TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 159 



out by Mr. Charles Buxton in 1855, and adopted by the United Kingdom Alliance 

 in 1857, by which every parish and township would be empowered to settle for 

 itself whether drinking shops should continue to be licensed or not within its 

 limits. Where the public sentiment was averse to the common sale of intoxicating 

 liquors, all houses for public refreshment would be carried on without such sale ; 

 and the author believed that an immediate and most gratifying change would soon 

 ensue in regard to the drunkenness and crime by which these places may have been 

 afflicted. 



On Mural Standards for exhibiting the Measures of Length legalized in the 

 United Kingdom. By James Yates, M.A., F.li.S. 



The only mural standards exhibited in this country known to the author 

 are those in the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London, where are seen the 

 metre, the yard, the braccio, and the palm ; secondly, those on the outside wall of 

 the lioyal Observatory at Greenwich, showing the yard, the foot, and the inch ; and 

 thirdly, three similar instruments put up and exposed to public view by the Messrs. 

 De la Rue in Bunhill Row, London. Nevertheless the exhibition of similar stand- 

 ards is required by law and practised in France, and its adoption in this country 

 has been recommended by the Royal Commission for restoring the lost standards*. 

 The present period seems eminently suitable for the more perfect attainment 

 of this object, because the English system of legal weights and measures has re- 

 ceived an enlargement of the highest importance by the passing of the Act for le- 

 galizing the metric system. Also the existing standards in many of the cities and 

 boroughs of the United Kingdom are extremely faulty. 



The only measures which can be conveniently exhibited on the walls of public 

 buildings, are the measures of length. These are the yard and the metre, with 

 their divisions. My design in this paper is to inquire how these can be exhibited 

 by means of mural standards in the best manner. The inquiry may be con- 

 ducted under the following heads : the material ; the form and dimensions ; the 

 description by means of letters, figures, and other marks ; the distribution and 

 exposure to public view ; the use in education ; the aid to be afforded by the 

 British Association. 



I. The Material. — The material which I am disposed to recommend is that variety 

 of gun-metal which is known by the name of Baily's metal, having been introduced 

 into use for similar purposes by the late Francis Baily. The standard yard of Great 

 Britain is made of this metal, as prescribed by the Act of Parliament, 18 & 19 

 Victoria, c. 72. It is a mixture of copper, zinc, and tin, as follows : — 



Copper 16 



Zinc 1 



Tin 2| 



The great recommendation of this metal is that it does not rust. In other respects 

 it is probably on a par with the other metals which are used or may be suggested 

 for similar purposes, such as gold, silver, platinum, copper, brass, bronze, steel, or 



* "Another measure ought, in our opinion, to be effected by the authority of the 

 Government ; namely, the fixing of mural standards of length in public places, where they 

 may be accessible to the people generally. This is done under the Prussian law ; and we 

 are supported by the evidence of practical men, that it would conduce most powerfully 

 to the dissemination of good measures of length." — Report of the Commissioners for 

 Restoration of the Standards, a.d. 1841, p. 16. This recommendation was seconded in 

 the following terms by the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Weights and 

 Measures, A.n. 1862. " Public standards should be exhibited (as barometers are at our 

 ports and fishing-stations) in conspicuous places in our towns, and secured (as they are on 

 the Continent) by insertion in the walls. ' There is no such thing in Britain,' says the 

 Astronomer Royal, 'as a public exhibition of a measure or a weight.' The Government, 

 instead of being passive, ought to be active in the question." — Report, p. ix. The Astro- 

 nomer Royal's letter, here quoted, is dated 1st February, 1859. It is addressed to Lord 

 Monteagle, at that time Comptroller of the Exchequer, and is highly deserving of atten- 

 tion. — See Appendix to same Report, p. 225. 



