating not only the feasibility of 

 purifying water for soldiers under field conditions, 

 either by means of special filters, by heat exchange 

 sterilisers or by chemical reagents, but also showing 

 the fitness of the men of the Roval Armv Medical 

 Corps for this special work. The' school is utilised 

 also for instruction of men from everv branch of the 

 service in general sanitary duties, and in this two- 

 fold way constitutes a centre for the dissemination of 

 practical sanitary knowledge and work to the whole 

 Army. 



It is early yet to say what will be the final result 

 of this attempt, but everything points to the con- 

 clusion that the incidence of preventable disease in 

 time of war must and will be reduced therebv. It is 

 gratifying, further, to record the sympathetic support 

 which the movement is receiving from a large number 

 of general officers, commanding officers, and others 

 outside the medical corps; but there is much leewav 

 to be made up and much apathy and inertia to be 

 overcome. This will be done only by the support of 

 public opinion and interest, particularly of the scientific 

 public. Possibly this outline of the present position 

 may appeal to them to see that the scheme of work 

 here sketched out has free scope and opportunity to 

 evolve itself; in other words, that medical science is 

 applied logically to the attainment of army efficiencv, 

 and that disease prevention is regarded as much a 

 function of the medical corps as disease or wound 

 treatment. R. H. Firth. 



THE METRIC SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND 

 MEASURES IN THE COLONIES.^ 



V 



'HE question of the introduction of the metric 

 system of weights and measures into the United 

 Kingdom has been before the public for more than 

 forty years. An important step in this direction was 

 taken in 1897, when the Weights and Measures 

 (Metric System) Act was passed which rendered it 

 lawful to use metric weights and measures in this 

 country for the general purposes of trade. The 

 trading community as a whole has not, however, 

 manifested any eagerness to take advantage of this 

 permissive legislation, and, so far as retail trade is 

 concerned, the use of the metric system appears to be 

 restricted to dispensing chemists and a few vendors of 

 lager beer. It is true that for some vears past the 

 system has been allowed to appear in the official 

 syllabus of our public elementary schools, but no 

 stress IS laid upon it there, and its chief recommend- 

 ation is represented as being " the advantage to be 

 gained from uniformity in the method of "forming 

 nuiltiples and sub-multiples of the unit." 



But although the metric svstem has made little 

 progress in this country, and has met with scant 

 official encouragement, the importance of its universal 

 adoption is becoming every year more fully recognised 

 in our colonies. The report which forms the subject 

 of this article is a very clear indication of the strong 

 current of public opinion in the Transvaal, in favour 



' " Report of the Commission appointed to consitJer and reoort upon a 

 Draft Ordinance to consolidate and amend the Law relating to Wei'^hts and 

 Measures." (Pretoria: Government Printing Office. 1906.) 



NO. 1929, VOL. 74] 



of the general adoption of the system. The com- 

 missioners, of whom Mr. R. T. A. Innes, the well- 

 known Government meteorologist, was chairman, re- 

 commend that the kilogram, the metre, and the litre 

 be adopted as the basis of the standards of weight 

 and measure in the colony. An important resolu- 

 tion, which will go far towards making the public 

 familiar with metric weights and measures, is that 

 it shall be compulsory to use the system in land 

 surveying and in the retail sale of drugs. The 

 opinion is expressed that it will not be practicable to 

 insist upon the exclusive use of the metric system in 

 general trade in the colony until the system is made 

 compulsory in the United Kingdom, unless the other 

 .South African colonies consider it feasible to combine 

 for the purpose. 



The commissioners have made a careful survey of 

 the question of weights and measures legislation, and 

 their recommendations are embodied in a final draft 

 ordinance the provisions of which are in many re- 

 spects a distinct advance on the enactments in force 

 in this country. Thus the definition of " trade " 

 explicitly includes contracts for land, and so renders 

 surveyors' measures liable to official verification. In 

 the United Kingdom, surveyors generally test their 

 own measures as best they can. The definition of 

 " measuring instrument " includes instruments for the 

 measurement of area. A similar provision in this 

 country would be most beneficial to the leather trade 

 in preventing disputes, now of frequent occurrence, 

 especially in the sale of hides. Short weight and 

 measure, and the practice of weighing the wrappers 

 with goods sold, are made distinctly penal. People 

 defrauded by these practices in the United Kingdom 

 have to seek their remedy in the county court, or in 

 a prosecution for false pretences. 



It appears from the minutes of evidence appended 

 to the report that much difficulty is experienced in the 

 Transvaal in getting assay weights standardised with 

 accuracy, especially weights from lo mg. downwards. 

 Certificates obtained some years ago from official 

 institutions in .Austria, England, Germany, and the 

 United States were found to give very different values 

 for the same set of proportional assay weights. So 

 far at least as England and the United States are 

 concerned, it is probable that at the period in question 

 the standardising institutions had had but little ex- 

 perience in the verification of metric assay weights. 

 Within the last few years, however, both these depart- 

 ments have been materially strengthened. The recent 

 report of the newly-constituted Bureau of Standards 

 at Washinerton sufficiently attests the high calibre of 

 the scientific members of the present staff, whilst a 

 corresponding improvement has been effected in this 

 country by the appointment of Major P. A. 

 MacMahon, F.R.S.. to take charge of the Standards 

 Department of the Board of Trade. 



."it the forthcoming colonial conference the import- 

 ance to our colonies of the adoption of the metric 

 system of weights and ineasures throughout the 

 Empire will b? urgently impressed upon the Secretary 

 of .State, and it is hoped that the Home authorities 

 will be induced to take a greater interest in this ques- 

 tion than they have hitherto evinced. The introduc- 

 tion of the metric system into the United Kingdom is 

 not indeed a task to be lightly undertaken. It would 

 involve much hardship to small traders, and would 

 derange the habits of the whole trading community. 

 Centuries of instruction in the " advantages of uniform 

 multiples of the unit " would not prepare the nation 

 for so great a sacrifice. When so little has been 

 done by the authorities to familiarise the public with 

 the real significance of the question, it is not sur- 

 prising that public opinion is on the whole unripe for 



