Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-06-18
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT IS DOING

Of which price lists in pounds and tons.
yards and inches. dozens and crosses.
are hopelessly confusing. In addition
many Of the South American countries
require that goods be marked in metric
measures before they will be permit
ted to pass the customhouses.
The result OF this. the bureaus In
vestigators have found. il that exporter
after exporter has recognised the need
for making use of the metric system.
and has quietly begun turning out two
classes Of products If he fills both do
nestle and foreign orders-goods meas
ured and marked in Anglo-American
units. and others sized and marked
metrically. As complicated as such
procedure might appear at first sight
1t has proved distinctly profitable IN
practically all cases where it has been
tried. officials of the bureau look on
such experiences as largely confuting
metric system that its Introduction
would prove expensive.
In advocating the wider use Of the
metric system the bureau OF standards
has gathered data to show that the
system already has greater recogni-
ton in this country than 10 generally
known. In 1856 Congress legalised the
metric system, and therefore gave II
permissive use, and at the same time
authorized the Secretary Of the Treas.
4
weights and measures to each state.
In 1875 the United States Joined with
twenty-five other countries In estab-
fishing and maintaining the 1nterna-
tional bureau Of weights and measures
in Paris. where the international stand
ards Of the metric system are kept The
weights of our silver coins are fixed
by statute in metric units, and by law
the medical departments OF the army
and navy and the public health service
bureau of standards itself all weights
are checked by translation to metric
weights and comparison with the bu-
reaus metric standards. A semi gov
ernmental agency, the United .s states tate
ards for all drugs. has recently adopt
ed the metric system for its use exclu-
sively.
Government oficials are pointing to
the troubles Great Britain experienced
early in the European war because It's
guns and shells were all calibrated on
a system radically different from Its
allies. and to the great stride in the
use Of the metric system that has taken
place in England since; as indicating
strongly that the metric system will
soon find it's way into general use in
the country from which our cumber-
some system was derived. 1t is pointed
out that II Great Britain adopts the
metric system before the United States
we win then be practically isolated
from the whole world in the matter OF
trade customs for even China. Japan
and Russia are fast taking up for gen.
eral use the scientific. international
decimal measuring system.
n X
Drilled wells, furnishing from the
dry, unpromising appearing earth
streams Of fresh
Irrigation by water have oeen OF
Drilled Wells. government because
thew have made habitable and pro-
ductive large tracts Of land that would
otherwise have been worthless, One
very important branch Of the geo
logical survey has devoted much OF Its
time to locating the areas in which
It is possible to tap underground res
eryoirs of the invaluable liquid min
eral"-water.
It is interesting, therefore. to know
that engineers Of another branch OF
the government. the reclamation serv-
Minidoka irrigation project in Idaho
exactly to reverse the process and to
drill valuable water well" from
which not a drop Of water Is taken
The explanation OF this Is that curing
which Is the paramount need at other
times of the year. becomes an actual
menace to soil condition. and drainage
is necessary. Since the contour OF
the land would not permit surface
drainage. the engineers solved the
problem by drilling a sixty-foot well
through the surface strata and into
the bone-dry beds of lava rock beneath.
and turning their drainage stream
q hA Ia II M
filed with crevices and seams that the
stable brook fed into the well is
successfully swallowed up as rapidly
as 1t can run In.
Ordinary navy beans have been an
important factor. strangely enough. in
the solution by the gov
Navy-Bean eminent of crucial
-. problem that stood in
'uus. the way Of the perfec-
ton of an efficacious. dependable serum
for combating the destructive cpl
denies of hog cholera that have swept
years. One of the greatest troubles
that presented itself after the discov-
cry Of the hog cholera serum in 1902
was the 1act lndt III injecting tHls
product into hogs to make them i'm
mune to attacks Of cholera the veter-
inarians might. because of the impur-
ity of the serum. be inoculating the
animals with the even more serious
malady, foot and mouth disease. This
danger arose from the fact that the
virus of the latter disease cannot be
filtered out. and that when the serum
was raised to a sufficiently high degree
of heat to sterflize it the red blood
cells present promptly clothed the
whole substance. making 1t useless as
a serum.
Biochemists of the Department. of
Agriculture who have been working on
the problem recently discovered that an
extract Of navy beans has the peculiar
property. when added to the serum in
small quantities. of separately aggluti-
mating the red cells SO that by centrif-
ugal motion they may be completely
separated from the remainder of the
serum. This residue contains the val
liable anti bodies which act as i'm
numbers, and after the separation is a
clear serum which may be completely
sterilized without damage to its ef-
flcacy.
In connection with the discovery of
the action of the bean extract 1t was
discovered that the addition of a small
quantity Of salt also assisted materially
in the production OF clear serum. By
the new process a given amount of de-
hbrinated blood yields 10 per cent clear
serum as against so per cent under old
methods. The old serum. because of
its tendency to clot. could be sterilized