The Contributions of Charles S. Peirce to Metrology Author(s): Victor F. Lenzen Reviewed work(s): Source: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 109, No. 1 (Feb. 18, 1965), pp. 29-46 Published by: American Philosophical Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/985776 . Accessed: 25/09/2012 05:25 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. American Philosophical Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. http://www.jstor.org THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF CHARLES S. PEIRCE TO METROLOGY VICTOR F. LENZEN * ProfessorEmeritus of Physics, Universityof California, Berkeley I terminationsof gravitywith a reversiblependulum. (2) METROLOGY is the scienceof weightsand meas- The comparisonof the Low Moor Iron ures: of units of measurement,of standardsthat Yard No. 57 withthe BritishImperial Yards Nos. embodyfundamental units, and of the reduction 1 and 58, in 1883,at the StandardsOffice, London. of quantitativemeasures. The United States (3) Comparisonof theyard and meterfrom the Officeof Weights and Measures was a depart- lengthof the second's pendulumat Kew Observa- mentof the Coast and Geodetic Survey, initially tory,as determinedby CaptainHeaviside in inches authorizedby Congress in 1807 for the Survey and by Peirce in meters. Observationson the of the Coast of the United States, untilthe Office periods of oscillation,at high and low tempera- provided the nucleus of the National Bureau of tures, of Peirce Yard and Meter Invariable, Standards in 1901. Significantcontributions to ReversiblePendulums, for the comparisonof the the progressof Metrologywere made by Charles Yard and Meter. S. Peirce, initiallyan aid, then Assistant from (4) A pioneer determinationof the meter in July1, 1867,to December31, 1891,in the Survey. termsof a wavelengthof light,1877-1879. Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) is best (5) Membershipin the AmericanMetrological knownas a philosopherwho foundedPragmatism, Society,service on its committees,and initiation and as a logicianwho contributedto the develop- of a resolutionat a meeting,December 30, 1884, ment of mathematicallogic. His Collected Pa- that a committeeof the society be appointedto pers, principallyon philosophyand logic, has address the Secretary of the Treasury, and to been publishedby the Harvard UniversityPress memorializeCongress, upon the need to establish (1931-1958). But he also contributedto linear an efficientbureau of weights, measures, and algebra, to the mathematicaltheory of map pro- physicalunits. jections,and to several fieldsof physicalscience. (6) Direction of the Officeof Weights and He observedsolar eclipses with the spectroscope Measures, fromOctober 1, 1884, to February22, or polariscope,discovered and measured spectral 1885. lines of the aurora borealis, investigatedphoto- (7) Testimonyto the Allison Commissionof metricallythe light from the stars and made a Congress, January 24, 1885, on behalf of a pioneer determinationof surfacesof equal star- strengthenedoffice of weightsand measures,one density,determined the intensityof gravitywith empoweredto grantcertificates for standards that a pendulumand developedthe theoryof this in- would be valid in courts. strument,calculated the ellipticityof the earth (8) Membershipon the Committeeon Weights, from variations of gravity,and contributedto Measures and Coinage of the National Academy spectroscopywhile employingit in the serviceof of Sciences. metrology. Peirce's principal contributionsto (9) Appointmentby the President of the Metrologywere: United States, in 1888, to the Assay Commission for United States Coinage. (1) The acquisitionfor the Coast Survey of a (10) Authorshipof definitionsof terms for line-meterfrom the German Imperial Standards weightsand measuresfor the CenturyDictionary. Office,to serve as a standardof lengthfor his de- Authorshipof revision of section on units in Mach's Science of Mechanics,a * The author gratefully acknowledges the inspiration translationfrom and referencesreceived fromProfessors Max H. Fisch and the German. Carolyn Eisele; also the courtesies extended by Dr. Lewis II V. Judson, Mr. Walter W. Weinstein, and Mr. L. Chis- holm of the National Bureau of Standards, Washington, The significanceof Peirce's work in Metrology D. C. can be understoodbest against a backgroundof PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, VOL. 109, NO. 1, FEBRUARY, 1965 29 30 VICTOR F. LENZEN [PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC. the historyof standards of weights and meas- Tralles was the deputyof the Helvetic Republic ures in Europe and Americaduring the nineteenth on this InternationalCommission which in 1799 century. completedthe creationof the Metric System. A Colonial America under British rule used platinumbar, constructedso that the distancebe- weightsand measuresprincipally of English ori- tweenthe end faces was one ten-millionthof the gin. The standards employed in the colonies distance from the North Pole to the Equator, were more or less authenticcopies of English became the metric standard of length and was standardsand had been broughtover fromEng- called theMetre des Archives. A similarplatinum land at varioustimes. bar became the Metre du Conservatoire. When On February10, 1807, PresidentThomas Jef- Hassler came to the United States in 1805, he fersonapproved an act of the Ninth Congress, brought with him a copy of the Metre des Second Session, that authorized and requested Archives,a bar of iron thatbecame known in the the Presidentto cause a surveyto be takenof the United Statesas the "CommitteeMeter." Hassler coasts of theUnited States.' AlbertGallatin, Sec- describedthis standardin a memoirpublished in retaryof the Treasury,on March 25, 1807, ad- the Transactionsof the American Philosophical dressed a circularletter to scientificmen, asking Society: for plans to carrythe surveyinto effect. Ferdi- An iron metrestandarded at Paris, in 1799,by the nand Rudolph Hassler repliedon April 3, 1807. Committeeof Weightsand Measures,composed of A commission,sitting in Philadelphia, recom- membersof the NationalInstitute and of deputies mendedHassler's plan, and by directionof Jeffer- fromother countries.5 Its breadthis 1.13 inches,its son he was so notifiedunder date of July 21, thickness0.36 inches,English measure. My friend, of by Robert Patterson,Director of the Mint Mr. J. G. Tralles,now memberof the Academy 1807, Sciencesof Berlin,was at thattime the deputy of the in Philadelphia.2 Execution of the survey was HelveticRepublic for this purpose;and as may be suspendedon accountof politicaldisturbances in seen in the accountof the operationsof this com- Europe and America,and actuallybegan in 1816. mittee,he was theforeign member directing the con- who had structionand comparisonof the measuresof length. Hassler was a native of Switzerland He had onemetre constructed for himself and one for come to the United States in 1805.3 In his native me, at the same timewith all the others,and sub- land, he had been a student of Johann Georg jectedin all respectsto the sameprocesses and com- Tralles, a Germanfrom Hamburg, who had been parisons. elected Professor of Mathematics,Physics and Hassler also brought to America a standard Chemistryat the Academyin Bern. Tralles and kilogram,also a gift from Tralles, and three Hassler in 1791 measureda base-linefor geodetic toises. The toise,slightly less thantwo metersin purposesin the neighborhoodof Aarsburg,a town length,had been a standardin France and, indeed, near Bern. Subsequently,Tralles participatedin furnisheda rival to the meter until the last the establishmentof the metricsystem in France. quarter of the nineteenthcentury.6 Hassler in L'Assemble'e Constituanteof France, In 1790 1806 or 1807 sold the standardmeter, kilogram, of acted to createa upon the initiative Talleyrand, and the three toises to John Vaughan, who on of weightsand measures.4 new and uniformsystem February 20, 1807, read before the American of various com- The deliberationsand operations Philosophical Society Hassler's description of led to the decision to mitteesand commissions these standards,and it was recorded "that he and in September,1798, an createa metricsystem, considersthe above standardsas in the offerof was assembledin Paris, internationalcommission the Societyat any futureday at the priceat which of the work done and to fix to take cognizance he paid forthem." 7 The instrumentswere loaned standards of the new system. authenticallythe to Hassler forcomparisons and applicationin his 1'Annals of the Congress of the United States, Ninth workas Superintendentof Weightsand Measures Congress,Second Session (Washington,1852), p. 1255. 2 F. R. Hassler,"Papers on Various Subjectsconnected 5Supra, note 2 (n. 2), p. 253. with the Survey of the Coast of the United States." 6 C. S. Peirce definedthe word toise in the Century of length Communicated 3d March, 1820. Trans. Amer. Philos. Dictionaryas follows: "toise. An old measure Soc., n.s., 2, 12 (1825): pp. 232420. in France, containing6 French feet, or 1.949 meters, 3 Florian Cajori, The Chequered Career