4G8 REPOET— 18G7. 



Report on the best means of providing for a uniformity of Weights 

 and Measures, ivith reference to the Interests of Science. By a 

 Committee, consisting of Sir John Bowring, The Rt. Hon. C. B. 

 Adderley, M.P., Sir W. Armstrong, Mr. Samuel Brown, Mr. 

 W. EwART, M.P., Mr. Capel H. Berger, Dr. Farr, Mr. Frank 

 Fellows, Prof. Frankland, Mr. George Glover, Prof. Hennessy, 

 Earl FoRTEscuE, Mr. Frederick Hendricks, Mr. James Hey- 

 AvooD, Sir Robert Kane, Prof. Leone Levi, Prof. W. A. Miller, 

 Prof. Rankine, Mr. C. W. Siemens, Col. Sykes, M.P., Prof. A. 

 W. Williamson, Lord Wrottesley, Mr. James Yates, and Prof. 

 Leone Levi, Secretary. 



Since our reappointment at Ifottiugliam, your Committee have used their 

 best endeavours to diffuse the knowledge of the Metric System, with a view 

 to its extension throughout tlie world, and wc have the pleasure to report that 

 special and extensive opportunities have presented themselves for the purpose. 

 The advantage of having the principal items in the statistics of the United 

 Kingdom pubhshed in the terms of the Metric, as well as of the Imperial 

 System, a practice which has been most advantageously introduced in some 

 Government Departments, has been again brought by your Committee to the 

 notice of the Board of Trade ; but although this method has been repeatedly 

 recommended b^' the International Statistical Congress, and also by the Com- 

 mittee of the House of Commons in 1862, the request has not been granted. 

 Your Committee can scarcelj* admit that an arrangement, which would be 

 found so convenient to this and to foreign countries, and which would so 

 facilitate the general knowledge of the Metric System, should be refused 

 on the ground of clerical difficulties, or because it may cause a trifling ad- 

 ditional expenditure. The Committee hope that, on further consideration, 

 the Board of Trade will see the advantage of complying with the wishes 

 repeatedly expressed for such items of information. 



The Mural Standard, which has been the subject of so much care and 

 study, both as regards precision and material, has now been completed by 

 Mr. Casella, Scientific Instrument Makei- to the Admiralty, and is avaihable 

 for pubHc use. It is made of white glazed porcelain, which is httle affected 

 by changes of temperature, and combines cheapness with elegance. The two 

 units, the Yard and the Metre, with their divisions, authorized by law, are 

 there shown in contact, so as to admit of easy comparison. The Yard, divided 

 into feet, inches, and eighths of an inch, is painted in red; tlie Metre, divided 

 into decimetres, centimetres, and millimetres, in blue. By very careful obser- 

 vation, it has been found that the measures on this instrument are exact to 

 within the two hundred and fiftieth part of an inch, or the tenth part of a 

 millimetre. It is fitted in a mahogany frame, for suspension on the walls of 

 public buildings. Your Committee have ordered copies of the Mural Stan- 

 dard to be presented to the Board of Customs of London and Liverpool, tlie 

 University of Oxford, and the office of the \Yarden of the Standards. By the 

 kindness of Mr. Yates, a copy of the Mural Standard has also been presented 

 to the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers in Paris. It is much to be desired 

 that the Mural Standard be extensively made known, and your Committee 

 would recommend the same to the special attention of the Chambers of Com- 

 merce and municipal authorities. 



In February last, your Committee, in conjunction with the Council of 

 the British Brancli of the International Decimal Association, invited a con- 



