To Alexander Hamilton from Otho H. Williams, 9 May 1791
From Otho H. Williams
Baltimore, May 9, 1791. “I transmit you a copy of a report of the Surveyor of this district respecting a compari[s] on of Dycas’s Hydrometer with the Substitute.1 This is the first report which I have received upon the subject, and in consequence have directed the Surveyor to discontinue the use of the Substitute.”
ADfS, RG 53, “Old Correspondence,” Baltimore Collector, National Archives.
1. This report, which is a copy, is dated May 6, 1791, and was signed by Robert Ballard. It may be found in RG 53, “Old Correspondence,” Baltimore Collector, National Archives. Ballard concludes: “By this trial I find that Dycas’s Hydrometer on an average upon the Common West India Rum, makes the proof eight PCent higher than the Hydrometer given as a substitute.”