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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #54208 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54208)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Standard Measures of United States, Great
-Britain and France, by Arthur S. C. Wurtele
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Standard Measures of United States, Great Britain and France
- History and actual comparisons with appendix on introduction
- of the mètre
-
-Author: Arthur S. C. Wurtele
-
-Release Date: February 19, 2017 [EBook #54208]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STANDARD MEASURES OF US, GB, FRANCE ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- STANDARD MEASURES
- OF
- UNITED STATES,
- GREAT BRITAIN, AND FRANCE.
-
- HISTORY AND ACTUAL COMPARISONS.
-
- WITH
- APPENDIX ON INTRODUCTION OF THE MÈTRE.
-
- BY
- ARTHUR S. C. WURTELE,
- ASS’T ENG., N. Y. C. & H. R. R.
-
- [Illustration]
-
- E. & F. N. SPON,
- NEW YORK: 44 MURRAY STREET.
- LONDON: 16 CHARING CROSS.
- 1882.
-
- COPYRIGHT, 1882, BY ARTHUR S. C. WURTELE.
-
-
-
-
-INTRODUCTION.
-
-
-During the preparation of this investigation of Standard Measures a large
-number of authorities were examined, including the following: Kelly’s
-“Universal Cambist,” Maunder’s “Weights and Measures,” “Encyclopædia
-Britannica,” “Chambers’ Encyclopædia,” Williams’ “Geodesy,” Hymer’s
-works, “Smithsonian Reports,” “Coast Survey Reports,” Herschel’s
-“Astronomy,” etc. The only concise and clear statement I found was J. E.
-Hilgard’s report to the Coast Survey on standards in 1876, which I was
-gratified to find coincides with my deductions.
-
- ARTHUR S. C. WURTELE.
-
-ALBANY, November 26, 1881.
-
-
-
-
-STANDARD MEASURES.
-
-
-A standard measure of length at first sight appears to be very
-simple--merely a bar of metal of any length, according to the unit of any
-country; and comparisons of different standards do not seem to present
-any difficulty. But on looking further into the thing, we find that
-standards are referred to some natural invariable length, and we are at
-once confronted with a mass of scientific reductions giving different
-values to the same thing, according to successively improved means of
-observation. We find, also, that comparisons of one standard with another
-differ, as given by reductions carried to great apparent exactness.
-
-Every author appears to assume the right of using his own judgment as to
-what reduction is to be considered the most exact, and the result is a
-very confusing difference in apparently exact figures, with nothing to
-show how these differences arise.
-
-I have endeavored to indicate what may be the cause of this confusion by
-giving the figures of actually observed comparisons and reductions; in a
-manner, the roots of the figures used as statements of length.
-
-Sir Joseph Whitworth gives 1/40000 of an inch as the smallest length that
-can be measured with certainty, with an ultimate possibility of 1/1000000
-of an inch; but imperceptible variations of temperature affect these
-infinitesimal lengths to such an extent that he believes the limit can
-only be reached at a standard temperature of 85° F., to avoid the effect
-of heat of the body.
-
-It appears to me that comparisons should be made of double yards and
-mètres with the old French toise, as the limit of exactness would be
-thereby doubled.
-
-Another great defect in statements of relative values is the omission
-of necessary facts--the material of which the bars or standards are
-made, the temperature at which comparison was made, and the standard
-temperatures used as to the final reduction, with the coefficient of
-expansion adopted.
-
-Again, bars of different metals appear in time to sensibly change their
-relative length.
-
-
-ENGLISH STANDARDS OF LENGTH.
-
-The first establishment of a uniform standard appears to have been made
-in 1101 by Henry I., who is said to have fixed the ulna (now the yard)
-at the length of his arm; but nothing definite was done till 1736, when
-the Royal Society took steps toward securing a general standard, and
-in 1742 they had a standard yard made by Graham from a comparison of
-various yards and ells of Henry VII. and Elizabeth, that were kept in the
-Exchequer.
-
-Two copies of the Royal Society standard yard were made by Bird in
-1758 for a committee of Parliament, one of which was marked “standard
-of 1758,” and the other 1760. But no exact legal standard was yet
-established, as shown by comparisons in 1802 of the various standard
-measures in use which Pictet, of Geneva, made with an accurate scale by
-Troughton, using means exact to the ten thousandth part of an inch, with
-the following results at the temperature of 62° F.:
-
- Troughton Scale 36·00000 inches.
- Parliamentary Standard (1758, Bird) 36·00023 “
- Royal Society “ (1760, “ ) 35·99955 “
- “ “ (Graham) 36·00130 “
- Exchequer “ 35·99330 “
- Tower “ 36·00400 “
- Gen. Roy “ (Trig. Survey) 36·00036 “
-
-Parliament finally undertook to reform the measures of England, and
-appointed a commission in 1818, under whose authority Capt. Kater
-compared the standard yards then in use with the following results, as
-referred to the Indian Survey standard:
-
- Col. Lambton Standard (Indian Survey) 36·000000 inches.
- Bird’s Standard (1760) 36·000659 “
- Sir Geo. Schuckburgh’s Standard 36·000642 “
- Ramsden’s Bar. Ordnance Survey 36·003147 “
- Gen. Roy’s Scale 36·001537 “
- Royal Society Standard 36·002007 “
-
-The commission reported in favor of adopting Bird’s standard of 1760, as
-it differed so slightly from Sir George Schuckburgh’s standard (which
-had been used in deducing the value of the French mètre) that those
-values could be assumed as correct. They also established the length of
-the seconds pendulum at level of sea in London and in vacuo as 39·13929
-inches. The seconds pendulum had been previously fixed by Wollaston and
-Playfair in 1814 as 39·13047 inches.
-
-On this report, an Act of Parliament in 1823 declared the only standard
-measure of length for the United Kingdom to be the yard as given by the
-distance at 32° F. between two points in gold studs on the brass bar,
-made by Bird, and marked “Standard of 1760,” and in the keeping of the
-Clerk of the House of Commons; also it referred this standard yard to the
-natural standard of a pendulum vibrating seconds of mean solar time at
-the level of the sea, in vacuo at London and temperature of 32° F., as
-in the proportion of 36 to 39·13929; so that a pendulum 36 inches long
-ought to make 90088·42 vibrations in 24 hours.
-
-The Royal Society had a copy of the legal standard made by Bailey in
-1834; and in the same year the Parliamentary standard was destroyed by
-fire at the burning of the Houses of Parliament, leaving the kingdom
-again without a legal standard.
-
-All attempts made by a commission consisting of Airy, Bailey, Herschel,
-Lubbock, and Sheepshanks, to restore the standard by means of the seconds
-pendulum failed in exactness, on account of the many conditions of a
-vibrating pendulum, and recourse was had to the Royal Society standard,
-which had been carefully compared by Captain Kater in 1818, and from this
-in 1838 Bailey and Sheepshanks made six bronze bars, one inch square, and
-38 inches long, which in 1855 were legalized by Act of Parliament, and
-the English standard of length defined as follows:
-
-“That the straight line on distance between the centres of the transverse
-lines in the two gold plugs on the bronze bar deposited in the Exchequer
-shall be the genuine standard yard at the temperature of 62° Fahrenheit;
-and if lost, it shall be replaced by means of its copies.”
-
-The French metrical system was made legal permissively in 1864, at the
-length established by Captain Kater, referred to in Act of Parliament of
-1823, of 1 mètre equal to 39·37079 inches, or 3·28089916 feet.
-
-These are the standards now in use in the United Kingdom.
-
-
-UNITED STATES.
-
-By the Constitution of the United States Congress is charged with fixing
-the standard of measures (Art. 1, sec. 8); but as no enactment has been
-made by Congress, the standard yard in England, which was legal previous
-to 1776 in the Colonies, is the standard yard of the United States, and
-does not differ with the English standard yard.
-
-Under resolution of Congress in 1830, Mr. Hassler was employed to examine
-the standards in use.
-
-Considerable discrepancies were found, but the mean of all examined
-corresponded very nearly with the English standard, and in 1832 the
-recommendation of Mr. Hassler was adopted, and the standard yard defined
-as the distance between the 27th and 63d inch marks, at the temperature
-of 62° F., on the brass scale 82 inches long, being an exact copy of Sir
-George Schuckburgh’s standard, made by Troughton, of London, for the
-Coast Survey, and deposited in the Office of Weights and Measures at
-Washington.
-
-In 1836 an Act of Congress ordered standards to be sent to each Governor
-of a State, and the work was done under direction of Mr. Hassler.
-
-In 1856, two copies of the English standard yard, as restored after
-destruction of the original standard by fire in 1834, No. 11 of bronze,
-and No. 57 of Low Moor wrought iron, were presented to the United States
-by Airy.
-
-The United States Troughton standard bar being compared with No. 11
-was found to be longer by 0·00085 inch, or in proportion of 1 to
-1·0000237216, about 1½ inches in a mile, according to Report of Secretary
-of Treasury in 1857.
-
-Later comparisons made by J. E. Hilgard, of the Coast Survey, at the
-British Standards Office, between No. 11 and the standard imperial yard,
-give No. 11 as 0·000088 inch shorter, or it would be of standard length
-at temperature of 62·25° F.
-
-We may infer that the Troughton standard is too long by 0·000762 inch, or
-would be standard length at temperature 59·77° F. instead of at 62° by
-making expansion reduction with Airy’s coefficient for the bronze of the
-imperial standards, 0·000342 inch per yard for 1° F.
-
-The mètre was made a legal standard permissively in 1866; the United
-States mètre standard being one of the 12 iron mètre bars made and
-verified for the French Government in 1799 on the adoption of the
-metrical system, and brought to America by Mr. Hassler in 1800, the
-relative value being fixed by Act of Congress at 39·37 inches.
-
-The relative value of 39·36850154 United States inches, as obtained by
-Mr. Hassler, corrected to 62° F., was used by the Coast Survey till
-1868, when it was found advisable to use the relative value of 39·3704
-as deduced by Clarke. Since 1800 several standard mètre bars were sent
-to the United States by the French Government, and on comparison, there
-appearing to be a slight discrepancy, the original iron standard mètre
-bar was sent to Dr. F. A. P. Barnard in Paris, and in 1867 it was
-compared with the French platinum standard, which is only used once in
-ten years to verify other standards.
-
-A difference was found by this comparison of only ·00017 millimètre
-or 1/160000 inch, which being only 1/100 of an inch in a mile is
-inappreciable.
-
-
-FRANCE.
-
-The standard of length of the système ancient was the toise of 6 pieds,
-divided into 12 pouces of 12 lignes each.
-
-The origin of the toise is not known, but it was probably legally
-established by Philip Le Bel, about 1300, as he first appears to have
-taken steps toward a uniform system of measures in France. In the 13th
-century the toise is mentioned by Ch. Le Rains. In the 14th century
-Menongier writes that, in marching, the sight should strike the ground 4
-toises in front. In the fifteenth century Pereforest brings in the toise,
-and in the sixteenth century the Contume de Berry says, “We use in this
-country two toises; one for carpenters of 5 pieds and a half, the other
-for masons of 6 pieds.”
-
-Picard used the toise in his measurement of an arc of meridian from
-Malvoisin to London in 1669.
-
-The meridians measured by the Academy in 1735 to settle the question of
-the figure of the earth were made by means of two standard toises, known
-as the “Toise du Nord,” and the “Toise du Sud.”
-
-The first, used by Maupertuis, Clairault, and Le Monnier, in Lapland, was
-destroyed by immersion in sea-water, when their ship was wrecked on the
-return voyage.
-
-The second, with which La Condamine, Bourgner, and Godin operated in
-Peru, was the original of the toise Canivet made in 1768, and of the
-standards used in determining the mètre.
-
-The commencement of the move for a scientific standard of length in
-France which resulted in the mètre was in 1790, when the revolutionary
-government proposed to England the formation of a commission of equal
-numbers from the English Royal Society and the French Academy, for the
-purpose of fixing the length of the seconds pendulum at latitude 45° as
-the basis of a new system of measures. This proposal was not favorably
-received, and the Academy, at the request of government, appointed as
-a commission Borda, Lagrange, Laplace, Monge, and Condorcet, to decide
-whether the seconds pendulum, the quarter of the equator, or the quarter
-of a meridian, should be used as the natural standard for the new system
-of measures. They settled on the last as best for the purpose, and
-resolved that the ten millionth of the meridian quadrant, or distance
-from equator to pole, measured at sea level, be taken for basis of the
-new system, and be called a mètre.
-
-Delambre and Mechin were at once charged with re-measurement of the
-meridian surveyed in 1739 by La Caille and Cassini, from Dunkirk to
-Perpignan, and its extension to Barcelona.
-
-Operations were commenced in 1792, and carried on with great accuracy
-to completion in 1799; Delambre working between Dunkirk and Paris, and
-Mechin between Paris and Barcelona.
-
-The distance measured from Dunkirk to Barcelona was 9° 40´ 24·24´´ of
-arc, or 1,075,059 mètres, as reduced to the new standard.
-
-The “toise de Peru” was the standard used in the work at a temperature of
-13° R.
-
-Two base-lines were measured with Borda’s compensating bars of brass and
-platinum; one at Melun, near Paris, 6076 toises long, and the second at
-Perpignan, 6028 toises long, and though over 900,000 mètres apart, the
-calculated length differed by only 10 pouces.
-
-This meridian was afterward, in 1806, extended by Gen. Roy to Greenwich,
-on the north, and by Biot and Arago to Formentera, on the south. The
-results, as given by Laplace in centesimal degrees and mètres, are as
-follows:
-
- Greenwich 57·19753° ·0 mètres.
- Pantheon, Paris 54·27431° 292,719·3 “
- Formentera 42·96178° 1,423,636·1 “
-
-The middle of the arc being 50·079655° Cent., or 45° 4´ 18·0822´´ Sexa.,
-and the middle degree centesimal being very nearly 100,000 mètres.
-
-The determination of the final result of these geodetic measurements was
-referred to a committee of 20 members; 9 named by the French Government,
-and the others by the governments of Holland, Savoy, Denmark, Spain,
-Tuscany, and of the Cisalpine, Ligurian, and Swiss republics, on the
-invitation of France.
-
-This committee established the meridian quadrant at 5,130,740 toises;
-making the mètre 0·513074 of the toise, or 36·9413 pouces, or 443·296
-lignes, and the toise 1·94903659 mètres.
-
-Iron standard mètre bars, 12 in number were made by Borda, also 2 of
-platinum and 4 standard toise bars.
-
-The 12 standard iron mètre bars were sent to different countries, after
-being verified by the French Government, and on the 2d of November, 1801,
-the mètrical système was legalized by France, and the standard unit of
-length declared to be the ten millionth part of a meridian quadrant of
-the earth, as defined by the distance at a temperature of 0° Centigrade
-(32° F.) between two points on a platinum bar in the keeping of the
-Academy of Science at Paris. This standard bar is used only once every
-ten years for exact comparisons, as stated by Dr. F. A. P. Barnard.
-
-About 1837 Bessel, by a combination of 11 measured arcs of meridian,
-deduced the quadrant of meridian as 5,131,179·81 toises instead
-of 5,130,740 toises, as fixed by law. This would make to quadrant
-10,000,565·278 legal mètres, or would increase the mètre length from
-443·296 lignes to 443·334 lignes, agreeing very nearly with result
-obtained by Airy in 1830, from a combination of 13 measured arcs.
-
-The following are the measured arcs used by Bessel and Airy; the
-combinations being indicated by initial letters, A and B.
-
- _Measurer._ _Mid. Lat._ _Arc._ _Length._
- B.--Svanberg, Sweden +66° 20´ 10·0´´ 1° 37´ 19·6´´ 593,277 feet
- A.--Maupertuis, Sweden +66° 19´ 37·0´´ 0° 57´ 30·4´´ 351,832 “
- A.--Struve, Russia +58° 17´ 37·0´´ 3° 35´ 5·2´´ 1,309,742 “
- B.--Struve and Tenner,
- Russia +56° 3´ 55·5´´ 8° 2´ 28·9´´ 2,937,439 “
- B.--Bessel and Bayer,
- Prussia +54° 58´ 26·0´´ 1° 30´ 29·0´´ 551,073 “
- B.--Schumacher, Denmark +54° 8´ 13·7´´ 1° 31´ 53·3´´ 559,121 “
- A, B.--Ganss, Hanover +52° 32´ 16·6´´ 2° 0´ 57·4´´ 736,425 “
- A.--Roy and Kater, England +52° 35´ 45·0´´ 3° 57´ 13·1´´ 1,442,953 “
- B.-- “ “ “ +52° 2´ 19·0´´ 2° 50´ 23·5´´ 1,036,409 “
- A.--Lacaille and Cassini,
- France +46° 52´ 2·0´´ 8° 20´ 0·3´´ 3,040,605 “
- A, B.--Delambre and Mechin,
- France +44° 51´ 2·5´´ 12° 22´ 12·7´´ 4,509,832 “
- A.--Boscovich, Rome +42° 59´ ·0´´ 2° 9´ 47·0´´ 787,919 “
- A.--Mason and Dixon,
- America +39° 12´ ·0´´ 1° 28´ 45·0´´ 538,100 “
- A, B.--Lambton, India +16° 8´ 21·5´´ 15° 57´ 40·7´´ 5,794,598 “
- A, B.--Lambton and Everest,
- India +12° 32´ 20·8´´ 1° 34´ 56·4´´ 574,318 “
- A, B.--Lacondamine, Peru - 1° 31´ 0·4´´ 3° 7´ 3·5´´ 1,131,050 “
- A.--Lacaille, Cape Good
- Hope -33° 18´ 30·0´´ 1° 13´ 17·5´´ 445,506 “
- B.--Maclear, “ “ -35° 43´ 20·0´´ 3° 34´ 34·7´´ 1,301,993 “
- A.--Plana and Cartessi,
- Piedmont -------------- 1° 7´ 31·1´´ ------------
-
-The following different lengths of the mètre have been obtained:
-
- As adopted by France, 1801 443·296 lignes.
- According to Delambre 443·264 “
- “ Bessel 443·33394 “
- “ Airy 443·32387 “
- “ Clarke 443·36146 “
- From Peru Meridian 443·440 “
-
-The length of a pendulum vibrating 100,000 times in a mean solar day was
-determined in numerous careful experiments by Biot, Arago, and Mathieu,
-in mètres of 443·296 lignes, as follows:
-
- Dunkirk 56·67 lat. Cent. 0 above sea 0·7419076 mètres.
- Paris 54·26 “ 65 “ 0·7418870 “
- “ by Borda 54·26 “ 0 “ 0·7416274 “
- Bordeau 49·82 “ 0 “ 0·7412615 “
- Formentera 42·96 “ 196 “ 0·7412061 “
-
-Borda also determined the length of the seconds pendulum at Paris, in
-vacuo:
-
- First result 440·5595 lignes = 0·9938267 mètre.
- Second result “ “ = 0·9938460 “
- As given by Ganot “ “ = 0·9935 “
-
-In 1812 the système usuelle was established, of which the unit was one
-third of the mètre, with the old name of pied, and duodecimally divided
-into pouces and lignes.
-
-This system continued in use till 1840, when it was abolished by law, and
-the names of pied, pouce, and ligne forbidden under penalties. So the
-mètre, decimally divided, remains the only legal measure of length in
-France.
-
-
-COMPARISONS OF UNITED STATES AND ENGLISH STANDARDS.
-
-In 1832, under resolution of Congress, Mr. Hassler compared the different
-standard yards in America, with the following results, using the yard
-between the twenty-seventh and sixty-third inches on the scale made of
-bronze by Troughton, of London, for the United States Coast Survey, as
-the reference, that being identical with Sir George Schuckburg’s standard:
-
- Troughton Scale, mid. yard 36·0000000 inches.
- “ “ between platinum points 35·9989758 “
- Jones yard in State Department 35·9990285 “
- Iron yard in Engineer Department 35·9987760 “
- Brass yard, Albany, Sec. of State 36·0002465 “
- Gilbert yard, University of Virginia 35·9952318 “
-
-In 1856 the Troughton standard bronze scale was compared with the bronze
-standard yard No. 11, which was sent over by Airy as a copy of the
-English imperial standard, as restored after destruction of the original
-standard by fire in 1834, and the United States standard was found to be
-longer by 0·00085 inch.
-
-Later comparisons by J. E. Hilgard, of the Coast Survey, of the bronze
-standard No. 11 with the imperial standard yard, at the British Standards
-Office, gave No. 11 as 0·000088 shorter than the imperial standard.
-
-Hassler’s reduction of the mètre, as deduced by Beach at 62° F.,
-39·36850154, compared with the English reduction of the mètre, 39·37079
-inches, gives an excess to the United States Standard of 0·002029 inch.
-
-The following reductions have been given for the United States yard in
-English inches:
-
- Report of Sec. of Treas., 1857 36·00087 = 1·00002416
- Chambers’ Encyclopædia, 1872 36·00087
- “ “ “ 36·0020892 = 1·0000580334
- Trautwine 36·0020894 = 1·000058038
- Mathewson, U. S. surveyor 36·00208944 = 1·00005804
- Hassler and Beach 36·002092 = 1·00005811
- J. E. Hilgard, Coast Survey 36·00076 = 1·000021
-
-To Mr. Hassler’s reduction the name of United States inch has been
-applied; but his reduction is not correct, as he used a rate of expansion
-for brass deduced by himself of 0·0003783 inch in one yard for 1° F.,
-and later experiments show that the smaller rate of 0·000342, deduced by
-Airy, is more correct.
-
-By correcting Hassler’s reduction with the later rate of expansion, J. E.
-Hilgard shows that the difference would be very small, or only 36·0002286
-= 1·00000635, or about ⅖ of an inch in a mile.
-
-In Coast Survey report for 1876, J. E. Hilgard calls attention to another
-difficulty in the matter of extreme accuracy, in the uncertainty with
-regard to the permanence in the length of a bar, and states that the
-bronze standard bar No. 11 and the Low Moor iron standard bar No. 57,
-presented to the United States by Great Britain, are found to have
-changed their relative length by 0·00025 inch in 25 years; the bronze bar
-being now relatively shorter by that amount. This subject, he states, is
-undergoing further investigation.
-
-
-COMPARISON OF UNITED STATES AND FRENCH STANDARDS.
-
-In 1817 Mr. Hassler examined the French standards in America, for the
-Coast Survey, using the Troughton bronze standard scale, which is
-identical with Sir George Schuckburg’s standard, as the reference, with
-the following results, all being reduced to temperature of 32° F.
-
- Original Iron Mètre, 1799 39·381022708 inches.
- Lenoir Iron Mètre, Coast Survey 39·37972015 “
- “ Brass “ “ 39·380247972 “
- “ “ “ Eng. Dept. 39·38052739 “
- Canivet Iron Toise, 1768 76·74334472 “
- Lenoir “ “ 76·74192710 “
-
-In 1814 Troughton had compared with his own scale in London two of the
-above.
-
- Lenoir Iron Mètre, C. S. 39·3802506 inches.
- “ Brass “ “ 39·3803333 “
-
-In 1832, under resolution of Congress, Hassler again compared the French
-standards in the United States, using as before the Troughton scale, and
-reducing all to temperature of 32° F. as follows:
-
- Original Iron Mètre, 1799 39·3808643 inches.
- Lenoir “ “ C. S. 39·3799120 “
- “ Brass Mètre C. S. 39·380447 “
- “ “ Eng. Dept. 39·3801714 “
- “ “ “ in 1829 39·3807095 “
- Fortin “ State Dept. 39·3796084 “
- “ Treas. “ 39·3795983 “
- Iron Mètre “ “ 39·3807827 “
- Gilbert “ Univ. of Virg. 39·365408 “
- Platinum Mètre 39·3803278 “
- “ (Nicollet) 39·380511 “
- Canivet Iron Toise, 1768 76·74290511 “
- Lenoir “ 1799 76·74047599 “
-
-From the mean of his comparisons between the United States brass
-Troughton standard yard and the authentic French standard mètres used by
-the Coast Survey, Hassler, in 1832, deduced the value of the mètre at
-39·3809172 inches, at 32° F., and by correction for expansion to United
-States standard temperature of 62° F., he made the mètre at 32° equal to
-39·36850154 inches at 62° F.
-
-The British imperial standard and the United States Troughton standard
-differ by only 0·000762 inch, which applied to the English reduction
-of 39·37079, would give 39·36996 as the relative value according to
-Troughton standard.
-
-The difference between these reductions is probably to be attributed
-to the use of different rates of expansion, in correcting for standard
-temperatures, which vary considerably, according to high authority as
-follows for brass at 1° F.
-
- Whitworth, 1876 0·00000956 = 0·00034416 in. per yard.
- Borda, 1799 0·000009913 = 0·00035687 “
- Smeaton, 1750 0·000010417 = 0·00037501 “
- Hassler 0·000010508 = 0·0003783 “
- Ramsden, 1760 0·000010516 = 0·0003786 “
- Faraday, 1830 0·00001059 = 0·00038124 “
-
-And for the bronze of which the British imperial standards are made:
-
- Airy and Sheepshanks 0·0000095 = 0·000342 in. per yard.
- Fizeau 0·00000975 = 0·000351 “
-
-The correction at Ramsden’s rate is nearly identical with Hassler’s,
-and gives 39·3684933; at Whitworth’s rate it would give 39·36962, very
-nearly the same as deduced from the difference between the British
-Imperial standard and the United States Troughton standard. The results
-of Sir Joseph Whitworth were obtained by use of all late improvements for
-scientific precision, and they must be accepted as most reliable.
-
-It would appear preferable to give comparisons at the same temperature in
-connection with the corrected result, so that international comparisons
-of scientific measurements may not be vitiated by accidental variations.
-
-
-COMPARISON OF ENGLISH AND FRENCH STANDARDS.
-
-When the mètre standard was established in France, 1799, it was compared
-with Sir George Schuckburg’s standard yard by Captain Kater. The
-quadrant of 10,000,000 mètres, or 5,130,740 toises, was determined to
-be 32,808,992 English feet, giving the mètre equal to 3·2808992 English
-feet, or 39·37079 inches, and the toise equal to 6·3945925921 English
-feet.
-
-In 1814 Wollaston and Playfair, by comparison with the platinum mètre
-standard at 55° F., deduced the mètre as equal to 39·3828 English inches.
-
-During the geodetic operations of General Roy in 1802, who used 60° F.
-as standard temperature, Pictet’s comparisons, using means capable of
-measuring the 10,000th part of an inch, gave the mètre standard, which is
-used at 32° F. as standard temperature, at 39·3828 English inches; this
-corrected for temperature by Dr. Young, gave 39·371 English inches at 62°
-F.; which result was confirmed by Bird, Maskelyne and Laudale.
-
-In 1823, by Act of Parliament on report of committee, the mètre is fixed
-as 39·37079 English inches.
-
-In 1800 the Royal Society, by comparison with two toise standards sent by
-Lalande to Maskelyne, deduced the mètre as 39·3702 English inches.
-
-Later comparisons by Clarke in the Ordnance Survey Office at Southampton,
-in 1866, give the mètre as 39·37043 inches.
-
-The French Academy of Sciences by comparison with Sir George Schuckburg’s
-standard at temperature of 32° F., deduced the mètre as 39·3824 English
-inches, which reduced to standard temperature of 62° F., would be
-39·3711, or slightly in excess of the value deduced by Dr. Young from
-Pictet’s comparisons.
-
-The legal value in England is one mètre equal to 39·37079, and the latest
-reduction is 39·37043 inches by Clarke in 1866, which is probably the
-most exact reduction.
-
-DIFFERENT REDUCTIONS OF THE FRENCH TOISE INTO ENGLISH FEET.
-
- Captain Kater, 1799 6·3945925921 feet.
- Hassler, 1832 6·3951409 “
- Chambers’ Encyclopædia 6·39456 “
- “ Mathematics 6·394662 “
- Wallace 6·39462 “
- Nystrom 6·39625 “
- Alexander 6·39435 “
- Dana 6·3946 “
-
-The following table of reductions as used shows clearly how great a
-confusion exists in the matter of comparisons:
-
-MÈTRE IN INCHES.
-
- Phœnixville Hand-book 39·368 inches.
- Hassler 39·36850154 “
- “ 39·370788 “
- “ 39·3809172 “
- Trautwine 39·368505 “
- “ 39·37079 “
- Silliman 39·368505 “
- “ 39·37079 “
- Chambers’ Encyclopædia 39·36850535 “
- “ “ 39·3707904 “
- Act of United States Congress, 1866 39·37 “
- Smithsonian Report 39·37 “
- Youmans 39·37 “
- Davies 39·37 “
- Homan’s Encyclopædia 39·37008 “
- Weale 39·3702 “
- Ordnance Survey (England, 1866) 39·37043 “
- Clerk Maxwell 39·37043 “
- Capt. Clarke 39·3704316 “
- J. M. Rankine (1870) 39·3704316 “
- “ (1866) 39·3707904 “
- Alexander (weights and measures) 39·37068 “
- Ganot 39·370788 “
- Vose 39·370788 “
- Act of British Parliament, 1823 39·37079 “
- Encyclopædia Britannica 39·37079 “
- Hymer 39·37079 “
- Davies and Peck 39·37079 “
- J. W. Clarke 39·37079 “
- Dana 39·37079 “
- Whittaker 39·37079 “
- Sommerville 39·3707904 “
- Chambers’ Mathematics 39·3707904 “
- Gwilt’s Encyclopædia 39·3707904 “
- Gillespie 39·3707904 “
- Capt. Kater 39·3708 “
- Appleton’s Encyclopædia 39·37079 “
- Van Nostrand 39·3708 “
- D’Aubuisson 39·3708 “
- Johnson (draftsman) 39·3708 “
- Encyclopædia Americana 39·371 “
- Jameson’s Dictionary 39·371 “
- Herbert’s Encyclopædia 39·371 “
- Popular “ 39·371 “
- Molesworth 39·371 “
- Dr. Young (1802) 39·371 “
- Wallace (engineer) 39·371 “
- Nystrom 39·38091 “
- Hencke 39·3809172 “
- Act of Canadian Parliament, 1873 39·3819 “
- Paris Academy 39·3824 “
-
-LENGTH OF THE SECONDS PENDULUM AS GIVEN BY DIFFERENT WRITERS.
-
- NEW YORK.--Hencke 39·1012 inches.
- Bartlet 39·11256 “
- Nystrom 39·1017 “
- Ganot 39·1012 “
- Byrne 39·10153 “
- Wallace 39·10153 “
-
- LONDON.--Hencke 39·13908 “
- Gillespie 39·13929 “
- Chambers’ Encyclopædia 39·13929 “
- Williams’ Geodesy 39·13929 “
- Act of Parliament, 1823 39·13929 “
- Wallace (engineer) 39·1393 “
- Chambers’ Mathematics 39·1393 “
- Hymer Astronomy 39·13734 “
- Bartlet 39·13908 “
- Vose 39·1393 “
- Sommerville 39·1393 “
- Nystrom 39·1393 “
- Davies and Peck 39·13908 “
- Ganot 39·1398 “
- Wollaston (1814) 39·13047 “
- Galbraith 39·139 “
- Byrne 39·1393 “
- Capt. Kater 39·13829 “
-
- PARIS.--Hencke 39·12843 “
- Ganot 39·1285 “
- Galbraith 39·128 “
- Byrne 39·12843 “
- Wallace 39·12843 “
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX.
-
-
-Having shown in the preceding pages that in the point of view of
-scientific accuracy the yard, mètre, and toise standards are on a
-common level, and that in the matter of comparisons there is no extreme
-accuracy, I will now refer to the proposed change of our standard from
-the yard to the mètre.
-
-Theoretically the mètre is the 10,000,000th part of the earth’s quadrant,
-and the yard the 36/39·13929th part of a seconds pendulum at London.
-Practically, neither the mètre nor yard could be recovered with exactness
-from their natural basis. The legal French mètre differs from the
-latest reduction enough to give an excess of over three miles to the
-circumference of the earth. In fact, the mètre and yard are only the
-lengths of bars of metal kept in certain offices, from which copies are
-made. Decimally considered, it is as easy to divide one as the other into
-tenths, hundredths, etc., and the yard standard is often so divided.
-
-As to nomenclature, the metrical system is overloaded with Greek and
-Latin prefixes, which are in no way so easy and convenient in expression
-as the short, sharp Anglo-Saxon words yard, foot, inch.
-
-In all sciences Latin and Greek names are given for easier purposes
-of classification; but the different peoples invariably keep their
-own household names for daily purposes, leaving prefix and affix to
-specialists, probably with advantage to both parties.
-
-The units used for different purposes are entirely distinct from the
-base of any system, and though always referable to such base, are not
-practically so referred. It therefore seems useless to burden the people
-with long scientific names in the ordinary transactions of daily life.
-
-For long distances the units in the yard and metrical systems are
-respectively the mile and the kilomètre.
-
-The mile has a definite meaning in our minds, being associated, from the
-days of youth, with the measured distances in race-courses, speed in
-walking, railway and steamer travel, length of surveyed lots--the same
-being in use among about 100,000,000 people.
-
-For mechanical structures, the units are respectively the foot and the
-mètre. The foot is used instead of the yard, as being the most convenient
-in practice, and is fixed in the minds of the people by constant
-association with length of foot-rules, size of buildings, doors, windows,
-etc., all of which are always before us.
-
-For commercial purposes the units are respectively the yard and the
-mètre. The yard is associated with length of yard-sticks, distance
-between brass nails on counters, so many finger-lengths by ladies.
-Probably three fourths of the business of the world is conducted on the
-yard standard.
-
-For machine and shop work the English unit is the inch and fractions,
-and countries having the metrical standard have universally adopted the
-millimètre.
-
-The inch is well fixed in the minds of all mechanics by constant use, and
-the ease with which the fractions are had by halving only renders the
-system very convenient.
-
-As more figures must be used to indicate a size by millimètres than by
-inches and fractions, it appears that the metrical system cannot shorten
-the work of arithmetical computation in shop work, and is therefore of no
-advantage to the mechanic or draftsman, but rather the reverse. This is
-the opinion of Coleman Sellers, the distinguished Philadelphia engineer
-and manufacturer, who, after a trial of the millimètre in his shops for
-some years, returned to the use of the inch, and writes in _Engineering
-News_: “The loss from the use of a small unit requiring many figures
-to express what is needed, takes away from the other advantages of the
-system when considered from a labor-saving point of view.”
-
-In France itself the metrical system is not wholly decimal in actual
-practice, as we find the following measures in use in addition to the
-decimal divisions: double decamètre, demi-decamètre, double mètre,
-demi-mètre, and double decimètre.
-
-The metrical system has been adopted in the following countries: France
-and colonies, Holland and colonies, Belgium, Spain and colonies,
-Portugal, Italy, Germany, Greece, Roumania, British India, Mexico,
-New Granada, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentine Confederacy,
-Chili, Venezuela; and partially in Wurtemburg, Bavaria, Baden, Hesse,
-Switzerland, Denmark, Austria, and Turkey.
-
-In the past centuries all the work and records of English-speaking
-peoples--now numbering about 100,000,000, and increasing and progressing
-faster than all other nationalities, as well as being closely connected
-by descent and business--have been done and recorded under the yard
-standard, and any change now would inevitably render necessary continual
-reductions, to the great detriment and inconvenience of the mass of our
-people, and with little or no practical benefit, except perhaps to a
-small class of scientific and pseudo-scientific men, who can and do amuse
-themselves with the fancied uniformity of the mètre.
-
-All our numerous text-books and tables, mechanical and scientific, would
-be rendered entirely useless by the change, and this is a serious final
-consideration.
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Standard Measures of United States,
-Great Britain and France, by Arthur S. C. Wurtele
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Standard Measures of United States, Great
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-Title: Standard Measures of United States, Great Britain and France
- History and actual comparisons with appendix on introduction
- of the mètre
-
-Author: Arthur S. C. Wurtele
-
-Release Date: February 19, 2017 [EBook #54208]
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-
-<h1><span class="smcap">Standard Measures</span><br />
-<span class="smaller">OF</span><br />
-UNITED STATES,<br />
-GREAT BRITAIN, AND FRANCE.</h1>
-
-<p class="titlepage">HISTORY AND ACTUAL COMPARISONS.</p>
-
-<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">WITH</span><br />
-APPENDIX ON INTRODUCTION OF THE MÈTRE.</p>
-
-<p class="titlepage">BY<br />
-<span class="larger">ARTHUR S. C. WURTELE,</span><br />
-ASS’T ENG., N. Y. C. &amp; H. R. R.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/spon.jpg" width="80" height="80" alt="E. &amp; F. N. Spon publisher’s mark" />
-</div>
-
-<p class="titlepage smaller">E. &amp; F. N. SPON,<br />
-NEW YORK: 44 MURRAY STREET.<br />
-LONDON: 16 CHARING CROSS.<br />
-1882.</p>
-
-<p class="titlepage"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1882, by Arthur S. C. Wurtele.</span></p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>INTRODUCTION.</h2>
-
-<p>During the preparation of this investigation of Standard
-Measures a large number of authorities were examined,
-including the following: Kelly’s “Universal
-Cambist,” Maunder’s “Weights and Measures,” “Encyclopædia
-Britannica,” “Chambers’ Encyclopædia,” Williams’
-“Geodesy,” Hymer’s works, “Smithsonian Reports,” “Coast
-Survey Reports,” Herschel’s “Astronomy,” etc. The only
-concise and clear statement I found was J. E. Hilgard’s
-report to the Coast Survey on standards in 1876, which I
-was gratified to find coincides with my deductions.</p>
-
-<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Arthur S. C. Wurtele.</span></p>
-
-<p class="smaller"><span class="smcap">Albany</span>, November 26, 1881.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>STANDARD MEASURES.</h2>
-
-<p>A standard measure of length at first sight appears to
-be very simple&mdash;merely a bar of metal of any length, according
-to the unit of any country; and comparisons of
-different standards do not seem to present any difficulty.
-But on looking further into the thing, we find that standards
-are referred to some natural invariable length, and
-we are at once confronted with a mass of scientific reductions
-giving different values to the same thing, according
-to successively improved means of observation. We find,
-also, that comparisons of one standard with another differ,
-as given by reductions carried to great apparent exactness.</p>
-
-<p>Every author appears to assume the right of using his
-own judgment as to what reduction is to be considered
-the most exact, and the result is a very confusing difference
-in apparently exact figures, with nothing to show
-how these differences arise.</p>
-
-<p>I have endeavored to indicate what may be the cause
-of this confusion by giving the figures of actually observed
-comparisons and reductions; in a manner, the roots
-of the figures used as statements of length.</p>
-
-<p>Sir Joseph Whitworth gives 1/40000 of an inch as the
-smallest length that can be measured with certainty, with
-an ultimate possibility of 1/1000000 of an inch; but imperceptible
-variations of temperature affect these infinitesimal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>
-lengths to such an extent that he believes the limit
-can only be reached at a standard temperature of 85° F.,
-to avoid the effect of heat of the body.</p>
-
-<p>It appears to me that comparisons should be made of
-double yards and mètres with the old French toise, as the
-limit of exactness would be thereby doubled.</p>
-
-<p>Another great defect in statements of relative values is
-the omission of necessary facts&mdash;the material of which
-the bars or standards are made, the temperature at which
-comparison was made, and the standard temperatures used
-as to the final reduction, with the coefficient of expansion
-adopted.</p>
-
-<p>Again, bars of different metals appear in time to sensibly
-change their relative length.</p>
-
-<h3>ENGLISH STANDARDS OF LENGTH.</h3>
-
-<p>The first establishment of a uniform standard appears
-to have been made in 1101 by Henry I., who is said to
-have fixed the ulna (now the yard) at the length of his
-arm; but nothing definite was done till 1736, when the
-Royal Society took steps toward securing a general standard,
-and in 1742 they had a standard yard made by
-Graham from a comparison of various yards and ells of
-Henry VII. and Elizabeth, that were kept in the Exchequer.</p>
-
-<p>Two copies of the Royal Society standard yard were
-made by Bird in 1758 for a committee of Parliament, one
-of which was marked “standard of 1758,” and the other
-1760. But no exact legal standard was yet established,
-as shown by comparisons in 1802 of the various standard
-measures in use which Pictet, of Geneva, made with an
-accurate scale by Troughton, using means exact to the
-ten thousandth part of an inch, with the following results
-at the temperature of 62° F.:</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p>
-
-<table summary="Comparative lengths of the “standard” yard measures, taken at 62° F.">
- <tr>
- <td colspan="2">Troughton Scale</td>
- <td></td>
- <td class="right">36·00000</td>
- <td>inches.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Parliamentary</td>
- <td>Standard</td>
- <td>(1758, Bird)</td>
- <td class="right">36·00023</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Royal Society</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td>(1760, “ )</td>
- <td class="right">35·99955</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td>(Graham)</td>
- <td class="right">36·00130</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Exchequer</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td></td>
- <td class="right">35·99330</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Tower</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td></td>
- <td class="right">36·00400</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Gen. Roy</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td>(Trig. Survey)</td>
- <td class="right">36·00036</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>Parliament finally undertook to reform the measures of
-England, and appointed a commission in 1818, under
-whose authority Capt. Kater compared the standard yards
-then in use with the following results, as referred to the
-Indian Survey standard:</p>
-
-<table summary="Comparative lengths of various “standard” yard measures">
- <tr>
- <td>Col. Lambton Standard (Indian Survey)</td>
- <td class="right">36·000000</td>
- <td>inches.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Bird’s Standard (1760)</td>
- <td class="right">36·000659</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Sir Geo. Schuckburgh’s Standard</td>
- <td class="right">36·000642</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Ramsden’s Bar. Ordnance Survey</td>
- <td class="right">36·003147</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Gen. Roy’s Scale</td>
- <td class="right">36·001537</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Royal Society Standard</td>
- <td class="right">36·002007</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>The commission reported in favor of adopting Bird’s
-standard of 1760, as it differed so slightly from Sir George
-Schuckburgh’s standard (which had been used in deducing
-the value of the French mètre) that those values could
-be assumed as correct. They also established the length
-of the seconds pendulum at level of sea in London and in
-vacuo as 39·13929 inches. The seconds pendulum had
-been previously fixed by Wollaston and Playfair in 1814
-as 39·13047 inches.</p>
-
-<p>On this report, an Act of Parliament in 1823 declared
-the only standard measure of length for the United Kingdom
-to be the yard as given by the distance at 32° F.
-between two points in gold studs on the brass bar, made
-by Bird, and marked “Standard of 1760,” and in the
-keeping of the Clerk of the House of Commons; also it
-referred this standard yard to the natural standard of a
-pendulum vibrating seconds of mean solar time at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>
-level of the sea, in vacuo at London and temperature of 32°
-F., as in the proportion of 36 to 39·13929; so that a pendulum
-36 inches long ought to make 90088·42 vibrations
-in 24 hours.</p>
-
-<p>The Royal Society had a copy of the legal standard
-made by Bailey in 1834; and in the same year the Parliamentary
-standard was destroyed by fire at the burning
-of the Houses of Parliament, leaving the kingdom again
-without a legal standard.</p>
-
-<p>All attempts made by a commission consisting of Airy,
-Bailey, Herschel, Lubbock, and Sheepshanks, to restore the
-standard by means of the seconds pendulum failed in
-exactness, on account of the many conditions of a vibrating
-pendulum, and recourse was had to the Royal Society
-standard, which had been carefully compared by Captain
-Kater in 1818, and from this in 1838 Bailey and Sheepshanks
-made six bronze bars, one inch square, and 38 inches
-long, which in 1855 were legalized by Act of Parliament,
-and the English standard of length defined as follows:</p>
-
-<p>“That the straight line on distance between the centres
-of the transverse lines in the two gold plugs on the
-bronze bar deposited in the Exchequer shall be the
-genuine standard yard at the temperature of 62° Fahrenheit;
-and if lost, it shall be replaced by means of its copies.”</p>
-
-<p>The French metrical system was made legal permissively
-in 1864, at the length established by Captain Kater, referred
-to in Act of Parliament of 1823, of 1 mètre equal to
-39·37079 inches, or 3·28089916 feet.</p>
-
-<p>These are the standards now in use in the United
-Kingdom.</p>
-
-<h3>UNITED STATES.</h3>
-
-<p>By the Constitution of the United States Congress is
-charged with fixing the standard of measures (Art. 1,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>
-sec. 8); but as no enactment has been made by Congress,
-the standard yard in England, which was legal previous to
-1776 in the Colonies, is the standard yard of the United
-States, and does not differ with the English standard
-yard.</p>
-
-<p>Under resolution of Congress in 1830, Mr. Hassler was
-employed to examine the standards in use.</p>
-
-<p>Considerable discrepancies were found, but the mean of
-all examined corresponded very nearly with the English
-standard, and in 1832 the recommendation of Mr. Hassler
-was adopted, and the standard yard defined as the
-distance between the 27th and 63d inch marks, at the
-temperature of 62° F., on the brass scale 82 inches long,
-being an exact copy of Sir George Schuckburgh’s standard,
-made by Troughton, of London, for the Coast Survey, and
-deposited in the Office of Weights and Measures at Washington.</p>
-
-<p>In 1836 an Act of Congress ordered standards to be
-sent to each Governor of a State, and the work was done
-under direction of Mr. Hassler.</p>
-
-<p>In 1856, two copies of the English standard yard, as
-restored after destruction of the original standard by fire
-in 1834, No. 11 of bronze, and No. 57 of Low Moor wrought
-iron, were presented to the United States by Airy.</p>
-
-<p>The United States Troughton standard bar being compared
-with No. 11 was found to be longer by 0·00085
-inch, or in proportion of 1 to 1·0000237216, about
-1½ inches in a mile, according to Report of Secretary of
-Treasury in 1857.</p>
-
-<p>Later comparisons made by J. E. Hilgard, of the Coast
-Survey, at the British Standards Office, between No. 11 and
-the standard imperial yard, give No. 11 as 0·000088 inch
-shorter, or it would be of standard length at temperature
-of 62·25° F.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>We may infer that the Troughton standard is too long
-by 0·000762 inch, or would be standard length at temperature
-59·77° F. instead of at 62° by making expansion
-reduction with Airy’s coefficient for the bronze of the
-imperial standards, 0·000342 inch per yard for 1° F.</p>
-
-<p>The mètre was made a legal standard permissively in
-1866; the United States mètre standard being one of the
-12 iron mètre bars made and verified for the French Government
-in 1799 on the adoption of the metrical system,
-and brought to America by Mr. Hassler in 1800, the
-relative value being fixed by Act of Congress at 39·37
-inches.</p>
-
-<p>The relative value of 39·36850154 United States inches,
-as obtained by Mr. Hassler, corrected to 62° F., was used
-by the Coast Survey till 1868, when it was found advisable
-to use the relative value of 39·3704 as deduced by Clarke.
-Since 1800 several standard mètre bars were sent to the
-United States by the French Government, and on comparison,
-there appearing to be a slight discrepancy, the
-original iron standard mètre bar was sent to Dr. F. A. P.
-Barnard in Paris, and in 1867 it was compared with the
-French platinum standard, which is only used once in ten
-years to verify other standards.</p>
-
-<p>A difference was found by this comparison of only
-·00017 millimètre or 1/160000 inch, which being only 1/100 of
-an inch in a mile is inappreciable.</p>
-
-<h3>FRANCE.</h3>
-
-<p>The standard of length of the système ancient was the
-toise of 6 pieds, divided into 12 pouces of 12 lignes
-each.</p>
-
-<p>The origin of the toise is not known, but it was probably
-legally established by Philip Le Bel, about 1300, as he
-first appears to have taken steps toward a uniform system<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
-of measures in France. In the 13th century the
-toise is mentioned by Ch. Le Rains. In the 14th century
-Menongier writes that, in marching, the sight should strike
-the ground 4 toises in front. In the fifteenth century Pereforest
-brings in the toise, and in the sixteenth century the
-Contume de Berry says, “We use in this country two toises;
-one for carpenters of 5 pieds and a half, the other for masons
-of 6 pieds.”</p>
-
-<p>Picard used the toise in his measurement of an arc of
-meridian from Malvoisin to London in 1669.</p>
-
-<p>The meridians measured by the Academy in 1735 to settle
-the question of the figure of the earth were made by means
-of two standard toises, known as the “Toise du Nord,” and
-the “Toise du Sud.”</p>
-
-<p>The first, used by Maupertuis, Clairault, and Le Monnier,
-in Lapland, was destroyed by immersion in sea-water,
-when their ship was wrecked on the return voyage.</p>
-
-<p>The second, with which La Condamine, Bourgner, and
-Godin operated in Peru, was the original of the toise Canivet
-made in 1768, and of the standards used in determining
-the mètre.</p>
-
-<p>The commencement of the move for a scientific standard
-of length in France which resulted in the mètre was in
-1790, when the revolutionary government proposed to
-England the formation of a commission of equal numbers
-from the English Royal Society and the French Academy,
-for the purpose of fixing the length of the seconds pendulum
-at latitude 45° as the basis of a new system of measures.
-This proposal was not favorably received, and the
-Academy, at the request of government, appointed as a
-commission Borda, Lagrange, Laplace, Monge, and Condorcet,
-to decide whether the seconds pendulum, the quarter
-of the equator, or the quarter of a meridian, should be used
-as the natural standard for the new system of measures.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
-They settled on the last as best for the purpose, and resolved
-that the ten millionth of the meridian quadrant, or distance
-from equator to pole, measured at sea level, be taken for
-basis of the new system, and be called a mètre.</p>
-
-<p>Delambre and Mechin were at once charged with re-measurement
-of the meridian surveyed in 1739 by La Caille
-and Cassini, from Dunkirk to Perpignan, and its extension
-to Barcelona.</p>
-
-<p>Operations were commenced in 1792, and carried on
-with great accuracy to completion in 1799; Delambre
-working between Dunkirk and Paris, and Mechin between
-Paris and Barcelona.</p>
-
-<p>The distance measured from Dunkirk to Barcelona was
-9° 40´ 24·24´´ of arc, or 1,075,059 mètres, as reduced to the
-new standard.</p>
-
-<p>The “toise de Peru” was the standard used in the work
-at a temperature of 13° R.</p>
-
-<p>Two base-lines were measured with Borda’s compensating
-bars of brass and platinum; one at Melun, near Paris,
-6076 toises long, and the second at Perpignan, 6028 toises
-long, and though over 900,000 mètres apart, the calculated
-length differed by only 10 pouces.</p>
-
-<p>This meridian was afterward, in 1806, extended by
-Gen. Roy to Greenwich, on the north, and by Biot and
-Arago to Formentera, on the south. The results, as given
-by Laplace in centesimal degrees and mètres, are as
-follows:</p>
-
-<table summary="Measurements of the meridian">
- <tr>
- <td>Greenwich</td>
- <td class="right">57·19753°</td>
- <td class="right">·0</td>
- <td>mètres.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Pantheon, Paris</td>
- <td class="right">54·27431°</td>
- <td class="right">292,719·3</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Formentera</td>
- <td class="right">42·96178°</td>
- <td class="right">1,423,636·1</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>The middle of the arc being 50·079655° Cent., or 45° 4´
-18·0822´´ Sexa., and the middle degree centesimal being
-very nearly 100,000 mètres.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The determination of the final result of these geodetic
-measurements was referred to a committee of 20 members;
-9 named by the French Government, and the others by the
-governments of Holland, Savoy, Denmark, Spain, Tuscany,
-and of the Cisalpine, Ligurian, and Swiss republics, on the
-invitation of France.</p>
-
-<p>This committee established the meridian quadrant at
-5,130,740 toises; making the mètre 0·513074 of the toise,
-or 36·9413 pouces, or 443·296 lignes, and the toise
-1·94903659 mètres.</p>
-
-<p>Iron standard mètre bars, 12 in number were made by
-Borda, also 2 of platinum and 4 standard toise bars.</p>
-
-<p>The 12 standard iron mètre bars were sent to different
-countries, after being verified by the French Government,
-and on the 2d of November, 1801, the mètrical système
-was legalized by France, and the standard unit of length
-declared to be the ten millionth part of a meridian quadrant
-of the earth, as defined by the distance at a temperature
-of 0° Centigrade (32° F.) between two points on a
-platinum bar in the keeping of the Academy of Science
-at Paris. This standard bar is used only once every ten
-years for exact comparisons, as stated by Dr. F. A. P.
-Barnard.</p>
-
-<p>About 1837 Bessel, by a combination of 11 measured
-arcs of meridian, deduced the quadrant of meridian as
-5,131,179·81 toises instead of 5,130,740 toises, as fixed by
-law. This would make to quadrant 10,000,565·278 legal
-mètres, or would increase the mètre length from 443·296
-lignes to 443·334 lignes, agreeing very nearly with
-result obtained by Airy in 1830, from a combination of
-13 measured arcs.</p>
-
-<p>The following are the measured arcs used by Bessel and
-Airy; the combinations being indicated by initial letters,
-A and B.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p>
-
-<table summary="Measurements of the arcs of the meridian">
- <tr>
- <th></th>
- <th>Measurer.</th>
- <th colspan="4">Mid. Lat.</th>
- <th colspan="3">Arc.</th>
- <th colspan="2">Length.</th>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">B.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Svanberg, Sweden</td>
- <td class="center">+</td>
- <td class="right">66°</td>
- <td class="right">20´</td>
- <td class="right">10·0´´</td>
- <td class="right">1°</td>
- <td class="right">37´</td>
- <td class="right">19·6´´</td>
- <td class="right">593,277</td>
- <td>feet</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">A.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Maupertuis, Sweden</td>
- <td class="center">+</td>
- <td class="right">66°</td>
- <td class="right">19´</td>
- <td class="right">37·0´´</td>
- <td class="right">0°</td>
- <td class="right">57´</td>
- <td class="right">30·4´´</td>
- <td class="right">351,832</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">A.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Struve, Russia</td>
- <td class="center">+</td>
- <td class="right">58°</td>
- <td class="right">17´</td>
- <td class="right">37·0´´</td>
- <td class="right">3°</td>
- <td class="right">35´</td>
- <td class="right">5·2´´</td>
- <td class="right">1,309,742</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">B.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Struve and Tenner, Russia</td>
- <td class="center">+</td>
- <td class="right">56°</td>
- <td class="right">3´</td>
- <td class="right">55·5´´</td>
- <td class="right">8°</td>
- <td class="right">2´</td>
- <td class="right">28·9´´</td>
- <td class="right">2,937,439</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">B.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Bessel and Bayer, Prussia</td>
- <td class="center">+</td>
- <td class="right">54°</td>
- <td class="right">58´</td>
- <td class="right">26·0´´</td>
- <td class="right">1°</td>
- <td class="right">30´</td>
- <td class="right">29·0´´</td>
- <td class="right">551,073</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">B.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Schumacher, Denmark</td>
- <td class="center">+</td>
- <td class="right">54°</td>
- <td class="right">8´</td>
- <td class="right">13·7´´</td>
- <td class="right">1°</td>
- <td class="right">31´</td>
- <td class="right">53·3´´</td>
- <td class="right">559,121</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">A,&nbsp;B.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Ganss, Hanover</td>
- <td class="center">+</td>
- <td class="right">52°</td>
- <td class="right">32´</td>
- <td class="right">16·6´´</td>
- <td class="right">2°</td>
- <td class="right">0´</td>
- <td class="right">57·4´´</td>
- <td class="right">736,425</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">A.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Roy and Kater, England</td>
- <td class="center">+</td>
- <td class="right">52°</td>
- <td class="right">35´</td>
- <td class="right">45·0´´</td>
- <td class="right">3°</td>
- <td class="right">57´</td>
- <td class="right">13·1´´</td>
- <td class="right">1,442,953</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">B.&mdash;</td>
- <td><span class="ditto1">“</span> <span class="ditto1">“</span> <span class="ditto1">“</span></td>
- <td class="center">+</td>
- <td class="right">52°</td>
- <td class="right">2´</td>
- <td class="right">19·0´´</td>
- <td class="right">2°</td>
- <td class="right">50´</td>
- <td class="right">23·5´´</td>
- <td class="right">1,036,409</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">A.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Lacaille and Cassini, France</td>
- <td class="center">+</td>
- <td class="right">46°</td>
- <td class="right">52´</td>
- <td class="right">2·0´´</td>
- <td class="right">8°</td>
- <td class="right">20´</td>
- <td class="right">0·3´´</td>
- <td class="right">3,040,605</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">A,&nbsp;B.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Delambre and Mechin, France</td>
- <td class="center">+</td>
- <td class="right">44°</td>
- <td class="right">51´</td>
- <td class="right">2·5´´</td>
- <td class="right">12°</td>
- <td class="right">22´</td>
- <td class="right">12·7´´</td>
- <td class="right">4,509,832</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">A.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Boscovich, Rome</td>
- <td class="center">+</td>
- <td class="right">42°</td>
- <td class="right">59´</td>
- <td class="right">·0´´</td>
- <td class="right">2°</td>
- <td class="right">9´</td>
- <td class="right">47·0´´</td>
- <td class="right">787,919</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">A.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Mason and Dixon, America</td>
- <td class="center">+</td>
- <td class="right">39°</td>
- <td class="right">12´</td>
- <td class="right">·0´´</td>
- <td class="right">1°</td>
- <td class="right">28´</td>
- <td class="right">45·0´´</td>
- <td class="right">538,100</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">A,&nbsp;B.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Lambton, India</td>
- <td class="center">+</td>
- <td class="right">16°</td>
- <td class="right">8´</td>
- <td class="right">21·5´´</td>
- <td class="right">15°</td>
- <td class="right">57´</td>
- <td class="right">40·7´´</td>
- <td class="right">5,794,598</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">A,&nbsp;B.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Lambton and Everest, India</td>
- <td class="center">+</td>
- <td class="right">12°</td>
- <td class="right">32´</td>
- <td class="right">20·8´´</td>
- <td class="right">1°</td>
- <td class="right">34´</td>
- <td class="right">56·4´´</td>
- <td class="right">574,318</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">A,&nbsp;B.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Lacondamine, Peru</td>
- <td class="center">-</td>
- <td class="right">1°</td>
- <td class="right">31´</td>
- <td class="right">0·4´´</td>
- <td class="right">3°</td>
- <td class="right">7´</td>
- <td class="right">3·5´´</td>
- <td class="right">1,131,050</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">A.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Lacaille, Cape Good Hope</td>
- <td class="center">-</td>
- <td class="right">33°</td>
- <td class="right">18´</td>
- <td class="right">30·0´´</td>
- <td class="right">1°</td>
- <td class="right">13´</td>
- <td class="right">17·5´´</td>
- <td class="right">445,506</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">B.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Maclear, <span class="ditto1">“</span> <span class="ditto1">“</span></td>
- <td class="center">-</td>
- <td class="right">35°</td>
- <td class="right">43´</td>
- <td class="right">20·0´´</td>
- <td class="right">3°</td>
- <td class="right">34´</td>
- <td class="right">34·7´´</td>
- <td class="right">1,301,993</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right">A.&mdash;</td>
- <td>Plana and Cartessi, Piedmont</td>
- <td></td>
- <td colspan="3">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>
- <td class="right">1°</td>
- <td class="right">7´</td>
- <td class="right">31·1´´</td>
- <td colspan="2">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The following different lengths of the mètre have been
-obtained:</p>
-
-<table summary="Lengths of the mètre by different standards">
- <tr>
- <td>As adopted by France, 1801</td>
- <td class="right">443·296</td>
- <td>lignes.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>According to Delambre</td>
- <td class="right">443·264</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="ditto3">“</span> Bessel</td>
- <td class="right">443·33394</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="ditto3">“</span> Airy</td>
- <td class="right">443·32387</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="ditto3">“</span> Clarke</td>
- <td class="right">443·36146</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>From Peru Meridian</td>
- <td class="right">443·440</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>The length of a pendulum vibrating 100,000 times in a
-mean solar day was determined in numerous careful experiments
-by Biot, Arago, and Mathieu, in mètres of
-443·296 lignes, as follows:</p>
-
-<table summary="Measurements taken using pendulum">
- <tr>
- <td>Dunkirk</td>
- <td class="right">56·67</td>
- <td>lat. Cent.</td>
- <td class="right">0</td>
- <td>above sea</td>
- <td class="right">0·7419076</td>
- <td>mètres.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Paris</td>
- <td class="right">54·26</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td class="right">65</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td class="right">0·7418870</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="ditto1">“</span> by Borda</td>
- <td class="right">54·26</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td class="right">0</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td class="right">0·7416274</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Bordeau</td>
- <td class="right">49·82</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td class="right">0</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td class="right">0·7412615</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Formentera</td>
- <td class="right">42·96</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td class="right">196</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td class="right">0·7412061</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>Borda also determined the length of the seconds
-pendulum at Paris, in vacuo:</p>
-
-<table summary="Length of the seconds pendulum at Paris, in vacuo">
- <tr>
- <td>First result</td>
- <td class="right">440·5595</td>
- <td>lignes</td>
- <td>= 0·9938267</td>
- <td>mètre.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Second result</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td>= 0·9938460</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>As given by Ganot</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td>= 0·9935</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>In 1812 the système usuelle was established, of which
-the unit was one third of the mètre, with the old name of
-pied, and duodecimally divided into pouces and lignes.</p>
-
-<p>This system continued in use till 1840, when it was
-abolished by law, and the names of pied, pouce, and ligne
-forbidden under penalties. So the mètre, decimally divided,
-remains the only legal measure of length in France.</p>
-
-<h3>COMPARISONS OF UNITED STATES AND
-ENGLISH STANDARDS.</h3>
-
-<p>In 1832, under resolution of Congress, Mr. Hassler
-compared the different standard yards in America, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
-the following results, using the yard between the twenty-seventh
-and sixty-third inches on the scale made of bronze
-by Troughton, of London, for the United States Coast
-Survey, as the reference, that being identical with Sir
-George Schuckburg’s standard:</p>
-
-<table summary="Comparative lengths of the “standard” yard measures in America">
- <tr>
- <td>Troughton Scale, mid. yard</td>
- <td class="right">36·0000000</td>
- <td>inches.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="ditto2">“</span> <span class="ditto2">“</span> between platinum points</td>
- <td class="right">35·9989758</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Jones yard in State Department</td>
- <td class="right">35·9990285</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Iron yard in Engineer Department</td>
- <td class="right">35·9987760</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Brass yard, Albany, Sec. of State</td>
- <td class="right">36·0002465</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Gilbert yard, University of Virginia</td>
- <td class="right">35·9952318</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>In 1856 the Troughton standard bronze scale was
-compared with the bronze standard yard No. 11, which
-was sent over by Airy as a copy of the English imperial
-standard, as restored after destruction of the original
-standard by fire in 1834, and the United States
-standard was found to be longer by 0·00085 inch.</p>
-
-<p>Later comparisons by J. E. Hilgard, of the Coast Survey,
-of the bronze standard No. 11 with the imperial
-standard yard, at the British Standards Office, gave No.
-11 as 0·000088 shorter than the imperial standard.</p>
-
-<p>Hassler’s reduction of the mètre, as deduced by Beach
-at 62° F., 39·36850154, compared with the English reduction
-of the mètre, 39·37079 inches, gives an excess to the
-United States Standard of 0·002029 inch.</p>
-
-<p>The following reductions have been given for the
-United States yard in English inches:</p>
-
-<table summary="Conversions of the U.S. yard to inches">
- <tr>
- <td>Report of Sec. of Treas., 1857</td>
- <td>36·00087</td>
- <td>= 1·00002416</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Chambers’ Encyclopædia, 1872</td>
- <td>36·00087</td>
- <td></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="ditto3">“</span> <span class="ditto3">“</span> <span class="ditto1">“</span></td>
- <td>36·0020892</td>
- <td>= 1·0000580334</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Trautwine</td>
- <td>36·0020894</td>
- <td>= 1·000058038</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Mathewson, U. S. surveyor</td>
- <td>36·00208944</td>
- <td>= 1·00005804</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Hassler and Beach</td>
- <td>36·002092</td>
- <td>= 1·00005811</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>J. E. Hilgard, Coast Survey</td>
- <td>36·00076</td>
- <td>= 1·000021</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>To Mr. Hassler’s reduction the name of United States
-inch has been applied; but his reduction is not correct, as
-he used a rate of expansion for brass deduced by himself
-of 0·0003783 inch in one yard for 1° F., and later experiments
-show that the smaller rate of 0·000342, deduced by
-Airy, is more correct.</p>
-
-<p>By correcting Hassler’s reduction with the later rate of
-expansion, J. E. Hilgard shows that the difference would
-be very small, or only 36·0002286 = 1·00000635, or about
-⅖ of an inch in a mile.</p>
-
-<p>In Coast Survey report for 1876, J. E. Hilgard calls attention
-to another difficulty in the matter of extreme
-accuracy, in the uncertainty with regard to the
-permanence in the length of a bar, and states that
-the bronze standard bar No. 11 and the Low Moor iron
-standard bar No. 57, presented to the United States by
-Great Britain, are found to have changed their relative
-length by 0·00025 inch in 25 years; the bronze bar being
-now relatively shorter by that amount. This subject, he
-states, is undergoing further investigation.</p>
-
-<h3>COMPARISON OF UNITED STATES AND
-FRENCH STANDARDS.</h3>
-
-<p>In 1817 Mr. Hassler examined the French standards in
-America, for the Coast Survey, using the Troughton bronze
-standard scale, which is identical with Sir George Schuckburg’s
-standard, as the reference, with the following results,
-all being reduced to temperature of 32° F.</p>
-
-<table summary="The French standard mètres in inches, measured at 32° F.">
- <tr>
- <td>Original Iron Mètre,</td>
- <td>1799</td>
- <td class="right">39·381022708</td>
- <td>inches.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Lenoir Iron Mètre,</td>
- <td>Coast Survey</td>
- <td class="right">39·37972015</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="ditto1">“</span> Brass <span class="ditto1">“</span></td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td class="right">39·380247972</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="ditto1">“</span> <span class="ditto1">“</span> <span class="ditto">“</span></td>
- <td>Eng. Dept.</td>
- <td class="right">39·38052739</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Canivet Iron Toise,</td>
- <td>1768</td>
- <td class="right">76·74334472</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Lenoir <span class="ditto">“</span> <span class="ditto1">“</span></td>
- <td></td>
- <td class="right">76·74192710</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>In 1814 Troughton had compared with his own scale in
-London two of the above.</p>
-
-<table summary="Troughton’s measurements">
- <tr>
- <td>Lenoir Iron Mètre,</td>
- <td>C. S.</td>
- <td class="right">39·3802506</td>
- <td>inches.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="ditto1">“</span> Brass <span class="ditto">“</span></td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td class="right">39·3803333</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>In 1832, under resolution of Congress, Hassler again
-compared the French standards in the United States, using
-as before the Troughton scale, and reducing all to temperature
-of 32° F. as follows:</p>
-
-<table summary="Hassler’s measurements">
- <tr>
- <td>Original</td>
- <td>Iron Mètre,</td>
- <td>1799</td>
- <td class="right">39·3808643</td>
- <td>inches.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Lenoir</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td><span class="ditto">“</span> C. S.</td>
- <td class="right">39·3799120</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td>Brass Mètre</td>
- <td>C. S.</td>
- <td class="right">39·380447</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td>Eng. Dept.</td>
- <td class="right">39·3801714</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td><span class="ditto2">“</span> in 1829</td>
- <td class="right">39·3807095</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Fortin</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td>State Dept.</td>
- <td class="right">39·3796084</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td>Treas. <span class="ditto">“</span></td>
- <td class="right">39·3795983</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Iron Mètre</td>
- <td><span class="ditto1">“</span> <span class="ditto">“</span></td>
- <td class="right">39·3807827</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Gilbert</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td>Univ. of Virg.</td>
- <td class="right">39·365408</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Platinum Mètre</td>
- <td></td>
- <td class="right">39·3803278</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td>(Nicollet)</td>
- <td class="right">39·380511</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Canivet</td>
- <td>Iron Toise,</td>
- <td>1768</td>
- <td class="right">76·74290511</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Lenoir</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- <td>1799</td>
- <td class="right">76·74047599</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>From the mean of his comparisons between the United
-States brass Troughton standard yard and the authentic
-French standard mètres used by the Coast Survey, Hassler,
-in 1832, deduced the value of the mètre at 39·3809172
-inches, at 32° F., and by correction for expansion to
-United States standard temperature of 62° F., he made
-the mètre at 32° equal to 39·36850154 inches at 62° F.</p>
-
-<p>The British imperial standard and the United States
-Troughton standard differ by only 0·000762 inch, which
-applied to the English reduction of 39·37079, would give
-39·36996 as the relative value according to Troughton
-standard.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The difference between these reductions is probably to
-be attributed to the use of different rates of expansion,
-in correcting for standard temperatures, which vary considerably,
-according to high authority as follows for brass
-at 1° F.</p>
-
-<table summary="Measurements of the rate of expansion for brass">
- <tr>
- <td>Whitworth, 1876</td>
- <td>0·00000956</td>
- <td>= 0·00034416</td>
- <td>in. per yard.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Borda, 1799</td>
- <td>0·000009913</td>
- <td>= 0·00035687</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Smeaton, 1750</td>
- <td>0·000010417</td>
- <td>= 0·00037501</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Hassler</td>
- <td>0·000010508</td>
- <td>= 0·0003783</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Ramsden, 1760</td>
- <td>0·000010516</td>
- <td>= 0·0003786</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Faraday, 1830</td>
- <td>0·00001059</td>
- <td>= 0·00038124</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>And for the bronze of which the British imperial standards
-are made:</p>
-
-<table summary="Measurements of the rate of expansion for bronze">
- <tr>
- <td>Airy and Sheepshanks</td>
- <td>0·0000095</td>
- <td>= 0·000342</td>
- <td>in. per yard.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Fizeau</td>
- <td>0·00000975</td>
- <td>= 0·000351</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>The correction at Ramsden’s rate is nearly identical with
-Hassler’s, and gives 39·3684933; at Whitworth’s rate it
-would give 39·36962, very nearly the same as deduced
-from the difference between the British Imperial standard
-and the United States Troughton standard. The results of
-Sir Joseph Whitworth were obtained by use of all late
-improvements for scientific precision, and they must be
-accepted as most reliable.</p>
-
-<p>It would appear preferable to give comparisons at the
-same temperature in connection with the corrected result,
-so that international comparisons of scientific measurements
-may not be vitiated by accidental variations.</p>
-
-<h3>COMPARISON OF ENGLISH AND FRENCH
-STANDARDS.</h3>
-
-<p>When the mètre standard was established in France,
-1799, it was compared with Sir George Schuckburg’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
-standard yard by Captain Kater. The quadrant of
-10,000,000 mètres, or 5,130,740 toises, was determined to be
-32,808,992 English feet, giving the mètre equal to
-3·2808992 English feet, or 39·37079 inches, and the toise
-equal to 6·3945925921 English feet.</p>
-
-<p>In 1814 Wollaston and Playfair, by comparison with the
-platinum mètre standard at 55° F., deduced the mètre as
-equal to 39·3828 English inches.</p>
-
-<p>During the geodetic operations of General Roy in 1802,
-who used 60° F. as standard temperature, Pictet’s comparisons,
-using means capable of measuring the 10,000th part
-of an inch, gave the mètre standard, which is used at 32° F.
-as standard temperature, at 39·3828 English inches; this
-corrected for temperature by Dr. Young, gave 39·371 English
-inches at 62° F.; which result was confirmed by Bird, Maskelyne
-and Laudale.</p>
-
-<p>In 1823, by Act of Parliament on report of committee,
-the mètre is fixed as 39·37079 English inches.</p>
-
-<p>In 1800 the Royal Society, by comparison with two toise
-standards sent by Lalande to Maskelyne, deduced the
-mètre as 39·3702 English inches.</p>
-
-<p>Later comparisons by Clarke in the Ordnance Survey
-Office at Southampton, in 1866, give the mètre as 39·37043
-inches.</p>
-
-<p>The French Academy of Sciences by comparison with
-Sir George Schuckburg’s standard at temperature of 32° F.,
-deduced the mètre as 39·3824 English inches, which reduced
-to standard temperature of 62° F., would be 39·3711, or
-slightly in excess of the value deduced by Dr. Young from
-Pictet’s comparisons.</p>
-
-<p>The legal value in England is one mètre equal to
-39·37079, and the latest reduction is 39·37043 inches by
-Clarke in 1866, which is probably the most exact reduction.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p>
-
-<h4>DIFFERENT REDUCTIONS OF THE FRENCH TOISE INTO
-ENGLISH FEET.</h4>
-
-<table summary="Different reductions of the French toise into English feet">
- <tr>
- <td>Captain Kater, 1799</td>
- <td>6·3945925921</td>
- <td>feet.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Hassler, 1832</td>
- <td>6·3951409</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Chambers’ Encyclopædia</td>
- <td>6·39456</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="ditto3">“</span> Mathematics</td>
- <td>6·394662</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Wallace</td>
- <td>6·39462</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Nystrom</td>
- <td>6·39625</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Alexander</td>
- <td>6·39435</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Dana</td>
- <td>6·3946</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>The following table of reductions as used shows clearly
-how great a confusion exists in the matter of comparisons:</p>
-
-<h4>MÈTRE IN INCHES.</h4>
-
-<table summary="Different reductions of the mètre in inches">
- <tr>
- <td>Phœnixville Hand-book</td>
- <td>39·368</td>
- <td>inches.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Hassler</td>
- <td>39·36850154</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="ditto2">“</span></td>
- <td>39·370788</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="ditto2">“</span></td>
- <td>39·3809172</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Trautwine</td>
- <td>39·368505</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="ditto2">“</span></td>
- <td>39·37079</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Silliman</td>
- <td>39·368505</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="ditto2">“</span></td>
- <td>39·37079</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Chambers’ Encyclopædia</td>
- <td>39·36850535</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="ditto3">“</span> <span class="ditto3">“</span></td>
- <td>39·3707904</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Act of United States Congress, 1866</td>
- <td>39·37</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Smithsonian Report</td>
- <td>39·37</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Youmans</td>
- <td>39·37</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Davies</td>
- <td>39·37</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Homan’s Encyclopædia</td>
- <td>39·37008</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Weale</td>
- <td>39·3702</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Ordnance Survey (England, 1866)</td>
- <td>39·37043</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Clerk Maxwell</td>
- <td>39·37043</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Capt. Clarke</td>
- <td>39·3704316</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>J. M. Rankine (1870)</td>
- <td>39·3704316</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="ditto3">“</span> (1866)</td>
- <td>39·3707904</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Alexander (weights and measures)</td>
- <td>39·37068</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Ganot</td>
- <td>39·370788</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>Vose</td>
- <td>39·370788</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Act of British Parliament, 1823</td>
- <td>39·37079</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Encyclopædia Britannica</td>
- <td>39·37079</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Hymer</td>
- <td>39·37079</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Davies and Peck</td>
- <td>39·37079</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>J. W. Clarke</td>
- <td>39·37079</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Dana</td>
- <td>39·37079</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Whittaker</td>
- <td>39·37079</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Sommerville</td>
- <td>39·3707904</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Chambers’ Mathematics</td>
- <td>39·3707904</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Gwilt’s Encyclopædia</td>
- <td>39·3707904</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Gillespie</td>
- <td>39·3707904</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Capt. Kater</td>
- <td>39·3708</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Appleton’s Encyclopædia</td>
- <td>39·37079</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Van Nostrand</td>
- <td>39·3708</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>D’Aubuisson</td>
- <td>39·3708</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Johnson (draftsman)</td>
- <td>39·3708</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Encyclopædia Americana</td>
- <td>39·371</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Jameson’s Dictionary</td>
- <td>39·371</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Herbert’s Encyclopædia</td>
- <td>39·371</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Popular <span class="ditto3">“</span></td>
- <td>39·371</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Molesworth</td>
- <td>39·371</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Dr. Young (1802)</td>
- <td>39·371</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Wallace (engineer)</td>
- <td>39·371</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Nystrom</td>
- <td>39·38091</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Hencke</td>
- <td>39·3809172</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Act of Canadian Parliament, 1873</td>
- <td>39·3819</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>Paris Academy</td>
- <td>39·3824</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<h4>LENGTH OF THE SECONDS PENDULUM AS GIVEN BY
-DIFFERENT WRITERS.</h4>
-
-<table summary="Different measurements of the length of the seconds pendulum">
- <tr>
- <td class="right"><span class="smcap">New York.</span>&mdash;</td>
- <td>Hencke</td>
- <td>39·1012</td>
- <td>inches.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Bartlet</td>
- <td>39·11256</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Nystrom</td>
- <td>39·1017</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Ganot</td>
- <td>39·1012</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Byrne</td>
- <td>39·10153</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Wallace</td>
- <td>39·10153</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right"><span class="smcap">London.</span>&mdash;</td>
- <td>Hencke</td>
- <td>39·13908</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Gillespie</td>
- <td>39·13929</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Chambers’ Encyclopædia</td>
- <td>39·13929</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></td>
- <td>Williams’ Geodesy</td>
- <td>39·13929</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Act of Parliament, 1823</td>
- <td>39·13929</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Wallace (engineer)</td>
- <td>39·1393</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Chambers’ Mathematics</td>
- <td>39·1393</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Hymer Astronomy</td>
- <td>39·13734</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Bartlet</td>
- <td>39·13908</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Vose</td>
- <td>39·1393</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Sommerville</td>
- <td>39·1393</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Nystrom</td>
- <td>39·1393</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Davies and Peck</td>
- <td>39·13908</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Ganot</td>
- <td>39·1398</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Wollaston (1814)</td>
- <td>39·13047</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Galbraith</td>
- <td>39·139</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Byrne</td>
- <td>39·1393</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Capt. Kater</td>
- <td>39·13829</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="right"><span class="smcap">Paris.</span>&mdash;</td>
- <td>Hencke</td>
- <td>39·12843</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Ganot</td>
- <td>39·1285</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Galbraith</td>
- <td>39·128</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Byrne</td>
- <td>39·12843</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td>Wallace</td>
- <td>39·12843</td>
- <td class="center">“</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p>
-
-<h2>APPENDIX.</h2>
-
-<p>Having shown in the preceding pages that in the point
-of view of scientific accuracy the yard, mètre, and toise
-standards are on a common level, and that in the matter
-of comparisons there is no extreme accuracy, I will now
-refer to the proposed change of our standard from the
-yard to the mètre.</p>
-
-<p>Theoretically the mètre is the 10,000,000th part of the
-earth’s quadrant, and the yard the 36/39·13929th part of a
-seconds pendulum at London. Practically, neither the
-mètre nor yard could be recovered with exactness from
-their natural basis. The legal French mètre differs from
-the latest reduction enough to give an excess of over three
-miles to the circumference of the earth. In fact, the mètre
-and yard are only the lengths of bars of metal kept in
-certain offices, from which copies are made. Decimally
-considered, it is as easy to divide one as the other into
-tenths, hundredths, etc., and the yard standard is often so
-divided.</p>
-
-<p>As to nomenclature, the metrical system is overloaded
-with Greek and Latin prefixes, which are in no
-way so easy and convenient in expression as the short,
-sharp Anglo-Saxon words yard, foot, inch.</p>
-
-<p>In all sciences Latin and Greek names are given for
-easier purposes of classification; but the different peoples
-invariably keep their own household names for daily
-purposes, leaving prefix and affix to specialists, probably
-with advantage to both parties.</p>
-
-<p>The units used for different purposes are entirely distinct<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
-from the base of any system, and though always referable
-to such base, are not practically so referred. It
-therefore seems useless to burden the people with long
-scientific names in the ordinary transactions of daily life.</p>
-
-<p>For long distances the units in the yard and metrical
-systems are respectively the mile and the kilomètre.</p>
-
-<p>The mile has a definite meaning in our minds, being
-associated, from the days of youth, with the measured distances
-in race-courses, speed in walking, railway and
-steamer travel, length of surveyed lots&mdash;the same being in
-use among about 100,000,000 people.</p>
-
-<p>For mechanical structures, the units are respectively the
-foot and the mètre. The foot is used instead of the yard,
-as being the most convenient in practice, and is fixed in
-the minds of the people by constant association with
-length of foot-rules, size of buildings, doors, windows,
-etc., all of which are always before us.</p>
-
-<p>For commercial purposes the units are respectively the
-yard and the mètre. The yard is associated with length
-of yard-sticks, distance between brass nails on counters,
-so many finger-lengths by ladies. Probably three fourths
-of the business of the world is conducted on the yard
-standard.</p>
-
-<p>For machine and shop work the English unit is the
-inch and fractions, and countries having the metrical
-standard have universally adopted the millimètre.</p>
-
-<p>The inch is well fixed in the minds of all mechanics
-by constant use, and the ease with which the fractions are
-had by halving only renders the system very convenient.</p>
-
-<p>As more figures must be used to indicate a size by
-millimètres than by inches and fractions, it appears that
-the metrical system cannot shorten the work of arithmetical
-computation in shop work, and is therefore of no advantage
-to the mechanic or draftsman, but rather the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
-reverse. This is the opinion of Coleman Sellers, the distinguished
-Philadelphia engineer and manufacturer, who,
-after a trial of the millimètre in his shops for some years,
-returned to the use of the inch, and writes in <cite>Engineering
-News</cite>: “The loss from the use of a small unit requiring
-many figures to express what is needed, takes away from
-the other advantages of the system when considered from
-a labor-saving point of view.”</p>
-
-<p>In France itself the metrical system is not wholly decimal
-in actual practice, as we find the following measures
-in use in addition to the decimal divisions: double decamètre,
-demi-decamètre, double mètre, demi-mètre, and
-double decimètre.</p>
-
-<p>The metrical system has been adopted in the following
-countries: France and colonies, Holland and colonies,
-Belgium, Spain and colonies, Portugal, Italy, Germany,
-Greece, Roumania, British India, Mexico, New Granada,
-Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentine Confederacy,
-Chili, Venezuela; and partially in Wurtemburg, Bavaria,
-Baden, Hesse, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria, and Turkey.</p>
-
-<p>In the past centuries all the work and records of English-speaking
-peoples&mdash;now numbering about 100,000,000,
-and increasing and progressing faster than all other
-nationalities, as well as being closely connected by descent
-and business&mdash;have been done and recorded under
-the yard standard, and any change now would inevitably
-render necessary continual reductions, to the great detriment
-and inconvenience of the mass of our people, and
-with little or no practical benefit, except perhaps to a small
-class of scientific and pseudo-scientific men, who can and do
-amuse themselves with the fancied uniformity of the mètre.</p>
-
-<p>All our numerous text-books and tables, mechanical
-and scientific, would be rendered entirely useless by the
-change, and this is a serious final consideration.</p>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Standard Measures of United States,
-Great Britain and France, by Arthur S. C. Wurtele
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