July 3, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



whicli followed its passage The general 

 introduction of the system in the postoflices 

 of the country was contemplated and pro- 

 vided for in Mr. Kasson's Act, and he had 

 ready for future introduction a resolution 

 providing for its compulsory use in the 

 custom houses, thus greatly facilitating its 

 general adoption in trade. His removal 

 from Congress to the Diplomatic Corps of 

 the United States prevented realization of 

 his designs, but metrologists and the public 

 at large should not fail to recognize the 

 splendid services which he rendered in di- 

 recting the legislation of thirty years ago. 



The statutes are silent in the matter of 

 weights and measures for more than a quar- 

 ter of a century following the Act of 1866. 

 The general trend of public sentiment dur- 

 ing this period and the leaning of govern- 

 ment authorities towards the final adoption 

 of the Metric System is unmistakably 

 shown, however, in the annual appropria- 

 tions for the support of the International 

 Bureau of Weights and Measures, to which 

 we were committed as a nation by the In- 

 ternational Convention of 1875. 



The next legislation relating to standards 

 was an Act, approved March 3, 1893, es- 

 tablishing a standard gauge for sheet and 

 plate iron and steel. This measure is by 

 no means an advance in practical metrol- 

 ogy, its enactment being in response to the 

 urgent demands of those actually engaged 

 in the rolling of sheet metal. The influence 

 of the Office of Weights and Measures pre- 

 vented it from involving certain unscientific 

 and physically impossible conditions, be- 

 sides securing the use of metric units as 

 well as the pound, foot and inch. It also 

 secured the addition of a ^ limit of error ' 

 or tolerance, a very important part of prac- 

 tical legislation in metrology, which has 

 hitherto been almost, if not quite, abso- 

 lutely neglected in this country. 



Although not an Act of National legisla- 

 tion, a step of great importance was taken 



on April 5, 1893, in the approval by the 

 Secretary of the Treasury of a Bulletin is- 

 sued by the Superintendent of Weights and 

 Measures announcing the definitive adop- 

 tion of the International Prototype Metre 

 and Kilogramme as fundamental standards 

 of length and mass and declaring that in 

 the future the customary units, the yard 

 and the pound, would be derived from them, 

 in accordance with the Act of 1866. This 

 put the government of the United States, 

 as far as relates to the operations of all the 

 Departments (with the single exception of 

 the mint, for which the old troy pound re- 

 mains a standard as explained above), on 

 an international metric basis, all measures 

 in ordinary use being derivatives of the 

 metre and kilogramme. 



The next step in metrological legislation 

 was the Act of July 12, 1894, establishing 

 a series of units for electrical measurement. 

 This Act grew out of the recommendation 

 of the International Electrical Congress 

 held in Chicago in 1893. The units which 

 it establishes are all founded on the centi- 

 metre, the gramme and the second, and it is 

 distinctly a ' Metric ' Act. For the success- 

 ful management of tiiis important Act, 

 from the time of its introduction in the 

 House, through its reference to the com- 

 mittees in both House and Senate and up to 

 the time of its approval by the President, 

 we are very largely indebted to Hon. Charles 

 W. Stone, member of Congress from Pennsyl- 

 vania, then a member and now Chairman 

 of the House Committee on Coinage, 

 Weights and Measures, who, by reason of 

 his tastes and training, had an intelligent 

 comprehension of the importance of a 

 measure which was so technical in its char- 

 acter as to be nearly unintelligible to the 

 ordinary legislator. Mr. Stone pressed the 

 bill through its various stages with tact and 

 influence to its final enactment as a law, at 

 a time and under conditions when very 

 little legislation of any kind was possible, 



