Abstract
A TRADITION exists in this country that towards the end of the eighteenth century the French Government invited the English Government to cooperate in forming a joint committee for the measurement of the seconds pendulum at the latitude of 45°, which was to be used as a standard of length, and from this length a universal system of measures and weights was to be derived; the English Government having declined to accede to the request, the French savants took the matter in hand and devised the metre and its derivatives. Although this tradition existed, it did not appear to be easy to obtain documentary evidence with regard to it, and it was quite natural that Mr. Alexander Siemens, who was interested in the subject, should apply to the Royal Society in the expectation that some record of the transaction would be found in the minutes of council; these were searched, but without result.
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MCLEOD, H. Notes on the History of the Metrical Measures and Weights . Nature 69, 425–427 (1904). https://doi.org/10.1038/069425a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/069425a0