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ON STANDARDS OF ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE. 125 
education which may be adopted in the present day, and such establish- 
ments as the ‘ Conway’ training-frigate in the Mersey are powerfully useful 
to that end ; still, in order to collect together the elements of scientific in- 
dustry and laudable ambition, which doubtless exist, scattered among the 
present body of merchant-seamen, it is desirable, as a beginning, to offer a 
certificate of merit to such commanders and other officers as hold the extra 
certificate of the Marine Board, or who keep the meteorological log-book 
supplied by the Observatory, or who show in various other ways a desire to 
improve their minds and to encourage industry in those under their charge. 
It must strictly be borne in mind, however, that the sea is the only place 
where the sailor’s mind can be properly influenced. Churches, schools, and 
sailors’ homes on shore are only attended by those whom better influences at 
sea have inclined for good. Masters of vessels, therefore, who encourage 
their apprentices to continue their studies at sea, and who open schools for 
the purpose of teaching those who have had no benefits of education on shore, 
are in the first place well deserving of some reward, such as a certificate of 
merit, which should be so constructed and signed as to carry some weight. 
The nature, therefore, of this certificate, and by whom it should be signed, 
are questions of great importance to the success of the movement, and would 
require mature consideration. If the Committee of Council on Education or 
the Board of Trade, or both, could be induced to take an active and official 
interest in the matter, the difficulty would be at once solved. 
It should be mentioned, as a practical encouragement of some value, that 
the Colonial and Continental Church Society (9 Serjeants’ Inn, Fleet Street) 
has, through Captain Anderson, offered to grant libraries for sailors afloat, 
on the following conditions:—1. The Council of the Mercantile Marine 
Service Association are to recommend to them four captains each year, to 
each of whom the above Society will grant a library, value £5. 2. It will 
be understood that it is desirable to select such captains as haye communi- 
cation with our colonial possessions, 
Enough has now been said and done to prove that there is a current at 
work, setting in the right direction ; and we can only now leave the matter 
to time, feeling fully assured that it will go on, and bear ultimate fruit, both 
in the advancement of science and in the elevation of the character of the 
merchant-seaman. 
Provisional Report of the Committee appointed by the British 
Association on Standards of Electrical Resistance. 
Memorrs of the Committee :—Professor A. Williamson, F.R.S.; Professor C. 
Wheatstone, F.R.S.; Professor W. Thomson, F.R.S.; Professor W. H. 
Miller, F.R.S.; Dr. A. Matthiessen, F.R.S.; Mr. F. Jenkin. 
Taz Committee regret that they are unable this year to submit a final Report 
to the Association, but they hope that the inherent difficulty and importance 
of the subject they have to deal with will sufficiently account for the delay. 
The Committee considered that two distinct questions were before them, 
admitting of entirely independent solutions. They had first to determine 
what would be the most convenient ynit of resistance; and secondly, what 
would be the best form and material for the standard representing that unit. 
The meaning of this distinction will be apparent when it is observed that, if 
