802 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 50. 



THE METRIC SYSTEM IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



A DEPUTATION from chambers of commerce 

 and other bodies waited on Mr. Balfour, First 

 Lord of the Treasury, on November 20th, urg- 

 ing that the government carry out during the 

 next session of Parliament the recommendations 

 made by a committee of the House : That the 

 metric system of weights and measures be at 

 once legalized for all purposes ; that after a 

 lapse of two years the metrical system be ren- 

 dered compulsory by Act of Parliament ; that 

 the metrical system of weights and measures be 

 taught in all public elementary schools as a 

 necessary and integral part of arithmetic, and 

 that decimals be introduced at an earlier period 

 of the school curriculum than is the case at 

 present. Sir A. Rollet, who introduced the dep- 

 utation, said that of sixty-eight chambers of 

 commerce all but one favored the memorial. 

 The present system was obsolete and disastrous 

 to British trade, leaving it in a position of isola- 

 tion. No proposal was made in regard to the 

 coinage at present. Speeches were made by 

 others, including Sir Samuel Montague, who 

 said that if England adopted the metrical sys- 

 tem the United States would also do so. Mr. 

 Balfour in his reply expressed complete concur- 

 rence with the first and third propositions. He, 

 however, thought that there would be very 

 great difficulty in compelling every class in the 

 community suddenly to alter its habitual prac- 

 tice in the weights and measures in which it 

 deals. Mr. Balfour concluded by saying that 

 while he looked forward to the time when the 

 change could be made, he would like private 

 enterprise to show that this can be done without 

 inconvenience, and that it carries with it all the 

 benefits which he, in common with them, at- 

 tached to the metric system, and which it is ab- 

 solutely impossible to associate with the arbi- 

 trary, perverse and utterly irrational system in 

 which they had the misfortune to grow up. It 

 follows from Mr. Balfour's address that that 

 metric system will be at once legalized and in- 

 struction in it required in all schools, but that its 

 general use will not be made compulsory at 

 present. 



PRESERVATION OP FORESTS. 



The report of the Hon. Hoke Smith, Secre- 



tary of the Interior, pays special attention to 

 irrigation and preservation of the forest. Mr. 

 Smith says that there have been reserved 

 from settlement, under the act of March 3, 

 1891, 17,000,000 acres of land as forest reserves. 

 The object of these reservations is to preserve 

 the forests themselves for future use, and 

 through the preservation of the forests to pro- 

 tect and reserve the supply of water, so that it 

 may be stored and utilized for irrigation. These 

 forest reserves protect the head waters of many 

 of the streams used for irrigation. If the depre- 

 dations upon them continue at the present rate, 

 they will, in a few years, be entirely denuded 

 of their timber, and will thus leave the lands 

 surrounding the head waters of irrigating 

 streams subject to the direct rays of the sun, 

 causing waste through floods at an early season 

 of the year and the loss of benefit to the agri- 

 cultural lands when the water is needed later. 

 If, however, the timber lands are protected and 

 kept intact, the melting of the snow will be 

 gradual, floods will be prevented, and a flow 

 will be maintained until late in the spring. The 

 force of the General Land Office is, however, in- 

 adequate to protect the general reservations 

 and the permits for cutting timber authorized 

 by law have been much abused. Mr. Smith 

 recommends the appointment of special agents 

 to protect the forests against fire and depreda- 

 tion and that a rational system of timber cut- 

 ting under competent supervision be substi- 

 tuted for the present system of timber permits. 

 Mr. Smith thinks that it would be desirable to 

 obtain, under the provisions of the constitution 

 of the National Academy of Sciences, a report 

 from that body upon the general subject of for- 

 estry administration in this country, particu- 

 larly if it were possible for them to employ ex- 

 perts to collect statistical information as to the 

 area, location and character of the wooded 

 lands belonging to the United States. ^ 



FAST TRAINS IN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE 

 UNITED STATES. 



The following are the tabulated figures of two 

 fast runs in this country and of the record- 

 breaking run, to date, in Great Britain, as made 

 up by the Lake Shore Railway, which holds 

 the record for the world. The second table is 



