into 10,000 would very little affect the Paris grain. I prefer dividing the pound afresh to beginning with the Paris grain, because I believe the pound is very general, but the grain local.

.

Dr. Priestley has agreed to this proposal, and has referred it to you to fix upon the pound if you otherwise approve of it. I shall be happy to have your opinion of it as soon as convenient, and to concert with you the means of making it universal. I have some hopes that the foot may be fixed by the pendulum and a measure of water, and a pound derived from that; but in the interim let us at least assume a proper division, which from the nature of it must be intelligible as long as decimal arithmetic is used.

He afterward wrote, in a letter to Magellan:

As to the precise foot or pound, I do not look upon it to be very material, in chemistry at least. Either the common English foot may be adopted according to your proposal, which has the advantage that a cubic foot is exactly 1,000 ounces, consequently the present foot and ounce would be retained; or a pendulum which vibrates 100 times a minute may be adopted for the standard, which would make the foot 14.2 of our present inches, and the cubic foot would be very exactly a bushel, and would weigh 101 of the present pounds, so that the present pound would not be much altered. But I think that by this scheme the foot would be too large, and that the inconvenience of changing all the foot measures and things depending on them, would be much greater than changing all the pounds, bushels, gallons, etc. I therefore give the preference to those plans which retain the foot and ounce.

The war of the standards still rages-metric, or decimal, or no change. What each nation has is good enough for it in the opinion of many of its people. Some day an international commission will doubtless assemble to bring order out of chaos. As far as the English-speaking race is concerned, it seems that a

decided improvement could readily be affected with very trifling, indeed scarcely perceptible, changes. Especially is this so with money values. Britain could merge her system with those of Canada and America, by simply making her "pound" the exact value of the American five dollars, it being now only ten pence less; her silver coinage one and two shillings equal to quarter- and half-dollars, the present coin to be recoined upon presentation, but meanwhile to pass current. Weights and measures are more difficult to assimilate. Science being world-wide, and knowing no divisions, should use uniform terms. Alas! at the distance of nearly a century and a half we seem no nearer the prospect of a system of universal weights and measures than in Watt's day, but Watt's idea is not to be lost sight of for all that. He was a seer who often saw what was to come.

We have referred to the absence of holidays in Watt's strenuous life, but Birmingham was remarkable for a number of choice spirits who formed the celebrated Lunar Society, whose members were all devoted to the pursuit of knowledge and mutually agreeable to one another. Besides Watt Besides Watt and Boulton, there were Dr. Priestley, discoverer of oxygen gas, Dr. Darwin, Dr. Withering, Mr. Keir, Mr. Galton, Mr. Wedgwood of Wedgwood ware fame, who had monthly dinners at their respective houses-hence the "Lunar" Society. Dr. Priestley, discoverer of oxygen, who arrived in

Birmingham in 1780, has repeatedly mentioned the great pleasure he had in having Watt for a neighbor.

He says:

I consider my settlement at Birmingham as the happiest event in my life; being highly favourable to every object I had in view, philosophical or theological. In the former respect I had the convenience of good workmen of every kind, and the society of persons eminent for their knowledge of chemistry; particularly Mr. Watt, Mr. Keir, and Dr. Withering. These, with Mr. Boulton and Dr. Darwin, who soon left us by removing from Lichfield to Derby, Mr. Galton, and afterwards Mr. Johnson of Kenilworth and myself, dined together every month, calling ourselves the Lunar Society, because the time of our meeting was near the full-moon-in order, as he elsewhere says,

to have the benefit of its light in returning home.

Richard Lovell Edgeworth says of this distinguished coterie:

By means of Mr. Keir, I became acquainted with Dr. Small of Birmingham, a man esteemed by all who knew him, and by all who were admitted to his friendship beloved with no common enthusiasm. Dr. Small formed a link which combined Mr. Boulton, Mr. Watt, Dr. Darwin, Mr. Wedgwood, Mr. Day, and myself together -men of very different characters, but all devoted to literature and science. This mutual intimacy has never been broken but by death, nor have any of the number failed to distinguish themselves in science or literature. Some may think that I ought with due modesty to except myself. Mr. Keir, with his knowledge of the world and good sense; Dr. Small, with his benevolence and profound sagacity; Wedgwood, with his increasing industry, experimental variety, and calm investigation; Boulton, with his mobility, quick perception, and bold adventure; Watt, with his strong inventive faculty, undeviating steadiness, and bold resources; Darwin, with his imagination, science, and poetical excellence; and Day with his unwearied research after truth, his integrity and eloquence—

proved altogether such a society as few men have had the good fortune to live with; such an assemblage of friends, as fewer still have had the happiness to possess, and keep through life.

The society continued to exist until the beginning of the century, 1800. Watt was the last surviving member. The last reference is Dr. Priestley's dedication to it, in 1793, of one of his works "Experi"ments on the Generation of Air from Water," in which he says:

There are few things that I more regret, in consequence of my removal from Birmingham, than the loss of your society. It both encouraged and enlightened me; so that what I did there of a philosophical kind ought in justice to be attributed almost as much to you as to myself. From our cheerful meetings I never absented myself voluntarily, and from my pleasing recollection they will never be absent. Should the cause of our separation make it necessary for to me remove to a still greater distance from you, I shall only think the more, and with the more regret, of our past interviews. Philosophy engrossed us wholly. Politicians may think there are no objects of any consequence besides those which immediately interest them. But objects far superior to any of which they have an idea engaged our attention, and the discussion of them was accompanied with a satisfaction to which they are strangers. Happy would it be for the world if their pursuits were as tranquil, and their projects as innocent, and as friendly to the best interests of mankind, as ours.

That the partners, Boulton and Watt, had such pleasure amid their lives of daily cares, all will be glad to know. It was not all humdrum money-making nor intense inventing. There was the society of gifted minds, the serene atmosphere of friendship in the high realms of mutual regard, best recreation of all.

In 1786, quite a break in their daily routine took place. In that year Messrs. Boulton and Watt visited Paris to meet proposals for their erecting steam engines in France under an exclusive privilege. They were also to suggest improvements on the great hydraulic machine of Marly. Before starting, the sagacious and patriotic Watt wrote to Boulton:

I think if either of us go to France, we should first wait upon Mr. Pitt (prime minister), and let him know our errand thither, that the tongue of slander may be silenced, all undue suspicion removed, and ourselves rendered more valuable in his eyes, because others desire to have us!

They had a flattering reception in Paris from the ministry, who seemed desirous that they should establish engine-works in France. This they absolutely refused to do, as being contrary to the interests of their country. It may be feared we are not quite so scrupulous in our day. On the other hand, refusal now would be fruitless, it has become so easy to obtain plans, and even experts, to build machines for any kind of product in any country. Automatic machinery has almost dispelled the need for so-called skilled labor. East Indians, Mexicans, Japanese, Chinese, all become more or less efficient workers with a few month's experience. Manufacturing is therefore to spread rapidly throughout the world. All nations may be trusted to develop, and if necessary for a time protect, their natural resources as a patriotic duty. Only when prolonged trials have been made can it be