308 REPORT— 1869. 



Meteor seen at New Tori: 

 May 20th, at night a meteor equal to the full moon was seen at 'New 

 York. It changed colour from red to green and burst into fragments. It 

 cast deep shadows, and had a long tail. Appeared 10° X.X.W. of a, Aquila; ; 

 path 30° K". westerly. — Prom American papers. — Mominrj Star, June 3rd. 



Report on the best means of providiny for a uniformity of Weights and 

 Measures, loith reference to the Interests of Science. By a Com- 

 mittee, consisting of Sir John Bowring, F.R.S., The Right Hon. 

 C. B. Adderley, i¥.P., Samuel Browx, F.S.S., Dr. Farr, F.R.S., 

 Frank P. Fellows, Professor Frankland, F.R.S., Professor Hen- 

 NEssY, F.R.S., James Heywood, F.R.S., Sir Robert Kane, F.R.S., 

 Professor Leone Levi, Professor W. A. Miller, F.R.S., Professor 

 Rankine, LL.D., FR.S., C. W. Siemens, F.R.S., Colonel Sykes, 

 F.R.S., M.P., Professor A. W. Williamson, FR.S., James Yates, 

 F.R.S.,!)!'. George Glover, Sir Joseph AVhitworth, Bart.,F.R.S., 

 J. R. Napier, H. Dircks, J. V. N. Bazalgette, W. Smith, Sir W. 

 Fairbairn, Bart., F.R.S., «;irf John Robinson : — Professor Leone 

 Levi, Secretary. 



Yotra Committee have much pleasure in reporting that during the year con- 

 siderable progress has been made towards the assimilation of weights and 

 measures in all countries. As briefly stated last year, the Xorth-German 

 Confederation, by a law dated 13 June 18G8, adopted the metre as the basis 

 of measures and weights, and they resolved to take as the primaiy standard 

 measure of length the platinum bar in the 2>osscssion of the Prussian Govern- 

 ment, which in the year 1863 was found by a Commission appointed by the 

 French and Pnissian Governments to be equal to 1-00000301 metre at the 

 temperatm-e of melting ice by comparison with the metre deposited at the 

 Archives in Paris. Whilst adopting the metric nomenclature, the Xorth- 

 German Confederation added corresponding idiomatic names wherever pos- 

 sible, as, for instance, the iletre is also called the " Stab " or " EU," the 

 Centimetre the new " Zoll " or " Inch," the Millimetre the " Strick " or 

 "Line,'" the Dekametre the "Kette" or Chain, the Litre the "Kanne" or 

 Pot, the Hetolitre the " Zass " or Cask, the half Kilogram the " Pfund " or 

 Pound, and the 50 Kilograms or 100 pounds the "Zentner" or Hundred- 

 weight. In the United States the use of metric weights and measures has 

 been rendered legal, and they are employed in all post-offices exchanging 

 mails with foreign countries. In the Postal Convention with this country, 

 signed at London on the 18th June 1867, the authorized weight of a single 

 letter was stated to be half an ounce in the United Kingdom, or fifteen grammes 

 by the metrical scale in the United States. It were much to be desired 

 that the Post-Office of this country would second the enlightened opinion of 

 the Americans and adopt fifteen grams as the minimum weight of letters 

 sent to foreign countries. But still greater progress has been made in the 

 introduction of the Metric System into India. The question of revising the 

 Indian system of weights and measures had engaged the attention of the 

 Government of India at various periods since 1837, and, in consequence of 

 representations from the Madras Government and the Chambers of Com- 

 merce, the Government of India passed a resolution in 1864 authorizing 



