DENSITIES OF THE TROY POUNDS CONSTRUCTED IN 1758. 
793 
It appears from the first of these Reports that Mr. Harris, then Assay-Master of 
the Mint, presented to the first Committee three troy pounds made under his direc- 
tion, one of which was the lost Imperial Standard Troy Pound. The third Report 
contains the evidence of Dr. Kelly, who in reply to the query, “What was effected 
with regard to weights and measures by the Committee of 1758?” 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 Commons ; another was left vidth Mr. Harris, and is 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.” 
The same page contains the following note : — This weight [Mr. Bingley’s pound] was 
produced to the Committee, 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 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 
Commons by direction of the Committee of 17^8, and which is commonly called the 
Parliamentary Pound. 
Professor Schumacher then observes that “ if Dr. Kelly’s statements be exact, as 
there is no doubt they are, and Messrs. Bingley’s and Vandome’s pound be really the 
two remaining weights of the often mentioned three which Mr. Harris presented to 
the Committee of 17o8, we can still either determine, with the highest degree of pro- 
bability, 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, the other in the possession of Mr. Vandome. If the 
specific gravity of both is found the same, we might from that circumstance draw the 
highly probable conclusion, that the three single pounds of y. Fig. i. 
Mr. Harris, according to my hypothesis, were really made of 
the same identical metal ; and the specific gravities of the 
two remaining pounds might with safety be considered as that 
of the lost standard. If, on the contrary, the two remaining 
pounds prove to be of different specific gravities, the hypo- 
thesis that all three were made of the same metal is evi- 
dently erroneous, and nothing can be inferred from the spe- 
cific gravity of either of the two remaining.” 
These two weights were found to be still in existence. 
Mr. Vandome readily consented to allow the troy pound in 
his possession to be experimented upon by the Committee. 
In form and size this weight very closely resembles the 
figure of the lost standard given by Captain v. Nehus. The 
