I9OI-2 TRANSACTlONa :^J 



Metrology. 



By Otto J, Klotz. 

 Astronomer, Department of Interior. 



{Read March 22nd^ igoi^ 



The subject of metrology — the science of measuring— is 

 very comprehensive, and has furnished a library of literature. 

 In the present short paper it is intended to treat the subject 

 in its relation to our own doings, past and present, and indi- 

 cate the trend of the world towards the adoption of simple, 

 rational units of weights and measures for the convenience of 

 man. 



To the question — what is a yard, what a pound ? an 

 answer would probably not be readily given. We will return 

 to the question later, 



A few words about the origin of our weights and meas- 

 ures. Beginning with the present, and tracing them through 

 the statutes to England, and there following the enactments 

 through various reigns, we pass into Roman and Greek his- 

 tory, and are finally lost in historic darkness. 



The reference to the earliest introductions of weights and 

 measures we find in Josephus, where, in Book I, Chapter ii, 

 he says : " And when Cain had travelled over many countries? 

 he, with his wife, built a city named Nod * * * and 

 was the author of measures and weights." 



In a primitive people, the most suggestive measure is one 

 that i'S most easily available, and for this purpose the human 

 body furnished the most ready scale for linear measure. It is 

 but necessary to mention the names to show how the body, or 

 parts thereof, were used. We have the foot, the digit, or 

 finger's breadth \ the thumb, or inch ; the nail, or from the 



