The International Bureau of Weights and Measures ¹

Abstract

AS the result of an International Convention held on the 20th May, 1875, an International Bureau of Weights and Measures has been created at Paris with the object of securing an international metric system, and which should take account (1) of all comparisons and verifications of the new prototypes of the metre and the kilogramme; (2) of the conservation of the international prototypes; (3) of periodical comparisons of national standards with the international prototypes, as also of comparisons of thermometric standards; (4) of the comparisons of the new prototypes with the fundamental standards of non-metric weights and measures employed in different countries and in science; (5) of the marking and comparison of geodetical measures; (6) of the comparison of standards and scales of precision, the verification of which may be sought by governments, by learned societies, or even by mechanists and students.