Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-08-24
oLYMPlcS AND YARDSTlcKS
A Jump Of 1.s4 Meters Doesn't stir
Us as Much as Jump Of Feet
q 1-3 Inches, Yet II Should
DRoBABLY many of the reports of the

TOM of measurements. y These terms, while
familiar enough To MS in an academic way.
hrino IN mind No definite medium Of com
n,rieon We have really no idea how fast
= o,, ,,,,., 90 Do n,oLn 1OO motors I'm ten
"oannIs b,,, ,,,o rooi;1n rho spccd Mt once
,,.hon' 900 ,ro to,d that some one rnn 100 yards
in ton seconds fiat So. when Landon broke
the Olrmpic high irmp record by clearing
I "a meters II did not sound very stirring
until we learned that "a meters Is actually
q feet n inches
The meter is vague in our ideas: we know
II Is somewhere near the length of our
yord n fev inches shorter or longer, but 1t
g;ves us no idea of an actuality such as we
Srt whom n yord Is mentioned
WYNN :. !, r0,, ror,orLobIe fact which
-, -, ,,o. ,bc
- most people 40 noi NuuG ~ 10 ~. m
American Sar9 - o,l'ci".S %. "'n't u; 800 ~
orucr "PproNeu Apil, -, 200, " ,.L %
the french meter III 'he c"uV' "s
the yard were ever TO come up n;,;as III am hnJ
nortaht case a, law and, , ,',e uJ ,,ot Tho
20 D' conSu'tro' ~ WDu;u ,;..i " S,ntna H. eGoo
icgal Earn 'h ,n' N.Y. 80" ''a,.,,,,, of
thlrtT nlne -hunurra an" ,nlr.H .tai o,or
a ccrtlhcd COPY OF thc ihtrrn".so.a. s,a 1'nd
kept IN tIr Once Oh 'ne nure"u Vi ''""'"''S
Ut NaShihgtoh'
to be the length Of n certain brass bar kept
IN the ONCE, but the act OF iN''h !ooh cos
hizance OF tne international hio,ri'u, n a. to T.,
'pntiou vi 200 anu WIN 'he ia,' 'hau,
l"n'' the ircS' '"nt nau received "S'uia' u
copies OF thr ihtcrnatlnhal m'.cr anu MIG
gram. ana r'lcrrcd 10 theSc copies III i's ue"
hitlohN'
This W de desirable not only because
of the growing use of the mrtrical system
throughout the world, but because the Eng
lSh imperial yard, upon which our own
yard was founded. has fuctuatcd Mt least
dozen times and that the standard copy of
the present imperial yard kept in London is
not satisfactory to scientists. There was a
time when the metal bar which was the
standard imperial yard was destroyed by
fire and its loss caused great deal of con
fusion With our yard now defined in terms
of the international meter, such catas-
trophe is i"rnossiblc for tho are Il number
of standard copies from which the loss of c.
own own, could Dc maze sood.
me meter iS' th"felore' ""'"' OF our
inch's; or a Sard. three inchcs and nearly
t""-ni'hs ol an lncn' IL Is not mere hap-
Iazard standard OF length, as was the
EhgIiSn Earu' lor instance; when lienry 1
u'creeu 'hat' irrespective OF t,preceuentS, the
p Iillperlel EaII Shou'u 'hencelor'n ne 'he dis
,uhre from the UP OF MS nose 10 the emu OF
MS 'hulho'
!,
/ '' ''>
tne most palnstaRing work on the part
the governments decree that the system of
wclghtS ana measures should be reformed:
~ committee OF the Academy OF Naturai
S'nnces u'llpera.eu u iouS t'hhe over tne
unolce oi Sornr nu,ural ana OBVIOUS stahuaru'
~ ~ ueu"''H '''"i'; hnrtom mihs uo"h W tnicc
t, ,ns l,hStn Vi 'ne lrhuuiul'.
M%ntn % wo"lu tlck SeconuS III 'he iatltuae OF
the equator, ana the clrcumirrehce OF tne
earth AROUND ,he otner way througn iaris
anu '"rouEh INV h"r'n an" S"u''i Pors,-in
1t to oe ohis one Two .nuhureu nhu eiShtn Oh
o'nsi "ui",i INV :i, inei ,uiah VI ain.
so;on.in,s ,.oro dnto;ioI 70 r,nLo o~o"t r,oas "'
,'ro,,o,ts "f nroJrort nr ono Nfo,,rth 80
~ fo !, L,i Ld,' s'ii,J ~, o"' w. VI
r,i,I;or,b of thiY d;.tonno os tho sto,Jnud 80
inmath " VI ''''' 10 '"' ''"N'u VI
IL required elght Years TO make inns meas
"''Hent, out II Spr"Ns wen i"r ''e lhoroush-
ness WIN Wiich 'he Joo was done' that the
Ia'eSt Sclchtiic 'hcch up on IN" result SHOWS
an inGh OUT OF 'ne way hut by the time
taJ hooo,'a ,toJ"rd n,,J ioJ .'c
hT otbor noHrtrjos so tbot i ".o. 'ot ,,,prti
While to change II II really did nor mottor
what the eyoct length wa, so lonc no n dcf
in;tn lcpcth wou arrival ot and tLis dofnito
all times.
-
TIERE is not one man in a thousand who
ro,liyos tba imnortonco Of tho most
u,irstal,ipg evactitudc in fxing tho stondords
valuable science has been built nm uuon il
Neurology. as the science is called. must
take cognizancp of every single activity of
human life and. in these days Of rapid in =
accommodation and the shipment of all
kinds of parts made to fit all kinds of
machines and instruments thousands of miles
away. the variation of 50 much as n hair :
breadth may mean success or failure to a
venture of great moment
No science in the world has the tremendous
dimonsions that NEUROLOGY embraces. II
deals with the meter and the mile for the
ordinary human being, turns with the
astronomer to the light year, which is six
millions of millions of miles, or the smaller
astronomical unit, which is n mere % 600,
600 miles and then, at the brhcst of the man
who works with a spectrOscope, it measures
of an angstrocm, which is so minute that it