Aha! So the compound was a copper compound. Chemistry rules! I'd not heard of Scheele's green. Apparently it is similar to Paris green, with copper and arsenic, but not identical. Only a chemistry geek would care about the difference. Until 2003 you could see a relative of Scheele's green at any lumber yard in the pressure-treated wood section. That stuff was treated with a mixture of copper, arsenic, and chromium called chromated copper arsenate, or CCA, which made it green. (The copper, see?) You can't buy that for residential use anymore. I liked this question and answer a lot, Cynthia. I don't get to put on my chemistry geek hat very often anymore. (It has a way of chilling the conversation.) Thank you for the fun. TM

If you don't mind an irreverent parody, you might enjoy this page-in-bad-taste about Miss B. It was much funnier back when somebody sent me the same thing, with the 'burbs changed to little burgs with which I was familiar. Remember, I just pointed you to it, I didn't recommend it. nj Here is a link that might be useful: Columbus Barbies

Well, you are all correct,it is the Metric System. In 1586 the Flemish mathematician Simon Stevin published a small pamphlet called De Thiende ("the tenth"). Decimal fractions had been employed for the extraction of square roots some five centuries before his time, but nobody used decimal numbers in daily life. Stevin declared that using decimals was so important that the universal introduction of decimal weights, measures and coinage was only a matter of time. One of the earliest proposals for a decimal system in which length, area, volume and mass were linked to each other was made by John Wilkins, first secretary of the Royal Society of London in his 1668 essay "An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language". His proposal used a pendulum that had a beat of one second as the basis of the unit of length. Two years later, in 1670, Gabriel Mouton, a French abbot and scientist, proposed a decimal system of length based on the circumference of the Earth. His suggestion was that a unit, the milliare, be defined as a minute of arc along a meridian. He then suggested a system of sub-units, dividing successively by factors of ten into the centuria, decuria, virga, virgula, decima, centesima, and millesima. His ideas attracted interest at the time, and were supported by both Jean Picard and Christiaan Huygens in 1673, and also studied at the Royal Society in London. In the same year, Gottfried Leibniz independently made proposals similar to those of Mouton. In pre-revolutionary Europe, each state had its own system of units of measure. Some countries, such as Spain and Russia, saw the advantages of harmonising their units of measure with those of their trading partners. However, vested interests who profited from variations in units of measure opposed this. This was particularly prevalent in France where the huge inconsistency in the size of units of measure was one of the causes that, in 1789, led to the outbreak of the French Revolution. The official introduction of the metric system in September 1799 was unpopular in large sections of French society, and Napoleon's rule greatly aided adoption of the new standard across not only France but the French sphere of influence. Napoleon ultimately took a retrograde step in 1812 when he passed legislation to introduce the mesures usuelles (traditional units of measurement) for retail trade a system of measure that resembled the pre-revolutionary units but were based on the kilogram and the metre; for example the livre metrique (metric pound) was 500 g instead of 489.5 g the value of the livre du roi (the king's pound). Other units of measure were rounded in a similar manner. This however laid the foundations for the definitive introduction of the metric system across Europe in the middle of the 19th century. So even Napoleon blinked. In America, although the constitution gave the authority to dictate standards of measure to Congress, it was not until 1832 that the customary system of units was formalized.[ In the early 19th century, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (the government's surveying and map-making agency) used meter and kilogram standards brought from France. In 1866, Congress authorized the use of the metric system and supplied each state with a set of standard metric weights and measures. In 1875, the United States solidified its commitment to the development of the internationally recognized metric system by becoming one of the original seventeen signatory nations to the Metre Convention or the Treaty of the Metre. The signing of this international agreement concluded five years of meetings in which the metric system was reformulated, refining the accuracy of its standards. The Metre Convention established the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (Bureau international des poids et mesures, BIPM) in Sèvres, France, to provide standards of measurement for worldwide use. Under the Mendenhall Order in 1893, metric standards, developed through international cooperation under the auspices of BIPM, were adopted as the fundamental standards for length and mass in the United States. The U.S. customary units such as the foot and pound have been defined in relation to metric units ever since. The 1895 Constitution of Utah, in Article X, Section 11, originally mandated that: "The Metric System shall be taught in the public schools of the State." This section was, however, later repealed. And yet in Canada, we are stuck with it. I am used to how the temperatures are, but can't translate the fact that is is 18C out today. I do know that if a recipe says 2 lbs. of roast, I should buy 1 kg. and so on. so, for everyone: Thanks for playing - see you next week. Nancy. Here is a link that might be useful: The Metric System

I think you stated it clearly enough,ThinMan. We're not constrained to a 5-letter word, right? If so, I can think of several 4-star words: write, wrote, knight, knit, knave, knew, gnu, etc. Gonna put on my Will Shortz hat while I go about my un-Laboring Day for a 5-star word. I assume you mean that, if the word were abcde, both bcde and acde are homonyms. Thank-you, thanks, thx :-) Ana BTW, did anyone catch the first hour of Diane Rehm this morning? Interview with Rob Gifford shilling (schilling?) his book chronicling his journey along highway 312 in China. There was a bit at the end about 450 million cell phones and why the government feels compelled to make access ubiquitous.