628 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1408. 



the same time have the privilege of giving 

 one or more courses of lectures at some uni- 

 versity or institution of learning. 



was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

 Manufacturers. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 NEWS 



President Angell has announced that Mrs. 

 Stephen V. Harkness of 'New York is the hith- 

 erto unnamed friend of the University whose 

 conditional gift of $3,000,000 was made public 

 by President Hadley at the Commencement 

 alumni dinner in 1920. Mrs. Harkness's gift 

 •of $3,000,000 was made conditional upon the 

 securing of an additional $2,000,000 from 

 alumni and other friends which was pledged 

 on October first, 1921. In her original letter 

 of gift, dated April 5, 1920, Mrs. Harkness 

 stated : " I am informed that Tale University 

 has recently increased the salaries of the 

 members of its several faculties. . . . This 

 action seems to me to be in accord with 

 the general feeling of its alumni and friends, 

 that those who are devoting their lives, with 

 little or no opportunity for large pecuniary 

 rewards, to the teaching of young men and 

 women and the moulding of their characters 

 and opinions, should receive so far as possible 

 a compensation sufficient always to attract 

 persons of ability and standing." 



Earl B. Young has been elected professor 

 of geology at the Montana School of Mines, 

 Butte, Mont. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND 

 THE METRIC SYSTEM 



To THE Editor of Science: The National 

 Academy of Sciences at its meeting in 

 Chicago in November, on request, considered 

 the bill introduced in the Senate by Senator 

 E. F. Ladd, which reads as follows: 



67th Congress, 

 1st Session 



A BILL 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 



July 18, 1921 

 Mr. Ladd introduced the following bill; which 



To fix the metric system of weights and measures 



as the single standard of weights and 



measures for certain uses 



Be it enacted by tie Senate and House of Rep- 

 resentatives of the United States of America ia 

 Congress assembled, That from and after ten years 

 from the date of passage and approval of this Act 

 the weights and measures of the meter-liter-grain 

 or metric system shall be the single standard of 

 weights and measures in the United States of 

 America for the uses set out herein. 



Sec. S. That the national prototypes of the 

 fundamental standards of the metric system shall 

 be the copies of the standards known as meter nuna- 

 bered twenty-seven and kilogram numbered twenty, 

 allotted to the United States by the General Con- 

 ference of Weights and Measures held at Paris ia 

 1889. These axe now deposited in the vault of the 

 Bureau of Standards of the Department of Com- 

 merce and those which are now used and employed 

 in deriving the values of all weights and measures 

 used in the United States. These national repre- 

 sentations are hereby adopted as the primary stand- 

 ards of weights and measures for the United States 

 of America, and from these all other weights and 

 measures shall be derived and ascertained. 



Sec. 3. That from and after ten years from the 

 date of passage and approval of this Act no person 

 shall do or offer or attempt to do any of the foUow- 

 ing acts, by weights or measures, in or according to 

 any other system than the metric system of weights 

 and measures, namely : 



(1) Sell any goods, wares, or merchandise except 

 for export, as provided in section 8 ; 



(2) Charge or collect for the carriage or trans- 

 portation of any goods, wares, or merchandise. 



Sec. 4. That from and after ten years from the 

 date of passage of this Act no person shall use or 

 attempt to use in any of the transactions detailed 

 in section 3 any weight or measure or weighing or 

 measuring device designed, constructed, marked, or 

 graduated in any other system than the metric sys- 

 tem of weights and measures. 



Sec. 5. That not later than ten years from the 

 date of passage and approval of this Act all post- 

 age, excises, duties, and customs charged or col- 

 lected by weights or measures by the Government 

 of the United St-ates shall be charged or collected 



