The Value of Exact Measurement by Wayne Furniss Some years ago a traveler among the aborigines of Central Australia became concerned about the water supply on his proposed route. He questioned one of the elder natives who had seemingly had wide experience. The venerable man assured him there would be plenty of water as much as the sea. When they arrived at the desert location the explorer anxiously went to check on the water. He found only a slime-covered puddle which, the native still complacently insisted was as large as the sea. Many people would say the aborigine was deficient without thinking of the principal reason why. He had not been born in a society where almost from the cradle he was taught the value of exact measurement. We accept one of our greatest traditions so casually that we scarcely consider it. Where did the foot come from? Where did the pound come from? Are they of use and of value to us? Training in the principles of exact measurement is the main difference between the civilized man and the savage. As children we learn the difference between and the value of the penny,the nickel and the dime. We learn to buy vegetables and meat by the pound; other things by the ounce or in five, ten, or twenty-five pound lots. We learn the size of a quarter-acre lot or a mile square section. Knowledge of these things is invaluable, but would it produce our civilization? The scientist says no. We must have measurements far more exact. Where did the foot come from? Learned men of England measured the brogans of Henry VIII for it. When they wanted a larger one they took that measure from his nose to the tip of his outstretched fingers. Then they compromised a little and made it three feet the yard. Across the channel in France learned men began thinking. They hit upon an arbitrary distance and used decimal multiples. That is the reason for the superiority of the Metric System over the English System. They put a hundred centimeters in the meter, ten milimeters in the centimeter, a thousand liters in a cubic meter. What about our volume measurements? The amount in the gallon varies between the United States and Canada; the peck and the bushel may vary from state to state. Temperature measurement is something else to worry about. Without it, our vast airlines could not be maintained; the science of meterology and weather prediction could not have been developed. Density of a substance changes when it is heated. Without exact measurements such things would not have been known. Water reaches its maximum density at 4 C. Carbon Dioxide may, under pressure, become a liquid but not until it reaches its critical temperature of 31 C. Men have spent their lives discovering such trivia, such detailed knowledge. It is these obscure facts that make us different from the savage. Without a knowledge of exact measurement, the shoes you wear, the cars you drive, the books you read and the lights you use would not be available. To help him work out problems with accuracy, the scientist has marked off such things as glass plates with 14,600 parallel lines in every inch. With such exactness the civilized man is able to begin getting at the base of things. He identifies elements; finds that Helium has a single electron circulating around its nucleus, while Uranium has 236. And who, since the atom bomb, can say such things are not important? Modern science had as a humble origin, the distance between the scratches on a plate of platinum and irridium (a meter) now kept by the French government; two scratches on a metal bar kept by the British government (the legal English yard); and the contents of a metalic cylinder (the pound) kept by the United States Bureau of Standards. Page Sixteen Luana Green Ron Belnap by Eggington Jean Henderson Hugh Campbell It's an informal dance tonight, and an air of gaiety pervades the ball room. Groups of students gather here and there for conversation while the alternately hot and sweet music draws others onto the floor for dancing. The usual varied array of techniques and expressions to be noticed makes sitting one out occasionally an interesting and sometimes educational part of the evening. Page Seventeen