Abstract
VIII.
THE ordinary method of commercial weighing byputting the weights in one scale and the commodity to be weighed in the other, and then observing when a sufficient equilibrium is produced, is inadmissible for scientific weighings, as it is subject to errors arising from defects in the balance itself. To avoid any such errors, and obtain scientific precision in the results, a check is required which is found in a system of double weighing. There are two methods of double weighing for the comparison of two standard weights. One method, known as Borda's, and generally used in France, is that of substitution, or weighing first one of the standard weights to be compared, and then the other substituted for it, against a counterpoise placed in the other pan. The difference between the mean resting points of the index needle in these two weighings shows the difference of the two weights in divisions of the scale. The second method, known as Gauss's, but which was first invented by Le Pere Amiot, and is now generally used in England and Germany, except for hydrostatic weighings, is that of alternation, or first weighing the two standards against each other, and then repeating the weighings, after interchanging the weights in the pans. By this second method no counterpoise weight is required, and half the difference between the mean resting points of the index needle shows the difference of the two weights, in divisions of the scale.
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CHISHOLM, H. On the Science of Weighing and Measuring, and the Standards of Weight and Measure * . Nature 9, 47–49 (1873). https://doi.org/10.1038/009047a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/009047a0