Jim Frysinger noted on his metric background page, "...Thus they became the de facto units of commonly used measures and rapid adoption by the states in their laws and regulations made them effectively the de jure standards...." When the US Metric Board voted in 1979 to support the change of gasoline pumps from gallons to liters to accommodate the pumps (most of them at the time) that could not read a price of more than 99.9 cents per unit volume, I thought we could do the above "de facto to de jure" thing all over again I knew that state bureaus of weights and measures were involved here, since I would always end up staring at the state seal on the pump as I stood pumping at self-serve stations. So, I thought, if the US standard of measurement was initially fixed passively through the state bureaus beginning in 1836, then the metric system would be fixed as the US standard in like manner in 1979. Moreover, the placement of the liter in such a visible position in the national public eye (posted prices, word of mouth), along with the liter-ization of soft drinks which began at that time, would provide the essential spark of national inspiration, and the rest of SI would be easier to enact. But, of course, nothing changed, except the US Metric Board itself, the operation of which was suspended by the Reagan Administration in the early 1980s. Paul Trusten, R.Ph. 3609 Caldera Boulevard, Apt. 122 Midland TX 79707-2872 USA (915)-694-6208 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
