The Hawaiian gazette., 1870-06-29
A Good Honest Pound.


poser TO financial men by starting the question;
"whsi Is 4 Pounds" The pound he had in view
THE pound s-sii1g and TIE question referred 20
some of the complexities resiug to the ecoexistenee
Of Eold-nouey, silver-money. and pzPermoney.
Bat Is really puzzle TO all OF us 10 know exactly
what Is pound rocglL u spite Of al the tables that
md their way into our arithmetic books Troy
weight and Avoirdupois weight and APotheearies'
weight are very vel in their way; but what Is
Pouudf
Few persons have any idea Of the prOdigious
amount Of scientific research involved in answer
10 this question II Ms Mullins the greeugrOcer
sells pound Of potatoes short weight, the inspec
tor has 4 right 70 look closely at her scales and
weights: but then. how does h know that the
weight i short II ht is Gzided by standard then
who made The standard. and what Is II made OF and
where = il. and how Was il determined, and why,
ans how could We make smother Il that were de-
sfruved i srPesrs that there are so5adGry stan
dar raauds dr-osiied 10 various places, irrespec-
fiIc o. yJt Cd referring % choice standard pound
KEPT under oArefal guardianship Until about ten
year 40. there Was no snch ;hing in England
p1hlie display Of standards Of weight and length,
open 70 all Her Majesty's subjects 10 look at and
examine; NJ that time, however, some measures OF
length feet and inches) placed outside the wall
:
many holiday ramblers up the famous hin have Oh
served them. These standards are understood 10
be eorreci in their graduation 10 something like
iao,ass,.h OF an iacAf There ars no sneh publicly
displayed standards OF weight and capacity. The
GstroHomer-royal contends that there ought TO be
that ne ought one and all OF us TO have the means
q seeing what is really pound and What Is really
gaiioa-
What p-odicious time II takes 10 construct and
verifr these standards In 1872 committee Of
scienii6c men was appointed to do this; they did
not make their report tn1S5S. such Of them as had
Dot died in toe interim were resppoinied 10 s new
eommiitee in 1854; and wheH mention the
names OF the as;ronomer-roysl, Sir J. F. ". Hers
che the master Of the Mint, Sir John Lubbock the
pres5egi OF the Royal Society and Professor Miller
il Wil Be perceived that there lack Of brains
in the mater This committee we're told that there
vas Al appearance OF injury in the Parliamentary
standard Of one pound weight, They therefore put
their wise beads together examine the condition
f;he patient, and 70 devise remedy. The grand
original Was the Parliamentary Pound; the next in
r1uk were rqf.ics Of this Pound, placed in the safe
keeping OF the astronomerruyal, the master Of the
Mint. and the president OF the Royal Society, re
spec-ivcly. Al these four standards were brought
together on particular day, sud were examined
with every uicety which microscopes could insure.
TIE three copies passed muster well; but the Par
uameuiary Pound We may well give initials cap
iiais. To pay due honor was found to be in great
pa-t covered with brown matter arising partly from
fhe decoup position in damp situatiou) Of the leaiE-
e. and riue Of lie case The doctors set 10 work
Tie master q the Mint cleaned the Pound with
some caus,ic ammonia; and then Professor Miller,
weighing the PoEnd with balance Of exquisite del
n .-ssn.. ~
eopy IN ths hands OF the sstroromer-royal, found
th1i the precious standard had not been eaten away
b rzis, tie brown matter having been something
sxtrzueous, easy 10 remove The reader may laugh
A. al this nice treatment Of poundweighi; but it
Is 10 sn-hinC matter in the eyes Of the Exehequer
ard Mat folks
Bat there l. smother Pound vet 10 be mentioned.
Tbs l. barred in walI-like some victim Of cruel
6aspoi- A. the time Wheu the committee 81
Eo-k this Pound was buried in 8 wall Of the lower
saiiius-room Of the Palace Westminster; and on
exzzliuaiiou iouud 10 sgree well with the all
Important origiusI Parliamentary Pound which lives
i- q strong room 10 the basement Of the Excheeuer
oEce The bu-ying was, and Is, SO curious affair
shzt Ue must describe Il little more fully. On s
p4-ticaizr day, the members OF the committee being
present ths Clerk ofthe Works and his men removed
a qz-ricaizr stone from the masonry Of the lower
vai;iu. hall a. the Houses Of Parliament 4 cell or
rec1ss was then opened, in which was an oak box;
the ia o. lhs box being unscrewed an inner lezden
czse Ezs revealed. which contained standard pound
and standard ya-5 After processes Of fwonderfully
-,i1uts e1Huiassi5as and testing, the pound
o.-fzy solse5 By the master q the Mat in Swedish
ss-pape- thea inserted II Light silveT-gilt case,
the- II solid bronze box. then il the leaden case
sl-sa5y usuiioaei. aad then II the oak boz. The
Pozu5 vas thus sort of Jsck-in-the-box-the leaien
case bsar within the cak box the bronze box within
tss ls.sea The srer-gii, within the bronze
hex, szi Jack wrapped il his flser-Papsr garment
visAil ths sver-sili case mahogany box contain
izs the Standard Yard also pat into the lesden
c.ss Thea. With great form Al;y, this nultfsru box
-sinss--es II the cavity il the EAu-tbs cavity
bsiur fsrs5 Il the masonry Of the sn Of the recess
y ths s.ss side q the lower vAiiiaE-hAn- II Was
osrstuy lodged pieces q wood, thA; part Of
s box should touch the stoue the rabbst or rebate
o, tss cavity covered With patty the iron
inserted and driven into close contact with the
-5ais - covered. and liquid plaster Of Paris was 50
Taz-us n 1s 70 81 al the joints. Thus ended this
E-.aa fEns-Hl-,hs bzriL Of One Pound and One
EE-5-
he PEriia-asata-y standard copy Of the Pound is
ttus bzrei iu wSl the ether three standard copies
az safe keeping the haais Of the three learned
rs-sonsges alrssiy named. The original the imper-
IA ssausa-d-the Pcund. par excellenoe-wAs wrapped
4 sre-- -F1per, put i1io silver gilt ease this into
hrus1s s1z- Eni this into large iron chest IN the
sr-urE--ouz q sss Exebeque- O6oe il Old Pslace
TE-i- SA1uli, therefore, any uishaP occur to any
q taess Eve standard pounds one original, and
fozrcuFes there VII he the others al hand to refer
g. he i-pr chest Just mentioned IS a formidable .
Eszir. Il made BY Msss-s- Chubb, and weighs 4
- less thEa fuur hundred pounds even when empty.
l. eoataias nos oalg the standard Pound but other
FsHusE-as e reEht, leugth, and capacity. When
tst shsst opsue3, the standards bs through
esrs-zrs q Esss L Il Is desirable that they should
ss; bs sousAei vhie the duplicate keys Of the dup
E-z.s iocks are pl1oe5 Il safe hands
Il iS66. pzSuznt 70 Recommendation made BY
ths co1nluee. wsraea Of the Standards was ap-
Foluts5. and q Standard once, established, next
eocr % the Exchequer once in Old Palace Yard.
Ths E1r5eu and the department are considered now
% beloug % tie Board q Trade instead Of TO the
ExchccEc-- Tie Warden has supervisor over al
the governmental or primary standards. and also
orsr tx loeal standards Of weight and measure
ttrouEbouf the kingdom. The Exehequer hss had
the ohzre of these matters from vey remote times