The English electricians came to the Congress with the desire 

 of having the C.G.S. units generally adopted, together with the 

 multiples or sub-multiples of them known as the Ohm, Volt, 

 Weber, and Farad, which are in general use in England. 



The Germans on the other hand clung to the Siemens unit, 

 which had a German origin, and is universally employed in 

 their country, and they were for measuring currents by the 

 quantity of copper that a current would deposit in a given time. 



The French, we understood, were on our side ; but it was 

 feared that the German patriotism and tenacity of purpose 

 would prove formidable obstacles to a harmonious solution. 



As every one felt that it would be frivolous to discuss other 

 points till this burning question was decided or put in train for 

 being decided, it was taken up as the first question in the first 

 section. Sir Wm. Thomson, at the call of the President of the 

 section, M. Dumas, opened the discussion in a very lucid and 

 able speech, in which he paid graceful compliments to the 

 founders of the metric system, and pointed out how that system 

 had been developed, and in one important respect simplified by 

 the British Association Committee. He concluded by moving 

 that a Committee be appointed to discuss certain questions of 

 detail, which were of too technical a character to be interesting 

 to the members of the section generally. 



He Avas followed by Professors Wiedemann and Helmholtz, 

 who raised difficulties regarding the accuracy of the standards 

 which have been constructed by the British Association, and 

 recommended a complete separation between theory and prac- 

 tice — the practical unit of resistance to be Siemens' mercury 

 unit. After one or two others had spoken, I ventured to de- 

 mand " la parole," and threw out a suggestion which, I thought, 

 was calculated to form the basis of a satisfactory compromise. 

 While insisting on the importance of choosing units which had 

 the simplest possible relations among themselves, I pointed out 

 that this part of the work of the British Association Committees 

 was by no means bound up inseparably with their choice of 

 wire coils as standards, and that if a mercury standard was more 

 permanent and more easily reproducible, there was nothing to 



