to-day unappreciated. In making floral collections in this neighborhood a member of this society has determined about twenty-five new species. But the field for the botanist lies further eastward. It only begins here and waves with a greater luxuriance and a richer harvest toward the Rocky Mountains.

As the spring passes away showers fall only occasionally. This is the period when there will be now and then a flash of lightning from the clouds, followed by a heavy roll of thunder. In June the rains have measurably ceased. The sun shines warmly, and early in July the flowers die, the grass withers, the pools are gone, beds of alkali skirt the deserts, the air is dried, and in August the streams move sluggishly or cease to flow, and water becomes invaluable to man and beast. Much of what may be found, excepting that procured far up the cañons, is poisoned with minerals and often produces fatal results to the famished ox or horse of the wayworn traveler. The sun rises and sets at times like a globe of fire. Then again it is obscured by clouds which tantalize us with the recollection of pleasant showers in other seasons or in other lands. At nightfall cool air comes down from the mountain heights, than which there is nothing more grateful or refreshing.

But

The apparent, almost total absence of timber in Nevada, after leaving the sierras, gives the country an air of barrenness. in the mountains, at short distances, hidden in the cañons, there are groves of the nut pine, a species of the juniper, and a stunted variety of mahogany, which afford a supply of fuel. Occasionally in the ranges east from the Sink of the Carson River, small quantities of the Norway pine are found which has a larger growth and is more abundant towards the Rocky Mountains. Along the streams and in moist places, the long-leafed willow, the aspen and the cottonwood grow to some extent. But the immense forests of the Sierra Nevadas and of the Rocky Mountains must eventually supply the demand of the country in this respect.

In regard to the general fertility of the country, there are many valleys about the sources of the streams, along their margins and around the lakes into which they empty, which are very productive. Actual experience is demonstrating the fact that large districts of sage land, at first supposed to be worthless, are capable of yielding abundant harvests by means of proper culture and irrigation.

It is now known that the tame grasses, and also that wheat, oats, and barley, and all the hardier vegetables do well here. It is probable that the apple, the plum, and the different varieties of fruits adapted to a temperate climate will succeed.

The finest spots for garden purposes, and some of the most tillable lands in the State, are found in the larger cañons in all the mountains. The soil is free from alkali and is exceedingly fertile. But the resources of Nevada, those which will give the State character, position, and influence among her sister States, are the gold and silver, the iron and the copper, the lead and the salt, and all the useful products of her mines. These mountains are the pillars of her strength. As these resources are developed, she will grow populous and great.

I have thus briefly alluded to some of the prominent features in the physical geography of this wonderful country-differing in many important respects from all other parts of the globe. Much more might be said. Other facts might be adduced, all proving that here, under the hand of skill and industry, the lights of science and the guiding influence of Divine Providence, a people may become prosperous, happy, and great. Here, among the sublime displays of Almighty energy, where God piles the eternal snows above us, where he overshadows us with the pavilion of clouds, and where He bids the mountains rise, and heaps His treasures of silver and gold beneath our feet, immortal minds may grow, and the highest type of civilization and of free government be maintained.

METRICAL SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

The French metrical system is based upon a fundamental unit, or measure of length, called by the well chosen name metre. This standard measure was sought in the sublimest of all sciences, astronomy. It is the forty-millionth part of the circumference of the earth, or, in other words, of a "great circle" or meridian. Its length was originally determined by actual measurement of a considerable arc of a meridian; from the measured length of this arc was obtained by multiplication the length of the whole meridian,

and the metre was defined and constructed the forty-millionth part of this meridian. It was a worthy thought thus to base the familiar standard of length for common human uses upon the grand and unchanging bulk of our planet, but we do not thus arrive at a standard which can know no change, and which could be exactly replaced if all the actual metres in the world should be simultaneously destroyed. Though the laws of astronomy and the circuit of the earth know no variableness, man's knowledge of those laws and his skill in measuring that circuit do constantly change. Hence we find that the various measurements heretofore made of the length of the earth's meridian differ slightly from each other, and it is to be expected, and indeed hoped, that the steady improvement of methods and instruments will make each successive determination of the length of the meridian better than the preceding, through all time. Whether, therefore, we use the yard or the metre, whether we theoretically base our standard upon the earth's circumference or the second-pendulum, we are practically obliged to define our standard of length, by legislation, to be a certain rod of metal, deposited in a certain room under specified guaranties and guardianship. The uniformity and permanence of the standard are to be secured by the multiplication of exact copies in safe places of deposit.

From this single quantity, the metre, all other measures are decimally derived. Multiplied or divided by 10, by 100, by 1,000, and so forth, the metre supplies all needed linear measures, from the finest which the microscope requires to the vastest which the telescope demands. As the linear metre, decimally multiplied and divided, furnishes the universal linear scale, so the square metre and the cubic metre, with their decimal multiples, supply all needed measures of area or surface, on the one hand, and of solidity or capacity, on the other. It is the universality and comprehensiveness of this system and its decimal character which establish its claim to general acceptance. The insect's wing, a nation's territory, a grain of sand, a continent's bulk, are all measured by reference to the same unit, and the numbers which express their dimensions conform at once, without reduction or alteration, to our decimal arithmetical notation. The American people need no elaborate demonstration of the convenience of a decimal system; a decimal

currency, by them first established, has convinced them on this point.

From the unit of measure to the unit of weight, the transition is admirably simple and convenient. The cube of the 1-100 of the linear metre is, of course, the millionth of the cubic metre. Its bulk is comparable to that of a large die of the common backgammon board. This little cube, the millionth of the cubic metre of pure water, is the universal unit of weight, a gramme, which, decimally multiplied and divided, is made to express all weights, from that of the dust upon the balance to that of mountains and suns. The chemist uses the gramme itself as his unit, and his delicate balances readily weigh the ten-thousanth of a gramme; the thousand-gramme weight is the unit of the grocer, and his coarser scales hardly turn with the gramme itself, while for heavy merchandise, like coal or hay, the million-gramme weight (the English ton) is the suitable unit. The numbers expressing all weights, from the least to the greatest, find direct expression in the decimal notation; the weights used in different trades only differ from each other in being different decimal multiples of the same fundamental unit; and in comparing together weights and volumes, none but easy decimal computations are ever necessary.

From this general sketch of the metrical system we pass to its details and its nomenclature, which may be best studied under the three heads of linear, surface, and cubic measure. One general principle of nomenclature applies to each of the following tables. The Greek prefixes for 10, 100, and 1,000, viz: deca, hecto, and kilo, are used to signify multiplication, while the Latin prefix for 10, 100, and 1,000, viz: deci, centi, and milli, are employed to express subdivisions. Of the names thus systematically derived from that of the unit in each table many are not often used; the names in common use are those printed in small capitals. Thus, in the table for linear measure, only the metre, kilometre, centimetre, and millimetre are in common use-the first for such purposes as the English yard subserves, the second instead of the English mile, the third and fourth in lieu of the fractions of the English foot and inch.

This table for surface measure applies to the measurement of cloth, lumber, and the like, and to the measurement of land where it is very valuable, as in cities; but for measuring land upon a large scale the metre square is too small a unit to start from, so that a square of ten metres on the side, equal to one hundred square metres, has been selected as the surface unit for measuring land, and the Greek and Latin prefixes are applied to the name of this unit square, which is called an area, or are. Of the seven names thus formed only two are much used. viz: the are and the hectare.

The cubic metre is in common 'use as a measure for stone, sand, and gravel, wood for fuel, and like materials which are sold by measure. When applied to the measurement of wood for fuel the cubic metre is sometimes called a stere, and to this name the Greek and Latin prefixes may be, but seldom are, applied.