ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. 
LVII 
troy pounds of soft gun-metal were very carefully adjusted under 
the direction of Mr. Joseph Harris, who was then assay master of 
the Mint. To ascertain the proper mass for these pounds the com¬ 
mittee caused Messrs. Harris and Gregory, of the Mint, to perform 
the following operations in their presence 
First.—In the before-mentioned set of troy weights, made in 1588, 
which were then the Exchequer standard, each weight, from that 
of 4 ounces up to that of 256 ounces, was compared successively 
with the sum of all the smaller weights ; and by a process for which 
no valid reason can be assigned,^ it was concluded from these weigh¬ 
ings that the troy pound composed of the 8 and 4 ounce weights 
was U grains too light. 
Second.—The aforesaid 8 and 4 ounce weights of the Exchequer 
were compared with five other authoritative troy pounds, four of 
which belonged to the Mint and one to Mr. Freeman, who, like his 
father before him, was scale maker to the miut, and from the mean 
of these weighings it appeared that the sum of the Exchequer 8 and 
4 ounce weights was one grain too light. 
The Committee adopted the mean between the latter result and 
that which they had deduced from the Exchequer weights alone,^ 
and accordingly Mr. Harris made each of his three troy pounds 14 
grains heavier than the sum of the Exchequer 8 and 4 ounce weights; 
but sixty-six years were destined to elapse before Parliament took 
action respecting them. 
The Commissioners appointed in 1818 to establish a more uniform 
system of weights and measures, repeated the recommendations of 
the committee of 1758,^ and as the avoirdupois pound which had 
long been used, although not legalized by any act of the legis¬ 
lature, was very nearly 7,000 troy grains, they recommended that 
7,000 such troy grains be declared to constitute a pound avoirdu¬ 
pois.^ These recommendations were embodied in the act of Parlia¬ 
ment of June 17, 1824, and thus one of the troy pounds made in 
1758 became the Imperial standard. That standard, like Bird’s 
standard yard, was deposited in the Houses of Parliament and was 
burned up with them in October, 1834. 
The present English standard pound was made in 1844-46 by 
Prof. W. H. Miller, who was one of the members of the Commission 
appointed in 1843 to superintend the construction of the new par- 
*^11, p. 437. ^See Note B, below. 
^See 23, 24, and 25. 
^28, pp. 4-5. 
