FROM THE MORAL THERMOMETER TO MONEY - METROLOGICAL REFORM IN PRE-CONFEDERATION CANADA

The importance of infrastructural work for the mobility of practices a nd for the capacity of centres to act on distant sites is stressed in both science studies and the sociology of state formation. Employing K ula's typology of metrological systems, this paper examines four areas of metrological reform in pre-Confederation Canada, stressing the exi stence of metrological hybrids. Metrological standardization is held t o depend upon the exercise of sovereign state power at the same time a s it extends the administrative capacity of state agencies.