of water. The Roman cubic foot or amphora of water weighed 80 Roman 12-ounce pounds or 960 Roman ounces, the Roman ounce being equal to 437 English grains as compared with our avoirdupois ounce of 437'19 grains, the Roman foot being 11.64 inches. In 1685, fifty-one years before James Watt's h i i h , "some Gentlemen of Oxford." to quote the old English record, "determined the weight of a cubic foot of spring water, or 1728 solid inches, to be 1000 ounces averdepois." Here we see that the English foot and ounce and their interrelation with the weight of water were derived from ancient Rome. Although the French scientists in 1790 were forced by the leaders of the Revolution t o make the metric standards ditTerent from any and every standard of the past, they retained the inter-relation between cubic content and weight of water which had been developed by natural selection through the ages, but, so far as I can learn, they said nothing about the ancient origin of this feature, which has since been misrepres ~ M of metric measures. sented as one of the distinctive and ~ ~ c ~ I Imerits The truth, quite different from what Mr. Neville has been led to believe, is that the English system is derived from Egypt, Greece, and Rome, while ail of themetric system except the inter-relation between cubic content and weight . of water. is the conception of I:reuch scientists workirg under the orders of men whose hands were red with the blood of the French Revolution and who reirctcd some of the sensible recommendations of the scientists, an everyday nomenclature for example, and compelled the adoption of the ridiculous names that now d i c t users of this system. Campare these truths about the development of the English and metric system with the errors into which Mr. Neville has been led, and one can understand that, while the broadcasting of the errors fram San Francis& may be passed off as a phase of fantastic propaganda, their appearance badred by the prestige of the University of the great State of Illinois, is calculated to arouse deep indignation. For nearly sixty years the use of the metric system has been legally permissive. Anyone is a t liberty to use it who wants to. Any additional metric legislation now means compulsion. I have no fears of the result if the question of forcing the metric system into use is settled in the light of the truth. What I most earnestly protest against is its settlement by the American people in the darkness of ignorance.
SAMUEL S. D m , Boston, Mms.
PROMOTING THE ESSAY CONTEST Given a gwd excuse to deviate occasionally from atomic weights, the high-school chemistry teacher and his classes can get a surprisingly large amount of genuine enjwment out of chemistry. The American Chemical Society's Prize Essay Contest offers such an excuse. It has been utilized a t Central High School a t Scranton, Pa., as an incentive for approaching chemistry as a force in civilization, rather than as a subject in a curriculum. Among the steps taken, directly in connection with the conducting of the contest, are: Posters secured from the Committee on Prize Essays are displayed on bulletin hoards in the corridors and class-rwms (shifted fram time to time), during several months. Pamphlets from the Committee are distributed to all students in the chemistry classes, and to pupils in the upper classes not enrolled in chemistry (through co6peration with the head of the English department). In each chemistry section, pamphlets announcing the 1923-24 contest, which have
been kept on hand, are distributed during a dass period. The students read the "Treasure Hunting" article, h a w a class discussion on it, and return pamphlets for future use. Pupils are told that they do not have to write essays; that the contest offers not a task but an opportunity. They are urged to do reference reading on one or more of the essav . tooics. . . whether thev finally decide to write essavs or not. By arrnngernent with the English department, students may use one uf the essay tonics in chemistrv for credit in their work in linrlish comgwition, whether or not the essay is submitted in the contest. Any who write essays on the required topics are also excused from giving oral reports in chemistry classes on collateral readings. which constitute part of the regular class work each semester. In the school library, a table is set apart on which all the library's bwks on chemistry are kept, including duplicate copies of those provided by the Prize Essay Committee. Current science magazines are also an file. The bibliography suggested by the Committee is used as a guide in ordering new books on chemistry far the library. Books may be withdrawn from the library over week-ends, with the approval of the instructor. Pupils use the library after school hours, and with the instructor's approval during study periods. A table is also set apart in the city library, on which are kept all of the library's books which deal with the Essay Contest topics. These are for two months considered as reference books, withdrawn from general circulation. Books not otherwise available are loaned by the instructor to those a t work on essays. xi- contestants beyond that of making adequate reference material No helo . is .. easily a v a i l d k (To facilitnte the finding of m.aterial, students themselves hove made :an index of all chapter headinas in the school libr3Q"~chemist~ybooks, and of articles in magazines and in Dr. Slosson's weekly Science News Letter.) Some of the usual chemistry class procedures a t Scranton High School, not directly connected with the conducting of the contest, but which do much to stimulate interest in it, include: Posting, dass-room bulletin boards current news items and pictures on applied chemistry; presenting a program a t a school assembly in the auditorium once each semester by memhers of chemistry classes; giving an oral report to the class each semester by each pupil on a topic in popular chemistry; taking class trips to Scranton industries using chemical processes; and showing motion pictures weekly in the school auditorium during school hours (generally to science classes and occasionally to the whole school), many of which depict industrial applications of chemistry. (Scranton Central High School will exchange names and sources of such films with other schools using the screen in chemistry classes. It may be possible to keep a cumulative list of films touching on the Essay Contest topics.)
EDUCATIONAL FILMS AVAILABLE The Bureau of Mines of the Department of the Interior has issued a small pamphlet entitled "Descriotive List of Motion Picture Films and Plan of Distribution." In cnaperation with the mining and mctnl-wing industries they hare prepared ncnrly 3 million and hall feet of film which is distributed for educaliunal -purposes under the directiou of R. A. Wood a t the Pittsburgh Experiment Station, B u w u of Mines, Pittsburgh, Pa.
