New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-12-31

The American Neurological Society helu a
meeting on saturday afternoon az Columbia college III
IN city, Among the members present were Professor
! T. A. T. Barnard j. T. Hilgad OF Washington H. y
Newton of Yale college T. H. ThuTstoh Oh INC 9'cs'u'
Institute C. s. of the L. . Coast survey t. D.
Elliott of the Bureau OF statistics. the Rey DE-
OF Trinity College Hartford NJ = b. Rusgics of tbs city,
and several gentlemen of prominence ~ evil engineers
and in other professions. Aside from the routine 'uN'
ness of The Society tine following transactions occupied
| the meeting:
PROGRESS or TIE METRIC SYSTEM
Professor lgard stated that the United safes hao h'
vet been formally constituted member Of the Interim
| iiona Bureau OF Weights and Measures. The pFeni-
nary steps had been taken toward this end, ana the mat
ter now rested AZ the disposal OF the Senate Commite"oh
Foreign Relations while this delay was to he resie'o"'
there is work Of Importance which Will occupy the inter
val. The French Commission Is busy IN PrelarinA
fine Il W stan ards Of weight and measure. This Is
a work requlrug extreme accuracy to Obtain UNIFORM
results The mauipua;ions are Of extreme oehc"oS
SucraI APPARATUS and tools have TO bc invented ana
made and months clapsc IN their CONSTRUCTION lh' u
nculties met are those which are urvabie IN eAp'i
menis but are not insupcrabic These dlWcniti'' WI"
be eventually overcome, and the progress already h"'
is guarantee that standards OF uniformity ana accuracy
will be made for distribution among tee nations winch
take part ih the convention.
la regard metric standards Tor the Ch'ed S'"o''
Professor lgrd saia That the Standards iof separate
states had rendered 10 each, and were very beuc
ally accepcd About thirty states have received thef
standards and placed them exhibition in public places
where they Will be accessible for reference These stand
ards consist of two metres, "A EiDgramme, huiKlo-
cramme "a Lire AMI q Ina fltre. Professor lgard men
TONED that when the original iron metre now Hsh'y
years old, was compared VITA the modern SElhn-
ard it was found that it, difference was less
than a tlousaudth OF milemctIc. The trial was made
when the iron sixtyseven years DID, ana III
conclusive IN favor OF iron this use its changes ara
20 exceedingly small. But "a comparison between our
standards less favorable. The iron metre was COM
pared with The standard yard tie latter beng OF hrouzc
made to be used AT tcmpemtnrc OF o. laDr. these
differed by the 4OOOh OF inch, which Is very sen
sible ait .cAton. Several new methods OF making quck
auproy,te compari,ons between yarisand metres have
been considered by Professor Igart Two OF these
lie mentioned. DIVIDE yard into iour equal parts Dy
bsections. Then put together three Of The four paris
and divide that length into e, 5ht parts by bsecons
The addition 81 81 the clSdt pdrtS 10 TIE yard VIII
give metre within fraction. Aaoher method. which
is preferable mlly accounts, is 90 divide - inches
into egat parts ven of winch VIII he IL metre very
nearly tn, - inches DE- easily obtained by adding
fourth 10 the yard II is signed 90 make the old
standards useful by inserting little SILVER plugs when
mark upou them the metrica divisions. In reply TO an
inquiry from Professor P.ircc, a. was stated that the
metres sent to different states were % arranged tadt
there are means of copying them.
Of the metrca system The proposition has been made
10 employ unit obtained by weight. Professor Pellco
stated that the difference m ~ force 81 gravity DE" cen
measures were made not les. than thousandtn Of
the whole weight lie recommended instead the ad',
ton ot what y kGoWn Hs the
system for obtaining the metucal unit. He sail 1t dd
moi involve rs was commonly imagined troublesome
FACTS ABOUT OUR SILVER COINAGE.
Pr essor Elliott spoke upon the relative ana change
able dues Of coinage The people favor simultaneous
circulation Of The two metals gold and silver. as money
the measures before Congress propose to give an
alternate. instead OF simultaneous circulation. Those
measures propose 10 give silver IN unlimited amounts
that U.s. there is limit To It's legal tender Tie
result in such ease must be that the cheaper metal VIII
take the place Of the Gcacg This WOld be alter
nate circulation. II first and then the other should be
the cheaper metal; bUt il wll not be q simultaneous
circulation such a. The people desire II no limit is
placed upon the leea!cudcr use o. silver the denonelz
ton of gold will result 10 obyate the INCONVENIENCE of
the denoaetz lion OF ir dcarer metal, gold. the next
proposition viii Doc 90 diminish 10, quantity coins BY
TINS the whole currency VIII he debased ana me
dcbaseuen viii ice aiterWard repeated 10y successive
Steps In ti- respect fs'"il , ait 10 l'I'h' l Vli.
There arc. however uuWhcr ~ different ways y Whch
these evils mi-ht be- prcyru5d,u suitable LEGISLATION
,Aou'd De provided by mOhhcduoh OF IN" nedsuts no"
Professor E'i,o also presented information as 20
only coin that has ever been aemorczrd since ~" De
ginning OF or Cove umcni-oilgnhiy Tie trade dolinr
~ rgs" ,ii,, l,c.i H. i,,,i mn i.,r he a LEGAL
tenders lA an an'uI''' gHN ,l ' cvor s'i .i"d
same ,, ti"s o ~ -G ,i,,.l SILVER c,.
was reduced ID W~igat, ANA was made simply an over
valued token, Thich Is ies' ndi lof sums Oh - "R.
coin Il is sim lrsalrndcr, as D. always wa, ~ ls73
choose 80 io cIl ,,scd to d.. coined 10 was not demon
ctzed Al the time when 10 coinage of the silver dollar
yit gold; ana u 10 that cafe about sOOO0Oo OF those
ouel0ar coin, bad been made. The old gold CONS. 90,
Wen IL, the cd silver coins. have been discontinued
IfdlsaoIiinug coinage could Dee called demuucNng u,
then gold coin have been Gcm'uctz'd Just ~ much
silver the flct beng thaj neither nave been d.
uuu.led. except. above stated, tnc trade dollar.
France has similarly dis oulindcd coin1s' jh 81, There
called sISpvus0n' not drin"HclH''io. 1f .-iiott
reviewed the action OF Germany by WlcA ie tWothcr
pieces Eayc been drawn 70 thc MINI RON dl parts % the
world. \ coinage can DC dHlth ,"ui Oh cIcu"toI nN
undertaking It, done by the Canadians win re-
with regard - Mexican iracNonA CONS. III the
latter case, the sAprhces ana shinhgs were
the fleet completely driving them out OF this country
Nir. Elliott also spoke on tie question OF Introducing
metre calculations the WORK Of several hcrcnt de
such a change in reckoning customs duties was intor-
mally discussed.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. or THE SILVER ADVOCATES.
Mr. = b. Rngglcs said that tie Silver Commission IN
Congress had up to the present time practically sup
pressed large proportion OF the important Information
winch had been brought before IT, What the commission
Lad presented was onc-sded, unfair, and utterly imis
leading great Of valuable testimony had
been obtained through the state Department, which
has never been published As instances OF this practical
suppression, Mr.. EugSes mentioned two important
pcccs OF testimony which unknown 10 the public
me Peruvian report indicated that there * GER
tainly an enormous mass o: silver, probably surass-
iug that OF any previous mine ia the worlds history,
now about 10 be rendered accessible by the rail
roads constructed by the late Mr. Aciggs. Among
the testimony brought before The tOmuls.on was
that Of Mr. \. \. Low, who had been for many years
very Lc1vv purchaser of tea in China. Nr Low declared
that tea was never bought with silver; he had always
paid gold for it, bv buying and RENTING exchange
london This disposed according to Mr. Ruggle oil the
notion that abundant silver would give cheap tea
N Dd A. fol