Maech 27, 1896.] 



SGIENGE. 



463 



in phraseology desirable in the proposed 

 law to avoid ambiguity and uncertainty. 

 To most clearly and intelligently express 

 those proposed changes and the scope of the 

 bill after they are made, your committee 

 have embodied them in a substitute bill 

 which they report herewith and respect- 

 fully recommend that it do pass. 



A Bill to fix the standard of weights and meas- 

 ures by the adoption of the metric system of weights 

 and measures. 



Be it enacted hy the Senate and Hmise of Eepresenta- 

 tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 

 senibled, That from and after the first day of July, 

 eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, all the Depart- 

 ments of the Government of the United States, in 

 transaction of all business requiring the use of weight 

 and measurement, except in completing the survey of 

 the public lands, shall employ and use only the 

 weights and measures of the metric system. 



Sec. 2. That from and after the first day of Janu- 

 ary, nineteen hundred and one, the metric system of 

 weights and measures shall he the only legal system of 

 weights and measures recognized in the United States. 



Sec. 3. That the metric system of weights and 

 measures herein referred to is that in which the ulti- 

 mate standard of mass or weight is the international 

 kilogram of the International Bureau of Weights and 

 Measures, established in accordance with the conven- 

 tion of May twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy- 

 five, and the ultimate standard of length is the inter- 

 national meter of the same bureau, the national 

 prototypes of which are kilogram numbered twenty 

 and meter numbered twenty-seven, preserved in the 

 archives of the office of standard weights and 

 measures. 



Sec. 4. That the tables in the schedules annexed 

 to the bill authorizing the use of the metric system 

 of weights and measures passed July twenty-eighth, 

 eighteen hundred and sixty-six, shall be the tables of 

 equivalents which may be lawfully used for comput- 

 ing, determining and expressing the customary 

 weights and measures in the weights and measures of 

 the metric system. 



LETTER SENT ON MARCH 15, 1896, FROM THE 

 OFFICE OF SECRETARY, AMERICAN MET- 

 ROLOGICAL SOCIETY, COLUMBIA UNI- 

 VERSITY, NEW YORK. 



Dear Sir: You are aware, no doubt, that 



the Committee on Coinage, "Weights and 

 Measures, of the House of Representatives, 

 Hon. C. W. Stone, Chairman, has directed 

 that a favorable report be made, to the 

 Hbuse, of a bill making the use of the met- 

 ric system obligatory in the United States 

 after certain dates named in the bill. The 

 bill reported is a substitute for the Hon. D. 

 M. Hurley's bill. A copy of the substitute 

 bill is enclosed. 



It is very important that all interested in 

 this bill should act promptly and vigor- 

 ously. 



If you are in favor of the bill sign the en- 

 closed petition and obtain on it the signa- 

 tures of friends in your ' neighborhood. 

 Mail the signed petition, with a personal 

 letter, as soon as practicable, to your Rep- 

 resentatives in Washington, D. C. Kindly 

 send the Society a postal card stating when 

 you sent the petition and the number of 

 names signed. 



The Society would be glad to know the 

 condition of feeling toward the metric sys- 

 tem in your vicinity. 



Yours respectfully, 



B. A. Gould, 



President, 

 J. K. Rees, 



Secretary. 



form of PETITION. 



The undersigned citizens residing in his 

 Congressional District respectfully urge the 



Honorable Mr. to consider 



favorably and vote for the bill reported to 

 the House of Representatives by the Com- 

 mittee on Coinage, Weights and Measures, 

 to fix the standard of weight and measures 

 by the adoption of the metric system of 

 weights and measures. 



ON THE REFLECTION OF THE BONTQEN 

 BAYS FROM PLATINUM. 



The interest connected with this subject 

 led me on March the 9th to undertake a 



