119 REPORT o.P vrois WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, 1WTMPARTtD IN UflEIjIL.CE TO A UtFSOLUTIOV( Or THlE SrFSI.TX OP THE TwIll)I 3LflCII, 1817. FEBRUARY 22, 1821. Printed by order of the Senate of the United States. WASHINGTON P.MNT1J11 BY GAIJJ4 & SF.ATOX 8[4 19 ] DEPARTMENTr oF STATE, February 25, 1821. SiR: I have the honor of transmitting, lierewith, a Report upon Weights and Measures, prepared in conformity to a resolution of the Senate of the 3d March, 1817. With the highest respect, I am, Sir, Your very humble and oblt servant, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. Io the President of the Senate of the United States. 5 [1191 REPORT. Tgr SECRETARY OF STATE, to wvhom, by a resolution of thle Senate of the sd of March, 1817, it was referred to prepare and report to the Senate, "a statement relative to thle regulations and stand. "ards for weights and measures in the several states, and re- "lative to proceedings in foreign countries, for establishing uni- "formity in weights and measures, together with such propositions "relative thereto, as may be proper to be adopted in the United " States," respectfully submits to the Senate the following REPORT: The resolution of the Senate embraces three distinct objects of at- tention, which it is proposed to consider in the following order: 1. The proceedings in foreign countries for establishing uniformi- ty in weights and measures. 2. The regulations and standards for weights and measures in tile several states of the Union. 3. Such propositions relative to the uniformity of weights and] mea- sures as may be proper to be adopted in the United States. The term uni0fm-ity, as apl)lied to weights and measures, is sus- ceptible of various constructions and modifications, some of which would restrict, while others would enlarge, the objects in contempla- tion by time resolution of the Senate. Uniformity in weights and measures may have reference 1. To the weights and measures themselves. 2. To the objects of admeasurement and weight. s. To time, or the duration of their establishment. 4.- To place, or the extent of country over which, including the per- sons by whom, they are used. 5. To numbers, or the modes of numeration, multiplication, and division, of their parts and units. 6. T.- their nomenclature, or the denominations by which they are called. 7. To their connection with conts and moneys of account. In reference to the weights and measures themselves, there may be An uniformity of identity, or An uniformity of proportion. L 1193 6 By an uniformity of identity, is meant a system founded on 1thL principle of aJ)plying only one uinit of weights to all weighable arti. cles, and one unit of measures of capacity to all substances, thus mea, sured, liquid or dry. By an uniformity of proportion, is understood a system admitting IorC lhaii one. unit of weights, and more than one of measures of ca. parity ; but in which all the wcighlts an(l measures of capacity arein a uniifon proportions with one ammothecr. Our l)resent existing weights and ineasures are., or originally were, founded uipon, the.i nifkorinity of proportion. The newV French mc, trology is fourd(led upon the. uniformity or identity. And, iii reference to CaClh of these, circumstances, an(d to each in combination with all, or either of' the others, uniformity maybe more or less extensive., partial, or complete. Measures and weights ar-e the instruments used by, man for the com. parison of quantities, and proliortions of things. In the order of liuman existence. up01on caarth, the objects wrichsq. cessively present themselvess, are man-natural, dolmestic, civil so. city, government, and law. The wvant, at least, of measures of length, is founded in the physical organization on individual inan, and precedes the institution ot society. Were there but one miman upon earth, a solitary savage, ranging time forests, and siupportinghi-sc. istence by a continual conflict wvith the wvats, of his nature, and the rigor of thme elements, the necessities for which hie would be. called to provide would be food, rairnent, s/elter. '['o provide for the wantsof food and rainment, the first occupation of his life would be the chase of those animals, the flesh of which serves hlin for food, and the skins of which are a(laptable to his personn for raimient. In adapting the rainient to his body, }l wouldv find at once, imm his own person, the -want and the sul~ply olf a standard mncasure of length, and of the proportions amid subdivisions of that standard. But, to the continued existence of the human species, two persona Of different sexes are required. Their union constitutes naturalso- (ciety. and their permimanment cohabitation, by mutual consent, forms tlme origin of' domestic society. Permanent cohmabitatiomi requires a commomi place of abode., and leads to the construction of edifices where the associated parties, amnd their progemny, inay abide. To the con- struction of' a dwelling place, superficial measure becomes essential, and the dimensions of the building still bear a natural proportion to those of its destined inhabitants. Vessels of' capacity are soon found indispensable for tIme suj)j)ly of water; and the r-ange of excursion around the dwelling could scarcely fail to suggest the use of a mea- sure of itinerary distance. Measures of length, therefore, arc the wants of individual man, inf dependent of, and preceding, the existence of society. Measures of surface, of distance, and of capacity, arise immediately fiom domes- tic society. They ar-c wants proceeding rather from social, than from individual, existence. With regard to tIme first., linear ineasure, Ha1 ture in creating tIme wvamt, and inn furnishing to uminami, within himself', 7, E i19 ] themeans of its supply, has established a system of numbers, and of proportions, between the man, the measure, and the objects mneasur- ed. Linear measure requires only a change of' direction to become a measure of circumference; but is not thereby, without calculation, a measure of surface. Itinierary measure, as it needs nothiu); mnore tliau tceprolongation or repetition of linear measure, would seem at the first view to be the same. Yet this is evidently not the progress of nature. As tle want ol'itoriginlates in a difel~ret stagcuatlntlneaxis- tence, it ivill not naturaally occir to man, to use tle same measture, or tlie same scale of' proportions and numbers, to clothe his body, and to mark the distance of' his walks. On the contrary, for the neasu.1e- mnent of all objects which lhe caii lift and handle, tme fmtlmomn, thlc arm, tle cubit, the hand'sbreadth, tie span, and the fingers, are the instru- ments proposed to him by nature; while tie pace and the foot arc those which she gives bin) for the measurement of itinerary distance. These natural standards are never, in any stage of society, lost to in- dividual man. 'T'lhere are probably few persons living whbo (do( no1; occasionally use their own arms, hands, and fingers, to uieimsure ob- jects which they handle, and their own pace to measure adistanice 1Ijiol the ground. Here then is a source of diversity, to the standards even of linear measure, flowing from the difference or the relations between marn and physical nature. It would be as inconvenient and unnatural to tie, organization of the human body to measure a bow and arrow for in- stance, tie first furniture of solitary man, by his foot or l)ace. as to measure the distance of a (lay's journey, or a morning's walk to the hunting ground, by his arim or hand. Measures ofcapacity are rendered necessary by the nature of fluids, which can beheldl togethlerin definite quantities omily by vessels of sub- stance more compact than their own. They are also necessary for the admeasurement of those substances which nature produces in mul- titudes too great for numeration, and too minute for linear measure. Of this character are all the grains and seeds, wviich, from the time when man becomes a tiller of the ground, furnish the principal inate- rials of his subsistence. But nature has fiot furnished hini with tihe means of supplying this want in his own person. For this measure lie is obliged to look abroad into the nature of things; and his first measure of capacity will most probably be found in the egg of a large bird, the shell of a cetaceous fish, or the horn of a beast. The wvant of a co ont standard not being yet felt, these measures will be Qf va- rious dimensions; nor is it to be expected that the thought will over occur to the man of nature, of establishing a proportion between his cubitand his cup, of graduating his pitcher by the size of his toot.. or equalizing its parts by tlMe number of his fingers. Measures of leigth, once acquired, may be, and naturally are, ap- Plied to the admCasureinent of objects of surface and solidity ; and mence arise new diversities fronix tIme nature of things. The connec- linon of linear measure with u7mlJnbers, necessarily, and in the first in- -tance, imports only the first arithmetical rule of nirmeration, or ati- [ 119 j3 8 dition. Tihe merrsirrratmiol of' surfaes, and of solids, requires thefbr. there aid of' multiplication and division. Mere numbers, and mere fiiic'ar iiiasuilie, may lhe reckoned by addition alone bitt their appli. cation to the surface c-.an lie conniputcd only by multiplication. The elementary princii' pi of (leiinat arithimnetic is thlen sUPPlied1 by na. turre to flirsh within himself in the number of' ihis fingers.