The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1903-10-03
FIXING LENGTH STANDARDS
How q Constant Unit OF Reasureme
II Fixed and Maintained
in England.


Preparations are being made for a
posting parliamentary copies Of th
imperial standards Of length along TIL
floor Of Westminster hall, says the Lon
don Telegraph, of recent date.
The delicate undertaking, which
being carried out in its initial stages b.
the first commissioner Of works, will be
taken over on its completion by the
standards department of the board Of
trade as the responsible authority in
such matters. The standards, it is un-
derstood, will be identical with those
which were placed some years ago In
Trafalgar square. There are, in fact,
four sets, the first ranging from one foot
to an imperial yard, while the second is
q pole or perch, the third a chain Of 66
feet, and the fourth the standard meas
ure of 100 feet. Students Of history
scarcely need being reminded that King
Edward decreed that there should be
but one standard measure-that kept at
Winchester-for all England, and Mag
ma Charta contained a similar provision
with regard to weight. Strict enforce
ment of the law was found impracticable
for generations, a great number of Gus
tomary weights and measures cOntin-
uing in use, especially in transactions
relating to land, corn and wool. Finally,
however, parliament insisted upon the
observance of general uniformity. Since
1926 an imperial system Of weights and
measures has been in vogue throughout
the Kingdom and an act passed in 1873
inficts heavy penalties for using weights
and measures not recognized by the law.
Naturally, the man in the street" re-
quires to know how the standards are
a~soertained and established. Chief
among the earliest standards of length
were the palm, the foot and the cubit.
There were two leading cubits-the ma
tural cubit of Egypt, Chaldea, Phoenicia
and Greece, and the royal cubit of Mem
phis. The Greek foot passed into Italy,
where it was divided into IL inches. The
Romans used a thTee-fUUt uinE, while the
SaxOns adopted an ell, or yard of 36
inches, based on the Roman foot. This
measurement remained in England, al
though the lapse of time saw various
notifications in the ell. So matters
progressed until 1850, when a copy Of an
old yard measure found in the tower of
London was made for a select committee
Of the house of commons, and in 1924
this copy was legalized by parliament,
with a direction that Tin the event Of it's
being lost the standard should be eco
cred by making the length of a mean
time seconds pendulum in the latitude ,
of London in a vacuum at sea level equal
to 39.1-393 inches" Unfortunately, the
standard disappeared at the great fire
which destroyed the houses of parlia-
ment in 1884, and, as the committee sub
s~equently appointed by the astronomer
royal reported against the accuracy of
the pendulum method, the duty of restOr-
ing the lost standard was intrusted to a
royal commission. 1t was not till 1854
that the task was accomplished. Taking
the best secondary evidence available,
the commissioners produced a standard
bar of gun metal, the distance between
two lines on which, crossing gold studs,
is one yard at 62 degrees Fahrenheit and
80 inches barometTic pressure. Author
lied copies Of this legalizsd standard are
preserved at the mint. the royal OBJ
servatory at Greenwich, Trafalgar
square and elsewhere, 81 that the addi-
ton now being made IN Westminster
hall is a p]recaution which experienced has
shown to be necessary IN a matter vitality
affecting the commercial life of the ma
ton.