SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 79-. 



ard troy pound of the Mint of the United States, 

 conformably to which the coinage thereof shall be 

 regulated." 



Resolved, by the Senate and House of Eepresenta- 

 tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 

 sembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and 

 he hereby is, directed to cause a complete set of all 

 the -weights and measures adopted as standards, and 

 now either made, or in progress of manufacture, for 

 the use of the several custom-houses, and for other 

 purposes, to be delivered to the Governor of -each 

 State in the Union, or such person as he may appoint, 

 for the use of the States respectively, to the end that 

 a uniform standard of weights and measures may be 

 established throughout the United States. 



Approved June 14, 1836. 



An Act to authorize the use of the Metric System 

 of Weights and Measures, July 28, 1866: 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Eepre- 

 sentatives of the United States in Congress assembled. 

 That from and after the passage of this Act it shall be 

 lawful throughout the United States of America to 

 employ the weights and measures of the Metric Sys- 

 tem, and no contract or dealing, or i^leading in any 

 court shall be deemed invalid or liable to objection 

 because the weights or measures expressed or referred 

 to therein are weights and measures of the Metric 

 System. 



Sec, 2 : And be it further enacted. That the tables 

 in the schedule hereto annexed shall be recognized in 

 the construction of contracts and in all legal proceed- 

 ings, as establishing, in terms of the weights and 

 measures now in use in the United States, the 

 equivalents of the weights and measures expressed 

 therein in terms of the Metric System ; and said tables 

 may be lawfully used for computing, determining 

 and expressing in customary weights and measures 

 the weights of the Metric System," 1866. 



An Act establishing a standard gauge for sheet and 

 plate iron and steel: 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Eepre- 

 sentatives of the United States of America in Con- 

 gress assembled, That for the purpose of securing 

 uniformity the following is established as the only 

 standard gauge for sheet and plate iron and steel in 

 the United States of America, namely: 

 [See table previous page.] 



And on and after July first, eighteen hundred and 

 ninety-three, the same and no other shall be used in 

 determining duties and taxes levied by the United 

 States of America on sheet and plate iron and steel. 

 But this act shall not be construed to increase duties 

 upon any articles which may be imported. 



Sec. 2. That the Secretary of the Treasury is author- 

 ized and required to prepare suitable standards va> 

 accordance herewith. 



Sec. 3. That in the practical use and application of 

 the standard gauge hereby established a variation of 

 two and one-half per cent. , either way may be al- 

 lowed. 



Approved, March 3, 1893. 



THE LACOE COLLECTION IN TEE NATIONAL. 



3IUSEUM. 



The Lacoe Collection of Fossil Plants, the 

 removal of which from Pittston, Pennsylva- 

 nia, to Washington, has now been accom- 

 plished, is by far the largest and most 

 valuable of its kind in America, and com- 

 pares favorably with the richest paleobo- 

 tanical collections in European museums. 



Mr. E. D. Lacoe, who has so generously 

 presented this magnificent collection to the 

 Museum, is a leading business man of Pitts- 

 ton, who for twenty-five years has found 

 diversion and outdoor occupation in collect- 

 ing fossils, and whose enthusiasm in con- 

 nection with his scientific and practical 

 knowledge of mining has enabled him to 

 bring together a most unique and valuable 

 series of the Paleozoic plants of America. 



His interest in the subject is a natural 

 outgrowth of his taste for science, and has 

 doubtless been stimulated by his environ- 

 ment, for he lives in the very heart of the^ 

 northern Anthracite coal region. To this 

 fact is also in large measure due his interest 

 in paleontological research in general. 



The collection contains nearly 100,000- 

 specimens and was shipped in 315 cases, 

 and is constantly being increased through 

 the collecting agencies established by Mr.. 

 Lacoe in all the principal coal regions in the 

 United States. The series illustrating the 

 morphology of species and their geographical 

 and geological distribution alone comprises 

 over 17,000 specimens. It represents more 

 thoroughly than any other collection the 

 fossil flora of the Anthracite region of Penn- 

 sylvania. There are also especially good 



