6 Standards of Scotland, Ireland, Channel Islands, and

Isle of Man (p. 25).

11. Inspection of Trade Weights and Measures (p. 46).

Present practice of the Local Authorities.

Local Practice in Scotland.

PART III.

12. Measures used for Surveying or for the Measurement

of Land (p. 65).

Metric Equivalents.

New Metric Equivalents.

Denominations of Metric Weights and Measures.

Forms of Metric Weights, Linear Measures, and Measures of

Capacity.

Teaching of Weights and Measures in Schools.

PART VI.

15. Weights and Measures used for Special Purposes (p. 115).

Pharmaceutical or Chemists' Weights and Measures.

List of Board of Trade Standards of the Imperial System.

APPENDIX 2.

Representative Forms of Weighing Instruments used in Trade.

8. 14 lb. Avoirdupois Local Standard (temp. Henry VII.) 15

PART I.

1. ORIGIN OF THE "IMPERIAL SYSTEM."

Standards.

The Imperial system" of weights and measures now Imperial generally in force throughout the British Empire is based on two units, the unit of length or yard measure, and the unit of mass or pound weight, the standards of which are deposited at the Standards Office, 7, Old Palace Yard, Westminster, London.

The legal introduction of the Imperial system into this country dates from 1824, or from the passing of the Act of Parliament, 5 Geo. IV. c. 74, but the description "Imperial" first occurs in the Third Report of the Weights and Measures Commissioners of 1821. The preamble to the Act recites that there were then in use in various places throughout the United Kingdom different weights and measures; that such diversity was the cause of great confusion and manifest fraud, and that for the remedy of these evils for the future, certain standards should be established throughout the United Kingdom.

From the time of Henry III. the Statute Book abounds indeed with Acts providing for uniformity, so forcible has