480 
PROFESSOR SCHUMACHER ON THE LATE 
gravity, there appears from another quarter anew prospect to arrive at a knowledge of 
this most important point. The Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords, 
appointed to consider the petition of the Directors of the Chamber of Commerce and 
Manufactures, established by royal charter in the City of Glasgow, taking notice of 
the Bill intituled “An Act for ascertaining and establishing Uniformity of Weights 
and Measures ,” and praying their Lordships to give the matter of their petition due 
consideration, and that they will introduce into the Bill such parts of the petition 
as shall to their Lordships appear likely to prove beneficial ; together with the 
Minutes of Evidence taken before the said Committee, 1823, (Ordered by the House 
of Commons to be printed, March 2, 1824,) Folio, contains, p. 14, under the Mi- 
nutes of Evidence, the examination of Dr. Kelly (May 31, 1823) : where, upon the 
query, “ What was effected with regard to the weights and measures by the Com- 
“ inittee of 1758?” Dr. Kelly answers: “ They ordered three several troy pounds 
“ to be adjusted, under the direction of Mr. Harris, the then Assay-Master of the 
“ Mint. One of these was placed in the custody of the Clerk of the House of Com- 
“ inons ; another was left with Mr. Harris, and is that now in the possession of 
“ Mr. Bingley ; and the third was, I understand, delivered to Mr. Freeman, weight- 
“ maker to the Mint, the Exchequer, and the Bank of England, who used it as his 
“ standard, and it is still so employed by his successor, Mr. Vandome.” 
There is moreover on the same page 14 the following note: 
“ This weight [Mr. Bingley’s pound] was produced to the Committee, at a sub- 
“ sequent meeting, by Mr. Bingley, who said it had formerly belonged to Mr. Harris 
“ when he held the situation of Assay-Master. There was a memorandum on the lid 
£C of the box in which it was kept, stating that Mr. Harris had made from it the 
“ pound weight which was placed in the custody of the Clerk of the House of Com- 
“ mons by direction of the Committee of 1758, and which is called commonly the 
“ Parliamentary pound.” 
If Dr. Kelly’s statements be exact, as there is no doubt they are, and Messrs. Bing- 
ley’s and Vandome’s pound be really the two remaining weights of the often-men- 
tioned three which Mr. Harris presented to the Committee of 1758*, we can still 
either determine, with the highest degree of probability, the specific gravity of the lost 
imperial standard troy pound, or know with certainty that all hope to arrive at this 
knowledge is lost. It will be only requisite to ascertain with the greatest care the 
specific gravities of both pounds, the one in the possession of Mr. Bingley, and the 
other in the possession of Mr. Vandome. If the specific gravity of both is found the 
* There is an easy and obvious verification of the fact. If Mr, Bingley’s and Mr. Vandome s pounds be 
indeed the two remaining pounds of 1758, they must have the same stamps which the standard had, of which 
an exact representation, taken by Captain Neiius in 1829, is subjoined to this paper. The Report of the Com- 
mittee of 1758 says expressly (p. 437 b.), “Three several troy pounds to be made under the direction of 
“ Mr. Harris, to be marked as follows here the representation of the stamps of the standard roughly cut in 
wood is added, which, according to the words of the Report, must be common to them all. 
