Five crucial tests of the extragalactic distance scale using the Galaxy as fundamental calibrator.

The five tests deal with (1) the B- and H-band versions of the Tully-Fisher (1977) relation between absolute magnitude and maximum rotation velocity (or 21-cm line width); (2) the Band V-band versions of the Faber-Jackson (1976) relation between the absolute magnitude of the spheroidal component and its central velocity dispersion; (3) the relation between the total B-band absolute magnitude (or linear isophotal diameter) and the luminosity index (de Vaucouleurs, 1979); (4) a number of metric and photometric parameters of four galaxies which, from a multiplicity of indices, must, on the average, precisely match our Galaxy in all respects; and (5) the mean absolute magnitudes of globular clusters in the Virgo E cluster and in the Galaxy and their implications for the galactocentric distance of the sun and for the mean absolute magnitudes of the RR Lyr and Mira variables. It is noted that all tests confirm within 0.1-0.2 mag both the linearity and the zero point of the 'short' distance scale previously derived from primary, secondary, and tertiary indicators and the validity of the distance scale based on globular clusters (Hanes, 1977, 1979; de Vaucouleurs, 1977).