I9OI-2 TRANSACTIONS. 45 



that a meridian line is to be laid down by the Surveyor Gen- 

 eral, at or near Quebec, Montreal and Three Rivers, on which 

 surveyors must annually test their instruments (compass) and 

 report the variation (declination) to the Suveyor General. 



All surveyors must undergo examination by the Survey- 

 or General, and each must give bonds for the proper discharge 

 of his duty. Chain bearers must be sworn too. 



For boundary marks, stone monuments must be used 

 between seigneury and seigneury ''of the length of one foot 

 and a half at least above the surface of the earth." 



It may be mentioned that on the death of a surveyor his 

 plans, field-books, &c., became public records of the Court of 

 Common Pleas, and for five years the heirs received half of 

 the fe.es collected for copies furnished. 



For our present purpose, the important clause in this 

 ordinance is: " That the land measures shall.be the same as 

 before the year of our Lord 1760, in all grants of seigneuries 

 and concessions therein to that period." 



From Ordinances — Province of Quebec, pp. 57 65. 



Probably the earliest legislation in America pertaining 

 to weights and measures is the order of 5 March, 1623-24, of 

 the general assembly of the colony of Virginia, whereby 

 weights and measures used had to be sealed by officers 

 appointed for that purpose. The standards were, of course, 

 those of the mother country — England. 



On December 23rd, 1834, the dry-goods merchants of 

 Philadelphia passed a resolution abolishing the custom of 

 giving "the breadth of a thumb over or more than 36 inches 

 to the yard." Shortly aftewards the Board of Trade met, and 

 considering the resolution of the merchants rather sudden, 

 resolved that the thumbless yaid come not into force before 

 the following ist March, so that people might prepare for 

 it! 



THE METRIC SYSTEM. 



This system is the most simple, and the one approaching 

 nearest to perfection of any ever devised by man. In con- 



