THE NEW NATIONAL STANDAED OF LENGTH, AND ITS PEINCTPAL COPIES. OSH 
“ It appears to my Lords to be very desirable that the gentlemen who acted as Com- 
missioners for the Restoration of the Standards should afford their assistance, if they can 
be prevailed upon to do so, in directing the executive measures necessary for carrying- 
out the recommendations contained in the report now before my Lords. 
“ Them Lordships therefore deem it expedient to propose to the undermentioned noble- 
men and gentlemen to undertake the task ; yiz . — 
The Astkoxomer Royal, 
The Marquis of Northampton, 
The Lord Wrottesley, 
F. Baily, Esq., 
J. E. D. Bethune, Esq. 
J. G. S. Lefevre, Esq., 
Sir J. W. Lubbock, Bart., 
The Rev. G. Peacock, Dean of Ely, 
The Rev. R. Sheepshanks, 
Sir J. F. W. Herschel, Bart., and 
Professor Miller.” 
(The name of the Earl of Rosse was subsequently added.) 
Before this time, the Lords of the Treasury had ascertained that it would be agreeable 
to the members of the Committee named, that the work of Standards of Length should 
be entrusted to Mr. Baily, and that of Standards of Weight to Professor Miller, and 
had engaged the services of those gentlemen ; Mr. Baily declining to accept remune- 
ration. 
The first meeting of the Committee was held on 1843, July 11, when it was reported 
that the following measures were collected : — 
The scale of the Royal Society, No. 46. 
The scale of the Royal Astronomical Society. 
The two 3-foot bars of the Ordnance Survey. 
It was resoh ed (provisionally). That the Parliamentary Standard of Length be a measure 
a traits ; that the material be bell-metal (including any variations in the proportion of 
tin, &c.) or steel, as Mr. Baily should think best ; that the Standard be about an inch 
square ; that its ends be notched away to half its thickness, and that the marks defining 
the standard length be made upon pins (if necessaiy) inserted in the surface parallel to 
the length of the bar thus exposed ; that the marks be adjusted to represent the length 
of one yard at the temperature of 61° or 62°, as nearly as possible ; and that the bar be 
supported by a series of supports distributed over many points through its whole length, 
so as to destroy the effect of grawty in bending the bar as completely as possible. 
It was, I believe, at this meeting, that the formation of the planes for receiving the 
defining-marks, by sinking wells to half the thickness of the bar instead of cutting tlie 
bar in the form of a notch, was sanctioned, but not by formal resolution. 
