THE NEW-YORK EXHIBITION ILLUSTRATED.

STANDARD WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

PERHAPS there is no collection of articles exhibited in the Crystal Palace moreunique in itself, or more suggestive to the thoughtful mind, than t e um earray of French and American standard measures, weights and balances, on w icso many now look for the first time. The high order of workmanship w ic eydisplay cannot fail to arrest the attention of practised eyes, and not a ew wi seein them their real and fundamental character as legal standards o as resor .The subject of uniform standards for all species of measurements possesses pecu mrinterest and importance. At the meeting of the American Association oradvancement of science, to be held in Washington during April, 185T, it is proposed to discuss the questions connected with this subject, and especia y o cav ass the practicability of doing something towards effecting this onge

not in epic measure, but in that arithmetical array which distinguishes alma-nacs and ephemerides. The architect, the engineer, the machinist must, step bystep, be asking how much? and ever more and more precise must be theirarithmetical response. The chemist and his host of manufacturing and matter-using retainers, cannot for a moment spare that scientific court of equity, thebalance, before which all deductions of theory and precepts of practice must bearrayed. Throughout all of modern life, the fruits of the soil and the products oflabor, the treasures of wealth, and even the pittance of poverty, are more andmore undergoing that exchange under precise valuations as to quantity andworth, which constitutes traffic and commerce. Thus are we all in our ownspheres, weighers and measurers, using as referees, standards whose precision andintegrity are our sole guarantees that no error or fraud links in our transactions.

The history of the weights, measures, and currencies which have prevailed in

I—NEW

united states standard

consummation. This may excuse our dwelling at considerab

Present theme. . t insta uration of experi-

We live in a weighing and measuring age.. 1 g nQ mor0 fitting

mental philosophy over which Bacon preside , . .jgmands with an ever-emblems than the metre and balance. P h y sloa S °‘ e ^® de quant itative, and thatincreasing rigor, that all natural researches slia . and intensities with

statements both of causes and effects shall express c | ianges an d trans-

scrupulous precision. Force, the unseen source o a formu las, and prove

formations, must submit to be harnessed into quartering of nature’s

oy measured effects that its escutcheon rightly p een plucked down

pedigree. The great triumphs of physical astronomy directed to the

from the celestial vault, by the labor of ob ® eryl “ g g h ’ ere t0 quantitative laws,subordination of all visible movements in the F’ flowing forth

whereby from the long past, the sky-gazer catches a prophetic

such luxuriant multitude among the nations of the earth, is one of a peculiarlyaggravating character. Each petty state, from time immemorial, has its ownarbitrary set of weights, measures of length, area and capacity, and money de-nominations, commended by no special convenience or fitness, and based solelyon the usage of its primeval age. We wander in a hopeless bewilderment amongthousands of arbitrary units, bearing no precise relation to any natural unit ofreference, very many of which are so lost or befogged as to make worthless therecords in which they enter. How can we over know the precise value of thestadium, the libra, the jugerum, or the as ? How attain certainty in comparingthe thousand and one arbitrary units of history with their present correlatives ?And if the comparison were complete, what a militia battalion of incommensura-bles would the muster present! a muster reminding one of Falstaff’s troops!Nothing but the massive inertia of national ignorance and pride could induce thepolitical communities of this commercial age to bear the inconveniences incident