the American Metre-logical Society. 247 



constant accession to the number of its advocates. The tech- 

 nical societies, especially the Technischer Verein of Americans 

 of German origin, and the American Pharmaceutical Society, 

 have been actively useful in this respect ; and I cannot with- 

 hold the expression of my full conviction that a comparatively 

 little more organized and well-directed effort will suffice for 

 making the first steps in an advance which must end in the 

 practically general adoption of the system in the United 

 States. 



Elsewhere the movement has been analogous. In those few 

 nations where the use of these weights and measures has not 

 been fully established by law, the tendency to their employ- 

 ment has been constantly increasing to a notable extent ; and 

 in those where their use, although prescribed by law, has not 

 yet become generally adopted by the people, the same tend- 

 ency is constantly asserting itself. 



In short, it may be unhesitatingly declared that the employ- 

 ment of the Metric System is constantly increasing throughout 

 the civilized world, and that its advantages, commercial, social 

 and scientific are everywhere becoming better appreciated. 



The most important researches, experiments and compari- 

 sons for the perfection ment and application of the system are 

 of course those which are carried on at the International 

 Bureau, established for the purpose near Paris by the joint 

 action of most of the civilized nations of the world. Here 

 the elaborate comparison of national prototypes with the two 

 international ones which now serve as the definitions of the 

 meter and the kilogram, has been essentially completed, so 

 that the Bureau is becoming better able to devote a share 

 of its attention to the investigation of other of the important 

 subjects which demand its care. 



One of these to which attention has been directed during 

 the past year has been the relation of the yard to the meter, 

 which may now be regarded as definitely settled within one or 

 two units of the fourth decimal. The researches of Dr. 

 Benoit, Director of the Bureau, of which I had the pleasure 

 of giving you some account a year ago, established the true 

 length of the Toise du Perou, Bessel's toise, and the toise No. 

 9, and thus brought harmony into the previously conflicting 

 results of some of the geodetic surveys. Our colleague and 

 Secretary, Mr. Tittmann, has studied the various determina- 

 tions by the English and American authorities, and after 

 deducing their appropriate corrections, inferred a value of. 

 39*3698 inches as representing the true relation of the inch to 

 the meter. This differs by little less than a full thousandth of 

 an inch from the value which had been generally accepted and 

 incorporated into the British Act of Parliament of 1878. 



