IC-NRLF 
 
 77M 
 
 
 
20 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 we do pull down the old home, and we often do, and 
 Americans do so probably oftener than they ought, 
 and in its place erect an edifice constructed on better 
 principles, we find, in the increased comfort which fol 
 lows, a justification of the proceeding, and a compen 
 sation for all the trouble and expense it has cost us. 
 
 There has grown up within our own century a 
 branch of systematic inquiry, which in recent years 
 has been prosecuted with a high degree of activity, 
 under the name of " social science. 7 This inquiry com 
 prehends in its scope every problem interesting to 
 human society, political, educational, moral, econom 
 ical, commercial, statistical, and sanitary ; its aim 
 being not merely the enlargement of knowledge for 
 its own sake, but the practical amelioration of the 
 condition of man. In an investigation so comprehen 
 sive, the subject of weights, measures and coins, the 
 instruments by means of which the values of all 
 objects which make up the wealth of nations must be 
 measured, and by means of which also the exchanges 
 of commodities which constitute the world s commerce 
 must be effected, could not escape attention. An 
 earnest movement has accordingly been going on in 
 our time which, during the past twenty years, has 
 been pressed with especial urgency, having for its 
 object to remove the impediments to freedom and 
 facility of commercial intercourse between nations, and 
 the obstacles to the intelligent understanding, on the 
 part of individuals, of the material condition of the 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 21 
 
 world and the progress of contemporaneous history, 
 which arise from the diversity and discordance of 
 existing metrological systems. At a former meeting 
 of this convocation, an ardent friend of the movement 
 here spoken of, a gentleman who was at that time a 
 member of our national legislature, addressed you on 
 this subject, and recommended it earnestly to your 
 favorable consideration. The result was disappointing. 
 The movement failed to command from you the antici 
 pated sympathy ; and in approaching the same subject 
 to-day, I feel how heavy is the task of one who at 
 tempts to plead before you a cause in which so able, 
 so zealous, and so eloquent an advocate has failed. 
 
 There is something in the very fact that I venture 
 to address you upon a subject which has occupied the 
 attention of your learned body now for several years, 
 which has been regularly referred to a committee of 
 able and distinguished men selected from your num 
 ber, which has been maturely considered and elabo 
 rately reported on by them, and has at length, after 
 full opportunity for discussion and comparison of 
 views, been finally disposed of by the adoption and 
 publication of their report, which convicts me, in 
 appearance at least, of presumption, and which is not 
 likely to win me your favor in advance. It is, there 
 fore, due to myself to say, that in asking your indul 
 gence while I recall your attention for a few moments 
 to a subject which has lost its novelty for you, I am 
 acting under instructions from a body whose authority 
 
Universitwof California. 
 
 THr x OF 
 
 F R 
 
 LIE B 
 
 Tr- . tory ftnti Law in Columbia College, 
 
 = 
 
 THK GIFT OF 
 
 ICHAEL REESE 
 tr^. 
 
 i s r 3 . 
 
 
 
THE 
 
 METKIC SYSTEM 
 
 OF 
 
 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
 
THE 
 
 METRIC SYSTEM 
 
 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES; 
 
 AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE CONVOCATION OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, 
 
 AT ALBANY, AUGUST 1, 1871 ; 
 
 BY FREDERICK A. P. BARNARD, S. T. D., LL. D., 
 
 President of Columbia College, New TorJc City ; 
 
 MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OP SCIENCES; AND OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA ; ASSOCIATE MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES, 
 
 BOSTON ; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF 
 
 SCIENCES OF LIEGE, BELGIUM, AC., AC. 
 
 REVISED EDITION. 
 
 PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE. 
 
 * 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 1872. 
 
 N^ ^ 
 
 California- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface 3 
 
 Origin and Nature of the Metric System 7 
 
 ADDBESS, Part I Kecent Progress of Metrological Reform 17 
 
 " Part II Objections to the Metric System considered 71 
 
 APPENDIX A On the Unification of Moneys 117 
 
 " " Notes Supplementary : 
 
 Note 1 Effect upon existing Contracts of a Change in 
 
 the Legal Weight of Coins 151 
 
 Note 2 The new System of Coinage of the Japanese 
 
 Empire 152 
 
 APPENDIX B Note 1 On Capacity Measures and the Weight of a given 
 
 Volume of Water 153 
 
 " " Note 2 On EATER S determination of the Weight of a 
 
 Cubic Inch of Water 167 
 
 APPENDIX C On the Legislation of Great Britain and of British India in 
 
 regard to the Metric System 179 
 
 APPENDIX D On the Extent to which the Metric System has been 
 
 already adopted 191 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ON the eighth day of August, 1866, the Convocation of the 
 University of the State of New York, being then in session at 
 Albany, was addressed by the Hon. JOHN A. KASSON, a mem 
 ber of the House of Kepresentatives of the Congress of the 
 United States from Iowa, and Chairman of a Committee of 
 that body appointed to consider the possibility of securing a 
 uniform system of Coinage, Weights and Measures for all 
 nations. Congress had then recently (July 27th, 1866), 
 passed an act legalizing the use of the metrological system 
 known as "The Metric System of Weights and Measures," 
 in all business transactions in the United States; and, two 
 years earlier, a similar act had passed the British Parlia 
 ment. It was known that the system had met with large 
 acceptance on the continent of Europe, and also in the 
 greater portion of the American continent south of our own 
 territory; and it was also known that the use of this sys 
 tem was becoming more extended every year. 
 
 The aim and hope of Mr. KASSON had been that he might 
 enlist the large body of enlightened educators forming the 
 University Convocation, in an active effort to advance the 
 cause of metrological reform in our country, by diffusing 
 among the people information in regard to the Metric Sys 
 tem ; by pointing out the merits of this system ; and by meet 
 ing the objections with which the proposition to naturalize it 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 here, like every other threatened innovation upon established 
 usages, however in its own nature desirable or prospectively 
 beneficent, is sure to be encountered. And the appearances 
 at the time were certainly favorable to the fulfilment of this 
 hope; for the address of the honorable gentleman was re 
 ceived with evident marks of approval. 
 
 A committee was accordingly appointed, charged with the 
 duty of reporting on the subject to the Convocation at a 
 future meeting. This committee consisted of the Hon. JOHN 
 Y. L. PRUYN, LL.D. (Chancellor of the University), CHARLES 
 DAVIES, LL.D,, Professor Emeritus of the Higher Mathe 
 matics in Columbia College, and ROBERT S. HALE, LL.D., 
 one of the Regents of the University. Prof. DAVIES, who 
 was charged with the preparation of the report, states that 
 it originally " seemed to be the unanimous opinion of the 
 committee that a report would be made favorable to the in 
 troduction of the [metric] system into general use ;" but that 
 reflection and inquiry led to a modification of views, espe 
 cially on his own part ; and that the conclusion was reached 
 that the Convocation should not " commit itself hastily to 
 the great and radical changes which the introduction of the 
 metric system would occasion." It was not, therefore, until 
 after three years of deliberation, that the committee present 
 ed their report ; and the report then made, which is said to 
 have been partial, was apparently oral. 
 
 This committee was thereupon discharged, and a new one 
 appointed, consisting of Prof. DAVIES, Regent HALE, and Prof. 
 JAMES B. THOMSON, LL.D. It is stated in the preface to the 
 final report, that Prof. THOMSON did not act with the com 
 mittee. The report of this reconstructed committee was 
 presented to the Convocation at the session of August, 1870. 
 It consisted mainly in an argument to demonstrate the inex 
 pediency and impracticability of introducing the Metric 
 
PREFACE. 5 
 
 System of Weights and Measures into the United States. 
 By order of the Convocation this report was published and 
 extensively circulated. 
 
 The Trustees and Faculty of the College with which the 
 chairman of the Committee held formerly an official, and 
 holds still an honorary, connection, have for some years been 
 upon the record as advocates of legislation by the Congress 
 of the United States, favorable to the unification of the 
 Moneys, Weights and Measures of the world. In their view, 
 the object desired, so far as it regards Weights and Measures, 
 is most likely to be secured through the universal acceptance 
 of a rnetrological system which is already generally received ; 
 and that is the Metric System. To them it appeared that 
 the publication of a report prepared by a geatleman in nom 
 inal connection with them, maintaining an opposite opinion, 
 was likely to produce an erroneous impression in the public 
 mind in regard to their own position. At a meeting there 
 fore of the Trustees, held on the first day of May, 1871, 
 a resolution was adopted, on motion of the Hon. SAMUEL 
 BLATCHFORD, LL.D., Judge of the United States District Court 
 for the Southern District of New York, requesting the Presi 
 dent of the College to attend the meeting of the Convocation 
 to be held in the August next ensuing, and to state to that 
 body how far the views set forth in the report of the commit 
 tee above referred to are in harmony with those entertained 
 by the Faculty of the College. 
 
 It was in obedience to this resolution that the address 
 contained in the following pages was prepared. The address 
 was listened to with evidently interested attention by the 
 Convocation; and, by the courtesy of the Regents of the Uni 
 versity, it was immediately published, in advance of the report 
 of the Proceedings of the Convocation, in pamphlet form. 
 Some copies of this publication having been laid before the 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 Trustees of Columbia College at a meeting held on the second 
 day of October, 1871, it was, on motion of Judge BLATCHFORD, 
 resolved, that a revised edition of one thousand copies be 
 printed for general circulation. In the present edition, is 
 sued in conformity with this order, some slight modifications 
 have been made in the original text ; and some additional 
 information presumedly of interest has been appended in the 
 form of notes. 
 
ORIGIN AND NATURE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 METRIC SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
 
 No cause, since the earliest organization of civilized 
 society, has contributed more largely to embarrass business 
 transactions among men, especially by interfering with the 
 facility of commercial exchanges between different countries, 
 or between different provinces, cities, or even individual citi 
 zens of the same country, than the endless diversity of in 
 strumentalities employed for the purpose of determining the 
 quantities of exchangeable commodities. For the incon 
 venience and confusion resulting from this cause, but one 
 effectual remedy can possibly be suggested ; and that is the 
 general adoption throughout the world of one common sys 
 tem of weights and measures. Until nearly the close of the 
 eighteenth century, nevertheless, no movement appears to 
 have been anywhere made, looking to the immediate or pro 
 spective application of this remedy. It was one of the pro 
 jects entertained by the Constituent Assembly of France, at a 
 time when the revolution had not yet passed into that san 
 guinary phase which but too soon succeeded, to engage the 
 nations of Europe in a united effort to create, for the com 
 mon use of all, a new metrological system, founded upon 
 standards determined with scientific accuracy, and con- 
 
8 ORIGIN AND NATURE OF THE 
 
 structed in its details according to a scientific method. Nor, 
 amid all the succeeding excitements attendant on the down 
 fall of the monarchy, and the inauguration of the republic 
 and the " Terror, 5 was this important object ever lost sight 
 of by the men who held successively in their hands the des 
 tinies of France. And though the convulsions which, for 
 many successive years during that stormy period, agitated 
 the continent of Europe, prevented the participation of all 
 the nations in the prosecution of this great and beneficent 
 work, still the work itself was prosecuted, though with some 
 interruptions, to a satisfactory completion ; and the result is 
 seen to day in the Metric System of Weights and Measures ; 
 a system which, after the lapse of only three quarters of a 
 century, has been adopted for use by more than half the in 
 habitants of the civilized and Christian world. 
 
 The principles according to which this system has been 
 constructed are set forth in the following statement, 
 adopted from the report on the subject made by the Honor 
 able JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, Secretary of State of the United 
 States, to the House of Representatives of the Sixteenth 
 Congress, under date of February 22d, 1821. 
 
 1. That all weights and measures should be reduced to 
 one uniform standard of linear measure, 
 
 2. That this standard should be an aliquot part of the cir 
 cumference of the globe. 
 
 3. That the unit of linear measure, applied to matter in 
 its three modes of extension, length, breadth, and thickness, 
 should be the standard of all measures of length, surface, 
 and solidity. 
 
 4. That the cubic contents of the linear measure, in dis 
 tilled water, at the temperature of its greatest contraction, 
 
METRIC SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 9 
 
 should furnish at once the standard weight and measure of 
 capacity. 
 
 5. That for everything susceptible of being measured or 
 weighed, there should be only one measure of length, one 
 weight, one measure of contents, with their multiples and 
 subdivisions exclusively in decimal proportions. 
 
 6. That the principle of decimal division, and a propor 
 tion to the linear standard, should be annexed to the coins 
 of gold, silver, and copper, to the moneys of account, to the 
 division of time, to the barometer and thermometer, to the 
 plummet and log-lines of the sea, to the geography of the 
 earth and the astronomy of the skies ; and, finally, to every 
 thing in human existence susceptible of comparative esti 
 mation by weight or measure. 
 
 7. That the whole system should be equally suitable to 
 the use of all mankind. 
 
 8. That every weight and every measure should be desig 
 nated by an appropriate, significant, characteristic name, 
 applied exclusively to itself. 
 
 The following is the succinct account given by Mr. ADAMS, 
 of the early history of the movement in which the Metric 
 System had its origin : 
 
 " In the year 1790, the Prince de Talleyrand, then Bishop 
 of Autun, distributed among the members of the Constitu 
 ent Assembly of France, a proposal, founded upon the 
 excessive diversity and confusion of .the weights and meas 
 ures then prevailing all over that country, for the reforma 
 tion of the system, or, rather, for the foundation of a new 
 one, upon the principle of a single and universal standard. 
 After referring to the two objects which had previously been 
 
10 ORIGIN AND NATURE OF THE 
 
 suggested by Huyghens and Picard the pendulum, and the 
 proportional part of the circumference of the earth he 
 concluded by giving the preference to the former, and pre 
 sented the project of a decree. First, that exact copies of 
 all the different weights and elementary measures used in 
 every town of France, should be obtained and sent to Paris. 
 Secondly, that the National Assembly should write a letter 
 to the British Parliament, requesting their concurrence with 
 France in the adoption of a natural standard for weights 
 and measures ; for which purpose, Commissioners, in equal 
 numbers from the French Academy of Sciences, and the 
 British Royal Society, chosen by those learned bodies re 
 spectively, should meet at the most suitable place, and 
 ascertain the length of the pendulum at the forty-fifth degree 
 of latitude, and from it an invariable standard for all measures 
 and weights. Thirdly, that, after the accomplishment, with 
 all due solemnity, of this operation, the French Academy of 
 Sciences should fix with precision the tables of proportion 
 between the new standards, and the weights and measures 
 previously used in the various parts of France ; and that 
 every town should be supplied with exact copies of the new 
 standards, and with tables of comparison between them and 
 those of which they were to supply the place. ) This decree, 
 somewhat modified, was adopted by the Assembly ; and, on 
 22d of August, 1790, sanctioned by Louis the Sixteenth. 
 Instead of writing to the British Parliament themselves, the 
 Assembly requested the King to write to the King of Great 
 Britain, inviting him to propose to the Parliament the for 
 mation of a joint commission of members of the Royal 
 Society and of the Academy of Sciences, to ascertain the 
 natural standard in the length of the pendulum. Whether 
 the forms of the British Constitution, the temper of political 
 animosity then subsisting between the two countries, or the 
 
METRIC SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 11 
 
 convulsions and wars which soon afterwards ensued, pre 
 vented the acceptance and execution of this proposal, it is 
 
 deeply to be lamented that it was not carried into effect. 
 ***** 
 
 " The idea of associating the interests and the learning of 
 other nations in this great effort for common improvement 
 was not confined to the proposal for obtaining the concur 
 rent agency of Great Britain. Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, 
 Denmark, and Switzerland were actually represented in the 
 proceedings of the Academy of Sciences to accomplish the 
 purposes of the National Assembly. But, in the first in 
 stance, a committee of the Academy of Sciences, consisting of 
 five of the ablest members of the Academy and most emi 
 nent mathematicians of Europe, Bprtla,, Lagrange, Laplace, 
 Monge^and Condorcet, were chosen, under the decree of the 
 assembly, to report to that body upon the selection of the 
 ^^tural^tandard and other principles proper for the accom- 
 ^pl i sh TYI pjvt i_of _jjh ftjnthjpfif: . Their report to the Academy was 
 made on the 19th of March, 1791, and immediately trans 
 mitted to the national assembly, by whose orders it was 
 printed. The committee, after examining three projects of a 
 natural standard, the pendulum beating seconds, a quarter 
 
 of the equator, and a quarter of the meridian, had, on a full 
 
 1 f-^^_r - 
 deliberation, and with great accuracy of judgmnt, preferred 
 
 the last, and proposed that its ten-millionth 
 
 taken ga tbg-stan^ard unit of linear measures that, as a 
 second standard "of comparison with it, the pendulum vibrat 
 ing seconds at the forty-fifth degree of latitude should be 
 assumed, and that the weight of distilled water at the point 
 of freezing, measured by a cubical vessel in decimal propor 
 tion to the linear standard, should determine the standard of 
 weights and of vessels of capacity." / 
 
 This report having received the sanction of the assembly, 
 
12 ORIGIN AND NATURE OF THE 
 
 committees of the Academy of Sciences were appointed to 
 make with all the necessary precision the determinations 
 upon which were to rest the standard units of the new 
 metrological system. The most laborious of these deter 
 minations consisted in the trigonometrical measurement of 
 an arc of the meridian extending through France from 
 Dunkirk to Barcelona ; an operation which occupied seven 
 years. The design of this was to determine with exactness 
 the length of the linear base, called the METRE. But the 
 assembly did not wait for the completion of this great work 
 before giving to the system a legal and a practical existence; - 
 the length of the degree of latitude being already known 
 with a sufficiently near approach to exactness to make any 
 possible error of the metre founded upon it entirely insen 
 sible for the ordinary purposes of life. The system was 
 therefore provisionally established by a law of the 1st of 
 August, 1793 ; and the nomenclature which now distin 
 
 guishes it was adopted on the 18th Germinal, An. III., (7th 
 April, 1795). 
 
 In the seventh year of the Kepublic (1799) an inter 
 national commission was assembled at Paris, on the invita 
 tion of the government, to settle, from the results of the 
 great Meridian Survey, the exact length of the " definitive 
 metre." In this commission were represented the governments 
 of France, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, 
 Savoy, and the Eoman, Cisalpine and Ligurian Eepublics. 
 After the completion of its labors, the commission proceeded 
 on the 4th Messidor, An. VII. (22d.June, 1799), to deposit, 
 at the Palace of the Archives, in Paris, the standard metre- 
 bar of platinum, which represents the" linear base of the 
 system ; jind the standard kilogramme weight, also of pla 
 tinum, which represents the unit of metric weights. 
 
 Of these prototype standards, numerous copies have been 
 
METRIC SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 13 
 
 taken, which, after having been compared with the originals 
 with the severest exactness, have been made standards of 
 reference and verification in the various countries in which 
 the system has been adopted. 
 
 THE METRIC SYSTEM, founded on the metre as the unit of 
 length, has four other leading units, all connected with and 
 dependent upon this. Hence we have 
 
 s~ 
 
 1. The METRE, which is the unit of measures of length. 
 
 2. The ARE, which is the unit of measures of surface, and 
 
 is the square of ten metres. 
 
 3. The LITRE, which is the unit of measures of capacity, 
 
 and is the cube of a tenth part of the metre. 
 
 4. The STERE, which is the unit of measures of solidity, 
 
 having the capacity of a cubic metre. 
 
 5. The GRAMME, which is the unit of measures of weight, 
 
 and is the weight of that quantity of distilled water, 
 at its maximum density, which fills the cube of the 
 hundredth part of the metre. 
 
 Each unit has its decimal multiples and submultiples, that 
 is, weights and measures ten times larger or ten times 
 smaller than the principal unit. These multiples and sub- 
 multiples are indicated by prefixes placed before the names 
 of the several fundamental units. The prefixes denoting 
 multiples are derived from the Greek language ; and are deka, 
 ten ; hecto, hundred ; kilo, thousand ; and myria, ten thousand. 
 Those denoting submultiples are taken from the Latin ; and 
 are, deci, tenth ; centi, hundredth ; and milli, thousandth. 
 
 The following table embraces all the weights and measures 
 of the system : 
 
ORIGIN AND NATURE OF THE 
 
 SURFACE. 
 
 CAPACITY. 
 
 SOLIDITY. 
 
 WEIGHT. 
 
 10,000 ____ Myria-metre. 
 1,000 ____ Kilo-metre . . 
 100 ____ Hecto-metre. 
 10....Deka-metre. . 
 UNIT. METRE, 
 .1. . .Deci-metre . . 
 . Centi-metre. . 
 
 .01 
 
 Kilo-litre Kilo-gramme. 
 
 . Hect-are .... Hecto-litre Hecto-gramme. 
 
 Deka-litre. . .Deka-stere . Deka-gramme. 
 
 LITRE, STERE, GRAMME, 
 
 Deci-litre Deci-stere. .Deci-gramme. 
 
 . Centi-litre Centi-gramme. 
 
 MLlli-litre Milli-gramme. 
 
 ARE, 
 
 Deci-are. , 
 . Centi-are . 
 .001. Milli-inetre 
 
 The denominations of solid measure beyond the first 
 multiple and sub-multiple by ten are not in use. The term 
 stere itself is in fact rarely employed, measures of solidity or 
 volume being usually expressed in cubic denominations of 
 the linear base. Of agrarian measures, the only derivatives 
 of the unit in use are the hectare, the deciare, and the centi- 
 are. 
 
 VALUES OF UMTS. 
 
 UNIT OF LENGTH. 
 
 Myriametre 10,000 Metres. 
 
 Kilometre 1,000 
 
 Hectometre 100 
 
 Decametre 10 
 
 METRE 1 
 
 Decimetre 0.1 
 
 Centimetre 0.01 
 
 Millimetre 0.001 
 
 The METRE is equal to 3.280899 feet nearly ; or to 39.37079 
 inches. 
 
 The unit of Itinerary measure is the KILOMETRE, which is 
 equal to 0.62138 miles. 
 
 UNIT OF SURFACE. 
 
 Hectare 100 Ares or 1000 Square Metres. 
 
 ARE 1 " "100 " " 
 
 Deciare 0.1 " " 10 
 
 Centiare. . 0.01 " " 1 " 
 
 or T V of a metre. 
 
 ToTF 
 " ToVo 
 
METRIC SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 15 
 
 The ARE is equal to 119.60332 square yards ; the HECTARE, 
 the Agrarian unit, to 2.47114 acres. 
 
 UNIT OF CAPACITY. 
 
 Hectolitre = 100 Litres. 
 
 Dekalitre = 10 
 
 LITRE =1 " 
 
 Decilitre = 0.1 " or T \y of a Litre. 
 
 Centilitre = 0.01 " " ^ " 
 
 Millilitre = 0.001" " Winr " 
 
 The LITRE is equal to 0.28418635 gallons, or 1.0567454 
 quarts, or 2.1134908 pints. 
 
 UNIT OF WEIGHT. 
 
 Kilogramme ......... 1000 Grammes. 
 
 Hectogramme ........ 100 
 
 Dekagramme ........ 10 
 
 GRAMME ............. 1 
 
 Decigramme ........ 0.1 " or T V of a gramme. 
 
 Centigramme ........ . 01 " T -i o " 
 
 Milligramme ......... 0.001 
 
 
 
 The GRAMME is equal to 15.43234874 grains.* 
 The KILOGRAMME, which is the unit of commercial weight, 
 is equal to 2.20462125 pounds avoirdupois. 
 
 * This is the Gramme as derived from the weight in vacuo of the platinum Kilo 
 gramme of the Archives, asdetermined by Prof. MILLER of London, in 1844, and adopt 
 ed by the Standards-Department of the British Government. See APPENDIX B. 
 
THE METRIC SYSTEM 
 
 OP 
 
 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
 
 I. Recent Progress of Metrological Reform. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVOCATION : 
 
 The sense of the right of property is an instinctive 
 feeling, of which the existence is co-extensive with 
 intelligence. We find abundant evidence of its pres 
 ence in the lower animals as well as in ourselves. 
 The dog, for instance, when he has satisfied his hunger, 
 carefully stores up the superfluous bone of to-day, in 
 prudent provision for the anticipated wants of the 
 morrow. The beast of the forest bears his prey to the 
 lair which he has appropriated to himself ; and the 
 birds defend with spirit the nests which their own 
 labors have constructed. In the social animals, as the 
 beaver, and the social insects, as the ant and the bee, 
 we see the principle more broadly developed. In 
 
18 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 these cases, the dwelling which the common toil has 
 constructed or prepared, and the stores which the 
 common industry has gathered, are the common prop 
 erty of all ; and are apportioned for the benefit of 
 individuals upon principles which we probably do not 
 understand. But the lower animals, though they 
 appropriate to themselves articles which seem desir 
 able, and assert a right of property in the objects 
 thus appropriated, never propose to relinquish one 
 possession in consideration of an equivalent offered in 
 the form of another. They have no notion of com 
 merce or exchange even in its simplest form. The 
 commercial idea makes its first appearance in man. 
 It is present in every stage of human civilization. Its 
 earliest practical illustration is in the form of barter, 
 in which objects supposed to have value are exchanged 
 one against the other ; or a single one of a certain 
 description for several of another. But as wealth 
 increases, and as its forms become more diversified, 
 the necessity of determining equivalents by quantity 
 rather than by tale, becomes manifest ; and out of this 
 necessity springs the creation of conventional stand 
 ards, by means of which quantities may be always and 
 everywhere verified, and definite quantities be cor 
 rectly ascertained. Hence have arisen the various 
 systems of weight and measure which have prevailed 
 among different peoples, some form of which has been 
 found to accompany even the rudest civilization. 
 Such systems having originated before anything like 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 19 
 
 intellectual culture existed, have been constructed 
 without any thought of scientific method, and have 
 owed their earliest form to accident or caprice. As 
 social and political institutions have become more fully 
 developed, legislation has stepped in from time to 
 time to alter if not to improve these primitive systems ; 
 to change the value of their unit bases ; or to modify 
 the relations to these bases of the derivative denomi 
 nations ; until, at the present time, there is no reason 
 to believe that there survives in any existing system of 
 weights and measures a single value of any unit iden 
 tical with one in use two thousand years ago ; or a 
 law of derivation connecting the different branches of 
 the system, the weights and the measures of capacity, 
 for instance, with the linear base, such as governed the 
 same relations at a period so far remote in the past 
 as the earlier ages of the Christian era. 
 
 To change systems of weight and measure, and to 
 change them by legislation, is therefore no new thing, 
 first thought of in our day. It is a thing which has 
 been going on ever since the birth of civilization. It 
 is not in itself a good thing, or a desirable thing, or a 
 thing we should engage in for its own sake ; neither is 
 it a desirable thing to pull down the dwelling in which 
 we have long lived, even though it may be inconve 
 nient. Time has, perhaps, reconciled us to the incon 
 veniences ; use has made us forgetful of their exist 
 ence ; or habit has possibly, for such is human nature, 
 converted defects into merits in our eyes. But when 
 
20 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 we do pull down the old home, and we often do, and 
 Americans do so probably oftener than they ought, 
 and in its place erect an edifice constructed on better 
 principles, we find, in the increased comfort which fol 
 lows, a justification of the proceeding, and a compen 
 sation for all the trouble and expense it has cost us. 
 
 There has grown up within our own century a 
 branch of systematic inquiry, which in recent years 
 has been prosecuted with a high degree of activity, 
 under the name of " social science." This inquiry com 
 prehends in its scope every problem interesting to 
 human society, political, educational, moral, econom 
 ical, commercial, statistical, and sanitary ; its aim 
 being not merely the enlargement of knowledge for 
 its own sake, but the practical amelioration of the 
 condition of man. In an investigation so comprehen 
 sive, the subject of weights, measures and coins, the 
 instruments by means of which the values of all 
 objects which make up the wealth of nations must be 
 measured, and by means of which also the exchanges 
 of commodities which constitute the world s commerce 
 must be effected, could not escape attention. An 
 earnest movement has accordingly been going on in 
 our time which, during the past twenty years, has 
 been pressed with especial urgency, having for its 
 object to remove the impediments to freedom and 
 facility of commercial intercourse between nations, and 
 the obstacles to the intelligent understanding, on the 
 part of individuals, of the material condition of the 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 21 
 
 world and the progress of contemporaneous history, 
 which arise from the diversity and discordance of 
 existing metrological systems. At a former meeting 
 of this convocation, an ardent friend of the movement 
 here spoken of, a gentleman who was at that time a 
 member of our national legislature, addressed you on 
 this subject, and recommended it earnestly to your 
 favorable consideration. The result was disappointing. 
 The movement failed to command from you the antici 
 pated sympathy ; and in approaching the same subject 
 to-day, I feel how heavy is the task of one who at 
 tempts to plead before you a cause in which so able, 
 so zealous, and so eloquent an advocate has failed. 
 
 There is something in the very fact that I venture 
 to address you upon a subject which has occupied the 
 attention of your learned body now for several years, 
 which has been regularly referred to a committee of 
 able and distinguished men selected from your num 
 ber, which has been maturely considered and elabo 
 rately reported on by them, and has at length, after 
 full opportunity for discussion and comparison of 
 views, been finally disposed of by the adoption and 
 publication of their report, which convicts me, in 
 appearance at least, of presumption, and which is not 
 likely to win me your favor in advance. It is, there 
 fore, due to myself to say, that in asking your indul 
 gence while I recall your attention for a few moments 
 to a subject which has lost its novelty for you, I am 
 acting under instructions from a body whose authority 
 
22 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 I am not at liberty to disregard. On the first day of 
 May last a resolution was adopted by the Board of 
 Trustees of Columbia College, in the following words : 
 
 " Resolved, That the President be requested to 
 attend the next meeting of the Convocation of the 
 University of the State of New York, and to explain 
 to that body how far the views of the Faculty of 
 Columbia College, in respect to the Metric System of 
 Weights and Measures, are in accordance with those 
 set forth in the report of a Committee made to the 
 Convocation on that subject in August last." 
 
 This resolution imposes upon me a duty which I 
 have no choice but to fulfil. I trust, therefore, that I 
 shall not be suspected of intending any disrespect to 
 the Convocation if, in discharging it, I give expression 
 to views considerably at variance with those which 
 have received the sanction of this body. 
 
 ACTION OF THE TRUSTEES AND FACULTY OF COLUMBIA 
 COLLEGE ON THE SUBJECT OF METROLOGICAL REFORM. 
 
 The interest of the Trustees of Columbia College in 
 the Metric System of Weights and Measures, dates 
 back to a period preceding my own connection with 
 that institution. In the minutes of the Faculty of the 
 college, I find it stated, under date of April 8, 1864, 
 that a resolution calling the attention of the Faculty to 
 the subject had been passed by the Trustees on the 
 Monday preceding ; and this resolution is recorded 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 23 
 
 under a date a little later, in the following words, 
 viz. 
 
 1 i Resolved, That in view of the important interna 
 tional movement in progress for the purpose of estab 
 lishing a uniform system of Weights, Measures, and 
 Coins for the civilized world, it be referred to the 
 Faculty of the College to prepare and submit to this 
 Board a memorial to the Congress of the United 
 States, on behalf of the College, expressing its sense of 
 the importance of the measure in question." 
 
 In compliance with the request of this resolution, a 
 committee was appointed to draw up such a memorial, 
 consisting of Professors McYiCKAR, ANTHON, DAVIES, 
 LIBBER, and ROOD. Upon the thirteenth of May next 
 following this appointment, the committee reported a 
 memorial which was adopted by the Board of the 
 College, and ordered to be signed by the President and 
 laid before the Trustees. 
 
 In this memorial the metric unit of length is com 
 pared with the British (and American) unit ; and the 
 metric system of derivation, by which the measures of 
 surface, capacity, solidity, and weight, are deduced 
 from the unit of length, is compared with the confused 
 system or lack of system which unfortunately pervades 
 the metrology of the English speaking nations ; and on 
 both these points the opinion of the Faculty of Colum 
 bia College is expressed, with an emphasis which 
 argues deep conviction, in favor of the former. The 
 
24 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 memorial goes further, and advocates certain views in 
 regard to the unification of the coinage of the world, 
 in which I should not be able fully to concur, but to 
 which I design to give no present attention, since the 
 coinage question is one which will probably be inde 
 pendently settled ; though when it is settled it will 
 doubtless be settled by making the weights of all 
 coins metrical.* 
 
 In the minutes of the Trustees of the college, I find 
 it recorded that the document here spoken of was read 
 before that body on the 18th of May, 1864, and that 
 an order was afterwards taken directing that it should 
 be forwarded to the Speaker of the House of Repre 
 sentatives at Washington, with a request that he 
 should lay it before the national legislature. This 
 memorial is spread at length upon the minutes both of 
 the Faculty and of the Trustees. Along with it appears, 
 in the latter, an independent memorial expressing 
 similar sentiments, which was adopted by the Trustees 
 
 * The question of the unification of coins has been the subject of several 
 international conferences and of much diplomatic negotiation. A definite 
 proposition regarding it was addressed to foreign governments, in 1870, by 
 the Government of the United States, through its ministers resident abroad, 
 which proposition may be regarded as still pending. This consideration alone 
 would suggest the propriety of refraining from the discussion in this place of 
 the various projects for such unification, which have been heretofore proposed. 
 The question, however, is complicated by considerations of great gravity, 
 which affect but slightly the simpler one of the unification of systems of weight 
 and measure ; and which render it expedient, if not indispensable, that the 
 two questions should be kept separate. See APPENDIX A 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 25 
 
 in their own behalf, and forwarded to Congress by 
 their order at the same time. 
 
 With all this history I had nothing to do. The 
 whole transaction had been completed before I became 
 a member either of the Faculty or of the Board of 
 Trustees of Columbia College. I have recounted the 
 particulars in evidence that Columbia College had 
 taken her position on this question long ago. The 
 duty imposed upon me is to state to you some of the 
 reasons which have led her to assume this attitude. 
 
 And here I wish to be understood as not intending 
 to assert that, among the members of the two bodies 
 whom I, in a certain sense, represent here, there are 
 not individuals who dissent from the views to which 
 the majority have committed themselves. Among the 
 Trustees, indeed, I know of none such ; but your own 
 records show that there is at least one distinguished 
 dissentient among the Faculty. If there are others, 
 they, as well as myself, are members of this convoca 
 tion ; and they may, and perhaps will r speak for 
 themselves. I am not aware that there are any, but 
 my impression may be mistaken. 
 
 THE PREVALENCE OF A PARTICULAR SYSTEM LESS IMPOR 
 TANT THAN THE ADOPTION OF A COMMON SYSTEM. 
 
 To proceed now to the matter in hand, it is, in the 
 first place, a fact particularly noteworthy, that the 
 Trustees of Columbia College, in their resolution of 
 
26 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 April, 1864, did not mention the metric system in so 
 many words, nor propose to memorialize Congress in 
 favor of any particular system of weights and meas 
 ures designated by name. What they asked was that 
 the college should express its sense of the importance 
 of the creation of a uniform system of weights and 
 measures for the use of the civilized world. If they 
 have been led to believe, as I think they have, that 
 such a uniform system can be reached in no other way 
 than through the ultimate adoption of the metric 
 system ; and that whatever may be the differences of 
 (opinion as to this matter just here and now, such a 
 result most inevitably will be reached in this way 
 sooner or later ; it is impossible that they can regard 
 without concern the exertion of any influence which 
 may serve sensibly to retard an event deemed by them 
 so desirable, and which however retarded is, in their 
 opinion, sure to come at last. 
 
 But still the question raised by them, and the ques 
 tion first in order before us now, is not, whether it is 
 expedient that we should forthwith adopt the metric 
 system ; it is rather, whether it is worth while to try 
 to secure a common system ; because, if this is not so, 
 there is nothing left to talk about. Nor yet, suppos 
 ing that this first question is settled affirmatively, and 
 we agree that a common system of weights and meas 
 ures would be worth having if we could get it, can we 
 make the question of the metric system even the 
 second question in order ; for the second question 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 27 
 
 should be, what are the efforts, of those which we are 
 able and willing to make to secure the desired object, 
 in attempting which we may be encouraged by the 
 hope of success ; and what are those which we may as 
 well take warning in the outset to avoid, as certain 
 inevitably to fail. 
 
 THE MAIN OBSTACLE TO METROLOGICAL REFORM CONSISTS 
 IN THE INCOMMENSURABILITY OF UNIT BASES. 
 
 Now, in looking at the different metrological sys 
 tems at present in use in the civilized world and the 
 number is very encouragingly smaller at present than 
 it was even twenty years ago we shall see that the 
 great obstacle in the way of the practical unification of 
 systems is not the mere fact of difference in the abso 
 lute magnitude of the standard units whether of weight 
 or of length or of surface or of capacity ; nor the mere 
 fact of difference in the names by which we distinguish 
 these units and their multiples or subdivisions ; nor 
 the mere fact of difference in the arithmetical law by 
 which the several denominations of weight or measure 
 are related to each other ; nor yet the greater or less 
 degree of exactness with which the base of any system 
 may conform to any dimension in nature variable or 
 invariable ; though these are matters concerning which 
 a great deal of breath is wasted in the discussions 
 which go on about the metric system ; the difficulty 
 which stands out so prominently as to dwarf all the rest 
 to insignificance, is the fact that the standard units of 
 
28 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 these several systems are practically incommensurable. 
 I say practically incommensurable I am not using 
 terms with strict scientific severity but the difficulty 
 is as serious as if the incommensurability were actual 
 and absolute. 
 
 To illustrate what I mean : the Austrian foot measure, 
 for instance, exceeds our own by 361 ten-thousandth 
 parts ; ,or, expressed in inches, it is equal to 12 British 
 or American inches and 4332-lOOOOths of an inch. 
 We might reverse the mode of presentation, and say 
 that the American foot is 0.96516 of an Austrian foot, 
 or 11.5819 Austrian inches. The fractions here given 
 do not express the exact relation. We may run the 
 decimals on for half a mile without reaching the end ; 
 but they go far enough for the purpose of my illus 
 tration. 
 
 To transform, therefore, a value expressed in one of 
 these measures into an equivalent value expressed in 
 the other, is an operation laborious and irksome. But 
 the arithmetical disadvantage is by no means the 
 whole > or even the greater part, of the evil which this 
 state of things produces. A much more grave con 
 sideration is the fact that it interposes an effectual bar 
 to the intelligent interchange of thought. It renders 
 it impossible for an American to converse understand- 
 ingly with an Austrian on any subject involving quan 
 tities of any description. It makes it impossible for 
 an American to derive instruction from an Austrian 
 book or magazine or journal where quantities are 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 29 
 
 mentioned ; or an Austrian from an American. This is 
 an enormous evil, and as it exists not in this quarter 
 only, but everywhere, the world has crying need of its 
 removal. It is the evil of which, first and chiefest of 
 all, the advocates of metrological reform desire to be 
 rid. And yet, unless I greatly misunderstand the 
 purport of much of the reasoning I hear going on 
 upon this subject, the very fact that this abominable 
 evil exists, the very fact that there is something to be 
 got rid of, something that we want to be rid of and 
 something which we ought to be rid of, is made an 
 argument why we should not try to be rid of it at all. 
 If there are any to whom this argument is satisfactory, 
 with them of course the case is closed, and upon such 
 nothing that I can say will produce any impression. 
 There are some, probably, not of this class, and they 
 may be disposed to consider with me what means there 
 are by which we may be relieved of this artificial 
 obstruction to intelligent communication with other 
 peoples. 
 
 METHODS POSSIBLE OF OVERCOMING THE OBSTACLE. 
 
 Three methods present themselves. Continuing the 
 illustration furnished by the example just presented, 
 they are these : We may adopt the Austrian unit ; 
 Austria may adopt ours ; or both nations may adopt a 
 third, incommensurable with either. Any one of 
 these expedients will reconcile us with each other ; 
 that one will be chosen, if any, which, besides doing 
 
30 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 this, will do most to promote the grander object of an 
 universal accord among nations. 
 
 Now, if we go over to Austria in this matter, we 
 lose more than we gain ; and in speaking of loss and 
 gain here, I mean loss and gain as it respects our 
 international relations, and not as it respects our 
 internal or domestic affairs ; (I am setting aside 
 altogether, therefore, that inconvenience to ourselves 
 
 o 
 
 at home, which would exist temporarily in consequence 
 of the incommensurability of the new unit with the 
 old an inconvenience on which your able reporter 
 has so feelingly dwelt as likely to result from our 
 giving up the foot for the metre) we lose then I say, 
 more than we gain by this concession, because we 
 fall out of harmony with the great British Empire for 
 the sake of securing harmony with a people who 
 occupy, as Mr. Webster more forcibly than politely 
 remarked, only a small patch of the earth s surface, 
 compared with our vast domain. On the other hand, 
 if Austria yields the point, she will fall into harmony, 
 it is true, with us and with Great Britain, nations 
 however from whom she is geographically separated 
 very widely ; but this advantage will be gained at the 
 expense of discord with the several peoples who lie 
 between her and the British Islands ; all of whom have 
 embraced the metric system, or adopted metric values 
 in their own. If, however, thirdly, both of us adopt 
 the metre, America will not only be in accord with 
 Austria, but with the greater part of continental 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 31 
 
 Europe at the same time ; and as Great Britain has 
 given decisive indications of a disposition to become 
 metric also, the probability is that, soon, the whole 
 civilized world, unless Russia and the Scandinavian 
 peoples continue to be exceptions, will have but a 
 single system of weights and measures. 
 
 SIMPLICITY OF THE PROBLEM OF UNIFICATION WHEN 
 UNIT BASES ARE COMMENSURABLE. 
 
 Now if this difference between us and Austria had not 
 been such a difference ; if the unit, for instance, of Aus 
 tria, had been we will say a cubit, and such a cubit (for 
 there have been many of them) as to be exactly equal to 
 eighteen British inches ; the evil of incommensurability 
 would not exist and the question of unification would 
 simplify itself materially. We might both of us agree to 
 adopt a measure of six inches as our common unit; and 
 this we might call a span, abandoning both the cubit and 
 the foot. There would be some, no doubt, who would 
 lament over the loss of the short and sharp Saxon 
 word, foot," and would find no sufficient comfort even 
 in " span/ which though Saxon and short is not so 
 sharp ; but I think that if a change of this simple 
 description, affecting only names and modes of division 
 and not actual values at all, would bring us into 
 harmony with any great people, and still more if it 
 would bring us into harmony with all the world, 
 we should do it notwithstanding. This illustrates the 
 
32 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 immense difference as it respects facility of solution 
 which the problem of metrological unification would 
 present, if the unit bases of the existing national 
 systems were commensurable with each other, as 
 compared with what it is now. 
 
 With the great empire of Russia, we have, indeed, 
 precisely such a point of contact in our two national 
 systems of length measure, as that which I have just 
 been imagining. It is matter of familiar history, that 
 in the year 1698, the singularly enterprising and ener 
 getic emperor, PETER the Great, passed, incognito, in 
 the train of one of his own embassies, first into Hol 
 land, where he engaged himself as an operative ship- 
 carpenter, and labored for months with remarkable 
 assiduity ; and secondly, in the following year, into 
 England, where he became finally master of that im 
 portant branch of constructive art ; and where subse 
 quently, having made himself known to the then 
 reigning King, WILLIAM III., he received from that 
 monarch every honor due to his exalted station. Re 
 turning to his own country, he took with him a num 
 ber of British ship-builders and other artificers, whom 
 he paid with liberality and employed in the navy yards 
 which he immediately proceeded to found. It was 
 probably a consequence of his own industrial education 
 in England, and of the British predilections of the 
 advisers and practical assistants whom he took home 
 with him to carry out his plans, that he was induced 
 to modify the length of the sagene, the standard length 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 33 
 
 unit of the empire, so as to make it commensurable 
 with the British foot. Since early in the eighteenth 
 century, therefore, the length of the legal standard 
 unit of Russia has been seven feet, subdivided into 
 three archines of twenty-eight inches each; the archine 
 being the unit of common life, just as in England, the 
 yard is the legal, and the foot the practical, standard. 
 This state of things admitted of the introduction be 
 tween ourselves and Russia of a common unit of four 
 inches in length, which would have been just the 
 seventh part of an archine and the third part of a foot. 
 But within the last forty years a simpler solution has 
 been found, the Russian government having introduced 
 a subsidiary unit, one-seventh of a sagene in length r 
 which is called by a name approaching as nearly to the 
 English word foot as the vocal organs of the people 
 will allow. 
 
 It is unfortunate that a reform so well begun was 
 prosecuted no further. This is the only particular in 
 which the Russian metrological system has anything 
 in common with ours, or with any other existing. 
 And, from a careful examination of all the systems of 
 weights and measures established by law, and at 
 present in use among civilized peoples, I have been 
 unable, except in this single instance, to discover be 
 tween any two of them, any feature of commensura- 
 bility, whether as it respects weights or measures of 
 length or surface or volume, which has not been intro 
 duced by legislation since this century began. 
 
34 .THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 RECENT ENCOURAGING PROGRESS OF METROLOGICAL 
 REFORM. 
 
 Such legislation has, however, within the period here 
 indicated, done so much toward removing this chief of 
 all obstacles to the attainment of a common system, as 
 greatly to encourage the friends of metrological reform 
 in the hope of an ultimate and complete attainment of 
 the object in which they are so deeply interested. It, 
 is worth remarking, furthermore, that every such 
 change has thus far consisted in replacing the values 
 of the weights and measures in common use by other 
 values adopted from the metric system. I will 
 enumerate further on the most important of these 
 changes ; pausing here only to present a single exam 
 ple to show how, in some instances, the great evil of 
 incommensurability has been got rid of without the 
 adoption of the metric system in all its details. 
 
 In the republic of Switzerland, previously to the year 
 1851, there prevailed a considerable diversity of sys 
 tems of weight and measure in the different cantons. 
 The most important may be said to have been those of 
 Berne, Zurich, Basel and Lucerne I w r ill confine my 
 self to the first two named. In Berne, the futs (unit of 
 length) was 11.546 inches ; in Zurich, it was 11.812 
 inches. In Berne, the pfund (unit of weight) was 
 18.642 ounces avoirdupois ; in Zurich, it was 18.347 
 ounces. In Berne, the maas (measure of liquid 
 capacity) was 1.766 quarts ; in Zurich, it was 1.918 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 35 
 
 quarts. The measures of dry capacity were very va 
 rious ; but those which are most easily comparable 
 were the maas, in Berne, which was 0.3876 of a 
 bushel, equal to 1.550 pecks ; and the viertel, in 
 Zurich, which was 0.5826 of a bushel, or 2.330 pecks. 
 Zurich had, in fact, four different viertels for different 
 substances ; the measure given above was for wheat. 
 By a law passed the 23d of March, 1851, it was de 
 creed that, after the 31st of December, 1856, the legal 
 unit of length throughout the republic should be the 
 pied (foot), having the length of .exactly thirty centi 
 metres ; and that (abandoning the old duodecimal 
 subdivision) this should be decimally divided to tenths, 
 hundredths, and thousandths. Multiples of the unit 
 allowed were the brache, 2 feet ; the aune, 4 feet : the 
 toise, 6 feet ; the perche, 10 feet ; and the lieue, 
 16,000. For the pfund was substituted the livre of 
 500 grammes ; and for subdivision it was left optional 
 to use the binary system of half-pound, quarter-pound, 
 and so on, or to employ the decimal. For dry capaci 
 ty, the measure established was the quarteron, equal 
 to 15 litres ; and for liquid capacity, the pot, equal to 
 one and a half litres. For the last fifteen years, there 
 fore, the weights and measures of Switzerland have 
 been commensurable with those of the neighbors 
 with whom she is in most frequent intercourse, and 
 who have all of them, more or less completely, adopt 
 ed the metric system. 
 
36 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 DISCORDANT LAWS REGULATING DERIVATIVE DENOMINA 
 TIONS INCREASE THE DIFFICULTY OF TRANSFORMING 
 VALUES. 
 
 But though the incommensurability of the unit 
 bases is the principal source of difficulty in effecting 
 transformations of value from one metrological system 
 to another, the law of derivation of the other denom 
 inations from these bases is not a matter of indifference 
 as it respects this operation. This, again, can be illus 
 trated by an example which the commensurability of 
 the Russian standard unit of length with our own 
 enables us to derive from the itinerary measure in 
 common use in the Russian empire. This itinerary 
 unit is the viersta, anglicized verst, which is equal to 
 500 sagenes. Now there is no difficulty in converting 
 versts into British feet, since (the sagene containing 
 seven feet) 500 sagenes are 3,500 British feet, or the 
 half of 7,000 British feet ; so that we only have to 
 multiply the versts by seven, annex three zeros, and 
 take half the result. But if we wish to transform a 
 distance expressed in versts into miles a mile being 
 the unit of our own itinerary measure the process is 
 not so simple. There are 5,280 feet in a mile, and if, 
 in order to avoid this troublesome divisor, we attempt 
 a reduction through the intermediate denominations, 
 we encounter such relations as 5i yards, or 16i feet, 
 making a rod, which are more troublesome still. Now 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 37, 
 
 if, instead of the present totally indefensible series of 
 relations between our higher and lower denominations 
 of length, we had something a little more sensible, or 
 if not sensible, at least not worse than the Russian 
 (for the Russian, with its ratio of seven to one, is only 
 a little less bad than ours), the problem before us 
 would admit of a solution comparatively simple. Sup 
 pose, for example, that a mile were made, as it might 
 be, without harm to anybody, a round five thousand 
 feet. It is true that " the old familiar mile of 1,760 
 paces/ 7 which your reporter seems to cherish so fondly, 
 "would be gone ; and/ as he correctly remarks, 4i the 
 distance from Albany to New York one hundred and 
 forty-five miles would be known to us" as something 
 quite different, say something like one hundred and 
 fifty-three sensible miles. In this case the verst would 
 be 3,500-5000, or seven-tenths of a mile, and the 
 transformation would be effected by the use of a very 
 small number of figures. It would not, perhaps, be 
 worth while to adopt the new value of the mile here 
 suggested, for the sake of being able merely to con 
 vert miles to versts, or versts to miles a thing we 
 have to do too seldom to make it a matter of much 
 interest to us ; but it ivould be quite worth while to 
 make it for the sake of facilitating the thousand other 
 calculations which we are continually called upon to 
 make, involving reductions between the higher denom 
 inations of length and the lower. 
 
38 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 ABSURDITY OF THE NUMERICAL RELATIONS BETWEEN THE 
 DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS OF MEASURE AND WEIGHT 
 IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Whether we ever adopt a new linear base for our 
 metrological system or not, every consideration both of 
 logic and of convenience demands that we should re 
 form the absurd numerical relations in which our dif 
 ferent denominations, especially of length, surface and 
 capacity, stand to each other. Mention has been made 
 of the mile, the rod, the yard, and the foot. Along 
 with these we may take also the chain of sixty-six 
 feet, divided into links of which each one is seven 
 inches and ninety-two-hundredths, while itself is the 
 eightieth part of a mile. 
 
 As to surface, our square yard is nine square feet ; 
 our square rod is 30? square yards, or 2721 square 
 feet ; and the acre, our agrarian unit, is 160 square 
 rods, or 4,840 square yards, or 43,560 square feet. It 
 would be difficult for human ingenuity to contrive 
 anything more inconvenient or less rational than this. 
 
 As to capacity, whether liquid or dry, though the re 
 lations of the several denominations to each other are 
 tolerably simple, yet their relations to the standard of 
 length, which is, or ought to be, the fundamental base 
 of the system, are as abnormal as it is possible to make 
 them. Our gallon is 231 cubic inches = 0.13368 of a 
 cubic foot ; and our bushel is 2,150.42 cubic inches 
 1.244456 cubic feet. And our unit of weight has no 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 39 
 
 relation whatever expressible in simple numbers which 
 the mind can grasp, to our measures of capacity or of 
 length ; for while it is customary to say that a cubic 
 foot of water weighs one thousand ounces, the relation 
 established forty years ago by our bureau of weights 
 and measures, under authority of law, makes the gal 
 lon measure of distilled water at the temperature of 
 maximum density, viz., 3 9. 8 F., and at thirty inches 
 of the barometer, to weigh 58,372.1754 grains, or 
 8.3388822 commercial or avoirdupois pounds ; and re 
 quires also that the standard or Winchester bushel of 
 2,150.42 cubic inches shall hold, under the same cir 
 cumstances, 543,391.89 grains, or 77.627413 avoirdu 
 pois pounds* ; from either or both of which determi 
 nations it appears that the weight of a cubic foot of 
 water, at maximum density, is only 998.0667 ounces, 
 instead of 1,000 ounces ; while, if we take the water 
 at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere, say 
 62 F., as prescribed by the British statute on the 
 subject, the cubic foot weighs but 997.172 ounces. 
 
 Here are irregularities and imperfections, to the cor 
 rection of which it would be well if we would address 
 ourselves, in our own immediate interest and that of 
 our people at home merely, and without reference to 
 our relations with other peoples. Exact calculations, 
 for instance, in which weights are to be deduced from 
 volumes, or volumes from weights, are effected under 
 our system only at the expense of much weary labor, 
 
 * The determination of the bushel, however, by weight, allows it only 
 2150.4 cubic inches. See APPENDIX B, Note 1. 
 
40 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 of which the necessity is artificially laid upon us by 
 this tyranny to which we are born. For rude calcula 
 tions we call, indeed, the cubic foot of standard water 
 one thousand ounces, or sixty-two and a half pounds ; 
 but for any delicate determination, we must take the 
 cubic foot at 436,654.1952 grains, and the cubic inch 
 at 252.6934 grains, numbers which, at whatever incon 
 venience, the man of science finds himself continually 
 obliged to employ in multiplication and division, to the 
 great waste of his time and expense of his strength.* 
 
 IS IT POSSIBLE TO SECURE GENERAL COMMENSURABILITY 
 OF UNIT BASES? 
 
 Now before directly considering the special question 
 whether the metric system of weights and measures 
 ought to be adopted in this country, it is proper to 
 consider, and it seems to me to be. a duty to consider, 
 whether it is possible for us to contribute anything to 
 the important object of bringing the bases of the 
 metrological systems of the world into relations of 
 commensurability. If these bases can be made com 
 mensurable, we shall have accomplished something al 
 most as important as to have established absolute iden 
 tity ; and, indeed, under these circumstances, identity, 
 it may easily be believed, will not be slow to follow. 
 Who can doubt, for instance, that Switzerland, having 
 adopted values for her units which are in extremely 
 simple relations to the metric units, will sooner or later 
 
 * See APPENDIX B, for an examination of the probable accuracy of these 
 values. 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 41 
 
 adopt the metric units themselves. It is what the 
 states of Northern Germany recently resolved to do 
 after an experience very similar. These several states 
 had all, previously to the formation of the Zollverein, 
 their independent systems of weights and measures. 
 When that treaty was entered into, the importance of 
 a common system for custom-house purposes was 
 promptly perceived ; and hence a Zollverein pound 
 was adopted, having the weight of five hundred 
 grammes. Several of these states, among them Prus 
 sia, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt and Wurtemberg, found 
 it expedient at a later period to adopt this weight for 
 their domestic as well as for their external commerce. 
 And after the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, and the 
 formation of a closer union between the states north 
 of the Maine under the name of the North German 
 Confederation, the desirability of a common metro- 
 logical system for all the members of the confederation 
 seemed so great, that a law was finally passed by the 
 Reichstag, which was publicly proclaimed by the king 
 in August, 1868, by which the metric system is adopt 
 ed in full, and made the legal system for North Ger 
 many from and after January 1, 1872. As the states 
 of southern Germany were no less advanced than those 
 of northern, in the measures they had taken previously 
 to their absorption into the empire, for the assimilation 
 of their weights and measures to those of the metric 
 system, there can be no doubt that the law of 1868, 
 just mentioned, will be extended over them also. 
 
42 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 Thus it appears that when different metrological sys 
 tems approach each other so far as to become commen 
 surable in their fundamental units, there is a drift 
 towards identity which becomes at length irresistible. 
 
 THE WORLD WILL HAVE A COMMON SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS 
 AND MEASURES ; THE CHOICE MUST LIE BETWEEN OUR 
 OWN AND THE METRIC. 
 
 Are we willing to do anything to bring our own 
 system into relations of commensurability with those 
 of the rest of the world ? If so, the question second in 
 order comes up, what efforts are there in our power to 
 make, which are likely to advance the object, and 
 what are likely to be fruitless? It may be well to 
 state, in the very outset, so as to bring the really vital 
 question directly before us, that except the metric 
 system and that which we use ourselves, no other ex 
 isting and no other likely to exist, can be advocated as 
 having the least claim to become the system of the 
 world. One of these, therefore, must jsooner or later 
 prevail ; for no man not totally regardless of the his 
 tory of the past, and not absolutely blind to what is 
 taking place under his own eyes in the present, can 
 possibly pretend to believe that the world is to be for 
 ever without a uniform system of weights and measures. 
 At the universal exposition of 1867, in Paris, thirteen 
 measures of length from different countries were ex 
 hibited under the name of foot, or its equivalent ; but 
 among these there were only eight values essentially 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 43 
 
 different ; and two of these were metric. Yet after 
 giving some attention to this subject without pretend 
 ing to exhaust it, I have found more than one hundred 
 foot-measures, each differing more or less from all the 
 rest in value, which have been in use at one time or 
 another at one part or another of Europe. Similar 
 remarks might be made of the units of weight and 
 capacity. There has therefore been large progress 
 made toward uniformity, and the most important steps 
 and the most significant steps are those which have 
 been taken within our own century. We cannot sup 
 pose that this progress is going to be arrested at the 
 point which it has now reached. Of the two systems 
 therefore just now indicated as the systems between 
 which the world must choose, unless in regard to this 
 matter it shall henceforth stand still forever, one or 
 the other must sooner or later prevail. Which shall 
 it be ? Which is it likely to be ? 
 
 ABRUPTNESS OF THE INTRODUCTION OF THE METRIC 
 SYSTEM INTO FRANCE. 
 
 At the close of the last century the metric system 
 was thrust upon France, under circumstances of disad 
 vantage and with an imperfect success which Mr. 
 ADAMS has very eloquently described in his able report 
 of 1821, which you have caused to be reprinted. 
 Though the commission by which the system was 
 matured was as far international as it was possible in 
 the then existing political and military condition of 
 
44 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 Europe to make it, representatives being present not 
 only from France, but also from the Netherlands, Den 
 mark, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Sardinia, Rome, 
 and the Cisalpine and Ligurian Republics ; yet no 
 government except the French spontaneously adopted, 
 and endeavored to apply in practice, the results of 
 their labors. The conquests of the first empire carried 
 the system forcibly into the Low Countries, into por 
 tions of Germany, into Italy and into the Iberian 
 peninsula ; but the difficulties which it met with there 
 were in general greater than at home ; not only be 
 cause the manner of its introduction did violence to 
 men s established habits of thought, but because its 
 existence was a badge of subjugation and a perpetual 
 reminder of the national humiliation of those who 
 were compelled to use it. These all with one accord, 
 therefore, took advantage of the downfall of the em 
 pire, to throw it promptly off. Nor even in France, 
 presented as it was to the people without any adequate 
 education as to its characteristic features, or any suffi 
 cient allowance of time to permit them to become 
 familiar with its details, was it established without a 
 struggle against inveterate habits and rooted prejudices 
 continued through more than a quarter of a century. 
 
 SUBSIDENCE OF OPPOSITION TO THE SYSTEM. 
 
 Long before the termination of this struggle, how 
 ever, the aversion to the system in the countries 
 foreign to France to which it had been carried during 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 45 
 
 the empire, began sensibly to subside, and in the 
 Netherlands whose intimate relations with France had 
 caused it there to take a deeper root than elsewhere, it 
 was actually re-established as early as 1817. It was 
 re-established, that is to say, in all particulars except 
 the nomenclature ; but while the metric units and the 
 metric decimal relations were adopted, the ancient 
 names of weights and measures were retained. Bel 
 gium, however, which was for a time a part of France, 
 employed the nomenclature also ; the old names were 
 preserved in Holland till April, 1869, when they were 
 at length abandoned. 
 
 The condition of things, therefore, at the time when 
 Mr. ADAMS wrote may be thus described. A quarter 
 of a century had passed and yet the system was not 
 yet firmly established in its own home ; it had been 
 rejected generally by the neighboring peoples who had 
 tried it ; and its chances of success in the eyes of the dis 
 interested spectators of the experiment appeared, as 
 may.be gathered from Mr. ADAMS S own report, to be 
 as nearly as possible at zero. Since that period just one 
 half a century has passed, and the aspect of things has 
 bravely changed. One third part only of this period 
 sufficed for the subsidence of all the imputed disaffec 
 tion of France ; and in the Netherlands, as we have seen, 
 this disaffection, if it was ever strong, died out much 
 earlier. From the year 1837 onward, the people of 
 those two countries have not only been reconciled to the 
 system, but have been warmly attached to it. The neigh- 
 
46 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 boring peoples upon whom it had been early imposed 
 by force, and who had indignantly thrown it off, have 
 all voluntarily re-adopted it. That early attempt to 
 coerce them into its acceptance, while it roused every 
 instinct of their natures to resistance, had at least the 
 effect to educate them to a knowledge of what it was. 
 And the acquaintance which they thus formed of its 
 merits, produced, when passion had subsided, its 
 natural result in the re-establishment of the system by 
 their own free choice. 
 
 ACCEPTANCE OF THE SYSTEM BY EUROPEAN STATES SUC 
 CESSIVELY. 
 
 From information obtained at the universal exposi 
 tion of 1867, where a special pavilion was set apart for 
 the display of the standards of weight, measure, and 
 money of all nations, officially authenticated, I am able 
 to state some particulars as to the progress of this 
 great movement toward metrological uniformity. 
 First in the order of time after France, Holland, and 
 Belgium, came the kingdom of Greece, which adopted 
 the metric system of weights and measures as early as 
 September, 1836. A little earlier than this (March, 
 1833) had been formed the customs union or Zollve- 
 rein, which I have already mentioned, among the 
 German States, embracing, originally, Prussia, Saxony, 
 Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Hesse Cassel ; but ulti 
 mately including all the states of the German 
 Bund except Austria, Lichtenstein, Holstein, the two 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 47 
 
 Mecklenburgs, Hamburg, Lubeck, and Bremen. This 
 was established for the purpose of doing away with 
 the serious obstruction to commerce interposed by the 
 existence of numerous and neighboring custom-house 
 frontiers ; but in order that it might not create as 
 much trouble as it removed, it adopted, as I have 
 mentioned already, a common unit of weight, having 
 the metrical value of five hundred grammes, or half a 
 kilogramme. This, which first came into use on the 
 first of January, 1840, was found so convenient that it 
 subsequently became the national as well as the inter 
 national pound in several of the principal states and 
 many of the smaller ; as, for instance, in Prussia, Wur- 
 temberg, Baden, and Hesse Darmstadt. 
 
 In some, as in Baden and Hesse Darmstadt, metri 
 cal values were also given to the unit of length, which 
 was still called the fuss, though the old fuss was abol 
 ished ; and the duodecimal subdivision was at the same 
 time abandoned. Others of these states which still 
 retained the values of the fuss to which they were 
 accustomed, perceiving the great superiority, in respect 
 to convenience, of the decimal over the duodecimal 
 ratio, also abolished the inch, and divided the foot into 
 tenths and hundredths. Among these may be named 
 Bavaria, Prussia, and Wurtemberg. In Italy, a law 
 of 1845 brought the metric system fully into force in 
 the kingdom of Sardinia from the first of January, 
 1850. It was established in the Pontifical States soon 
 after ; and, by a law passed July 28, 1861, was ex- 
 
48 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 tended over the entire Italian peninsula, and also over 
 Sicily from and after the first of January, 1863. 
 
 Yery shortly after the revolutionary excitements of 
 1848, the empire of Austria, by treaty with Prussia, 
 became connected with the Zollverein, and introduced 
 the metrical weights and measures of that union into 
 all the custom-houses of her extended frontier ; nor has 
 the course of events, military or political, of recent 
 years, produced in that empire any change in this 
 respect. The action of the North German Confedera 
 tion, by which the metric system in full became the 
 system of all the Northern states, for domestic as well 
 as for external uses, took place in 1868, as has been 
 already mentioned. In the mean time, other states, 
 not connected with the Zollverein, began to fall in with 
 the drift now becoming so general. In 1851 took 
 place the legislation in Switzerland above described, 
 which gave to that confederation a metric system of 
 weights and measures after 1856. 
 
 In 1852, Denmark adopted the metric pound of 500 
 grammes, decimally divided. In 1855, Sweden, with 
 out changing the values of her standard units, intro 
 duced partially the principle of decimal derivation for 
 the inferior and superior denominations ; and this, by 
 more recent enactments, reduced in 1865 to a single 
 comprehensive law, she has extended through her 
 whole system. In the following year, 1866, Norway, 
 in regard to this matter, followed the example of her 
 sister kingdom. In Spain and her colonies, the metric 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 49 
 
 system was established by law in 1859, the names of 
 the units having been partially transformed to bring 
 them into harmony with the language the metre being 
 called the metro, the litre the litro, etc. In 1864, the 
 metric system was established in Portugal ; and in the 
 same year a law was passed in the principality of 
 Roumania prescribing the use of the system in that prin 
 cipality from and after the first day of January, 1865. 
 Even Turkey has recently made a beginning toward 
 bringing her system into harmony with that which is now 
 so rapidly becoming the system of all continental Europe, 
 by giving to her unit of length, the archine, the value 
 of seventy-five centimetres, or three-quarters of a 
 metre. In Great Britain, by an act of Parliament 
 passed in 1864, the metric system is legalized, though 
 it has not been made compulsory. In 1868, another 
 act, making the metric the exclusive system for Great 
 Britain, passed its second reading in the House of 
 Commons, having thus reached a stage of legislation 
 where the final passage of a bill is commonly regarded 
 as assured, when it was withdrawn by its originators, 
 as yet premature ; but the fact of this remarkable suc 
 cess is a signal evidence of the state of opinion among 
 the enlightened classes of the British people,* and a 
 plain premonition of what Great Britain will sooner or 
 later do. 
 
 * For a more full account of British legislation in regard to the Metric 
 System, see APPENDIX C. 
 
50 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 LEGISLATION IN REGARD TO THE SYSTEM ON THE 
 AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 In our own country the use of the metric system in 
 business transactions was legalized by act of Congress of 
 July 27, 1866. Another act, which was passed almost 
 simultaneously with this, provided that postages should 
 be charged in accordance with a scale of metric weights ; 
 a letter weighing fifteen grammes or less to be charge 
 able with but one rate of postage. This provision of 
 law, which was practically in favor of the people who 
 use the post-office to a sensible degree, fifteen grammes 
 exceeding the previously legal postage weight by nearly 
 thirteen grains, or about one-seventeenth part, was, as 
 I am informed, by the effect of a statute passed the 
 following day, quite unintentionally repealed. This 
 second act was designed to regulate postage with foreign 
 countries, and it provided that, for postal purposes, one 
 half ounce avoirdupois should be deemed and taken to 
 be the equivalent of fifteen grammes. The department 
 has applied this provision to the act of the preceding 
 day ; so that we have Congress going through with the 
 solemn farce of enacting that the limiting weight of a 
 single letter shall be fifteen grammes, but then that 
 these fifteen grammes shall be deemed and taken to be 
 only half an ounce. 
 
 Undoubtedly the stationery on which these pro 
 visions of law were written must be deemed and taken 
 to be a dead loss to the nation. But could anything 
 more forcibly illustrate the liability to error and con- 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 51 
 
 fusion arising out of diversity of systems of weight and 
 measure, than this example wherein we see even our 
 highest legislative body, when entangled in the maze, 
 incapable of making laws to express its own inten 
 tions ? 
 
 In South America, the metric system has been 
 adopted by Brazil (to take full effect in 1873), in the 1 
 Argentine Republic (1863), in Uruguay (1862), in 
 Peru (1863), in Chili (1848), in Ecuador (1856), and 
 in New Granada (1863). In North America, it was 
 established by law in Mexico in 1856. According to 
 the best authorities I have been able to find, the total 
 population of Europe approaches 298,000,000, of whom 
 about 135,000,000 have already accepted the metric 
 system in all its details, or have given to all the stand 
 ard units of their own systems, metric values. Add to 
 these 25,000,000 more in Mexico and South America, 
 and we have a total of 160,000,000 of civilized people 
 in Christian lands who are irrevocably committed to 
 the metric system ; while a considerable proportion of 
 the rest have made progress toward this system by 
 adopting metric values in part, like Denmark, and 
 Austria, and Turkey; or by adopting the decimal law of 
 derivation without as yet the metric values, like Swe 
 den : while there are seventy millions more, the people 
 of the British Islands and of the United States, who 
 have made the use of the denominations of the system 
 lawful in all business transactions within their territory.* 
 
 * For more exact statistics on this subject, see APPENDIX D 
 
52 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 PAST METROLOGICAL REFORMS NOT ATTRIBUTABLE TO 
 POLITICAL CAUSES, BUT TO THE FORCE OF PUBLIC 
 OPINION. 
 
 All this has been accomplished by the pressure of 
 public opinion ; it has been distinctively a movement 
 of the people and not of governments ; it is a social 
 rather than a political phenomenon. When the metric 
 system was first introduced into France, the -pressure 
 came from above, and was resisted by those upon whom 
 it pressed. The people did not understand the system 
 and they did not want it. In the discussions which 
 we hear going on about us concerning it at the present 
 time, the opponents of the system seem constantly to 
 assume that the same plan is to be pursued to-day ; 
 and that there exists somewhere an insidious design to 
 force the system upon peoples whether they like it or 
 not. That, I take it, is not the spirit of the modern 
 propaganda. Neither the British people nor the 
 American people are expected to accept this system 
 unless they think it best ; but the presumption of 
 some of us is that they will sooner or later think it 
 best. 
 
 CAUSES OF THE INDIFFERENCE TO METROLOGICAL REFORM 
 IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 But why, it may with justice be inquired, are our 
 people so far behind those of the continent of Europe in 
 appreciating the value of the metric system ? This is to 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 53 
 
 be accounted for by the same reasons which make them 
 comparatively indifferent to the existence of any inter 
 national system of weights and measures. In a large 
 country like ours, widely separated from the rest of 
 the world, the inconvenience of metrological diversity is 
 immediately and personally felt by the individual citi 
 zen only on rare occasions ; when, for example, he 
 travels in a foreign country, or when in his own he 
 meets a foreigner raw to our institutions, or when he 
 attempts to obtain some exact information from the 
 publications of other countries; while the disadvan 
 tages to which it daily subjects him operate in a man 
 ner so indirect, and are mixed up, too, with so many 
 other matters, that he fails to connect them with their 
 causes. We can easily understand the state of things 
 which would exist if we had no public standard of 
 weights and measures at all ; and if every tradesman 
 made his own system, and sold his customer, say, so 
 much for so much. This plan is illustrated in Diedrich 
 Knickerbocker s account of the dealings of the early 
 settlers of the Nieuw Nederlandts with the Indians 
 " every Dutchman s hand weighed a pound, and every 
 Dutchman s foot weighed two pounds." The incon 
 veniences and uncertainty of trade would be only a 
 little less if, instead of having as many systems as there 
 are tradesmen, we should have as many as there are 
 villages. If, for instance, while a man can get on very 
 comfortably among his immediate neighbors, he finds 
 himself, on driving four or five miles, entirely at sea 
 
,54 .THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 on the subject of quantities, he will be scarcely able to 
 prosecute any business of magnitude without an 
 amount of trouble and confusion quite intolerable. 
 Enlarge the communities within which common 
 systems prevail, and separate them more widely 
 from those which employ different systems, and the 
 evils which, in the original supposition, embarrassed 
 individuals, now affect the transactions which take 
 place between these communities. Operations are 
 larger, and they are mainly conducted by a particular 
 class ; but the misapprehensions, the delays, and the 
 increased expense attendant on these operations, are 
 charged, like the customs duties, upon the whole com 
 munity, without their being clearly conscious of the 
 fact. Our custom-houses, and our great importing 
 houses, are compelled, by the diversity of weights, 
 measures, and moneys with which they have to deal, 
 to employ an immense staff of computers, whose sole 
 business is to effect transformations of values upon the 
 invoices of the commodities which pass through their 
 hands ; and the salaries of all these employees are un 
 doubtedly paid by the consumers of the commodities. 
 
 Now, on the continent of Europe, where, in the 
 central part at least, the territories of independent 
 states have heretofore been small, while the population 
 is dense, the evil of a multiplicity of systems of weight 
 and measure, and of custom-house lines occurring 
 every ten, twenty, or thirty miles, has been felt as, of 
 course, we can never feel it ; and, therefore, there is 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 55 
 
 nothing surprising in the fact that the people of those 
 states have perceived the need of a common system to 
 be pressing, when we were not thinking of the matter 
 at all. Nor is it any more surprising that, in looking 
 about for a common system, and finding the metric 
 system to be an existing system, and a good system, 
 and, above all, an available system, and the only one 
 apparently available for the purpose, they should have 
 seized upon it, and legalized it, and made it permanent, 
 without too anxiously concerning themselves with the 
 questions whether the metre would not have been 
 better if it had been a little longer or a little shorter, 
 or if it had represented something different from what 
 it does represent, or whether, in fact, it does, after all, 
 really represent any thing at all. 
 
 UNIVERSAL PREVALENCE OF THE SYSTEM IN EUROPE 
 
 INEVITABLE. 
 
 : 
 
 Considering, therefore, the nature of the causes 
 which have induced one hundred and thirty-five 
 millions of the people of Europe to adopt the metric 
 system ; and considering furthermore that in Den 
 mark, Sweden, Norway, Austria, and Turkey, we have 
 fifty -five millions more who have shown, by their 
 legislation, their appreciation of the merits of this 
 system, or of the principles on which it is founded ; it 
 may, I think, be safely said that the universal exten 
 sion of this system over the continent of Europe is 
 only a question of time. 
 
56 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 THE SCIENCE OF THE WORLD FAVORS THE METRIC SYSTEM. 
 
 Besides the causes which I have mentioned, out of 
 which the important changes I have just described 
 have grown, it is to be remembered that there are 
 other influences of a very powerful description actively 
 at work to recommend the metric system to the favor 
 able consideration of the peoples which have not yet 
 received it. The principal of these peoples are the 
 English speaking nations, and the inhabitants of the 
 Russian empire. Now, for a very long period, it has 
 been true that the great body of the scientific men of 
 our own country, of Great Britain, and of Russia, have 
 been thoroughly impressed with the value of the metric 
 system; and many of them have been constantly in the 
 habit of using it. That there has been here and there 
 a dissenter may be admitted. Here, as elsewhere, 
 exceptio probat regulam. But a dissenter who, like Sir 
 JOHN HERSCHEL, holds that the system is good, but 
 that the base ought to have been a ten-millionth part 
 of something else, rather than of a quadrant of the 
 meridian, is not much of a dissenter after all ; and one 
 who, like Prof. PIAZZI SMYTH, bases his metrological 
 theories on religious grounds, and prefers the pyramid- 
 inch as his standard, as a matter of conscience, is not 
 likely to concentrate around him a very powerful party 
 of opposition. 
 
 Scientific associations in the countries just named 
 have memorialized their governments in favor of the 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 57 
 
 metric system. The British Association for the Ad 
 vancement of Science has done this repeatedly, and 
 the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg 
 has done it likewise. In the year 1866, the National 
 Academy of Sciences of the United States, on the re 
 port of a committee having Prof. HENRY, of the Smith 
 sonian Institution, at its head, (a committee which had 
 had for two years the subject in its charge), addressed 
 a memorial to the Congress of the United States, ex 
 pressing the sense of the Academy as to the importance 
 of establishing an international system of weights and 
 measures, and recommending the metric system as the 
 best existing. 
 
 The scientific journals, throughout the world, give 
 evidence of the growing practice of scientific investi 
 gators of using metric values in their experiments, in 
 their calculations, and in their writings. This began 
 in Germany very early. I find it to be true of POG- 
 GENDORFF S Annalen so long ago as the year 1800. At 
 the present time it is next to impossible to find any 
 other system of weights and measures but the metric 
 so much as occasionally named in any of the publica 
 tions devoted to physics and chemistry in all Germany. 
 Almost the same thing is true of the scientific period 
 icals of Russia, of Austria, of Denmark, and of Sweden. 
 I have very recently looked through the principal 
 journals of this class, published in the countries just 
 named, and what I assert of them, I assert from per 
 sonal knowledge. Men of science have adopted this 
 
58 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 system, not only because of their approval of its prin 
 ciples, but because it is a labor-saving machine of 
 immense capabilities. If you look into our own 
 scientific journals and those of Great Britain, you will 
 find that, what has just been remarked of the journals 
 of the continent, is true to a considerable extent of 
 them also ; and to an extent constantly increasing. 
 Our analytic chemists use the metric system altogether; 
 and with our physicists its use is becoming every day 
 more general. With the science of the world on its 
 side, therefore, the metric system has a powerful ally, 
 which, added to the influence of the material interests 
 enlisted in its favor, must make its final triumph in 
 evitable. 
 
 THE SOCIAL SCIENCE ORGANIZATIONS FAVOR THE SYSTEM. 
 
 It will be understood that the scientific associations 
 and the scientific men to whom reference is here made, 
 are those who deal with the exact sciences, or employ 
 themselves with material nature. Truth is the object 
 of their search; with the uses of the truth discovered, 
 or its relations to the human race, they do not concern 
 themselves. There is, however, another class of in 
 quirers, one to which I have earlier referred, whose 
 influence on the question before us is destined to be 
 powerfully felt, who have created in these modern 
 times a new science of their own, taking as their sub 
 ject precisely what the former class omits the rela- 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 59 
 
 tions of truth to humanity. In the scope of their 
 inquiries, they are most widely comprehensive, em 
 bracing equally all truth the moral and the psychol 
 ogical no less than the physical. They call their 
 science social science ; it might be called the philosophy 
 of philanthropy, for its object is to discover and remove 
 the causes of human wretchedness, whether they be 
 material, political, mental, or moral ; and to place the 
 human race in circumstances where it may work out 
 for itself a destiny the noblest of which it is by nature 
 capable. It is not through a merely native taste or 
 bias, that these men pursue the science they have 
 created. Their science is to them more than a love 
 it is a religion. Their impelling principle is deeper 
 than enthusiasm it is an earnest sense of duty. These 
 men, therefore, belong to that class whose characters 
 command the highest respect, and whose opinions 
 carry the largest weight among their fellow-men. 
 They, too, like others, have availed themselves of the 
 powerful machinery of associated effort. In many 
 enlightened lands, social science associations hold their 
 periodical meetings, and by means of the reports of 
 their discussions scattered among the people through 
 the public prints, and the wide circulation of their own 
 memoirs and journals, powerfully impress the public 
 mind. Within the past ten or fifteen years, there has 
 sprung up, in addition to the national organizations 
 here referred to, an international social science asso 
 ciation also, composed of men of every land, many of 
 
60 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 them men whose names have a world-wide celebrity. 
 The last meeting of this influential body was held in 
 1867; the next is to assemble in England, during the 
 ensuing fall. Among other measures adopted at the 
 meeting preceding the last, was the appointment of a 
 committee to draw up a complete code of international 
 law, to be presented for acceptance to the governments 
 of all nations, and to be binding upon all such as shall 
 assent to its provisions. The code is to comprehend 
 two grand divisions, presenting the rights and duties 
 of nations, first in peace, and secondly in war. The 
 first of these divisions, relating to peace, is now com 
 plete, and will be presented to the association at the 
 ensuing meeting. I am authoritatively informed that 
 it embraces provisions making the metric system of 
 weights and measures the common system for all the 
 nations accepting the code; and there can be no doubt 
 that the association will cordially concur with their 
 committee as to these provisions. The social science 
 associations may therefore be regarded as another 
 powerful influence, silently acting throughout every 
 corner of every civilized land, and throwing its whole 
 strength in favor of the universal adoption of the 
 metric system of weights and measures. 
 
 THE SYSTEM HAS BEEN RECOMMENDED BY INTERNATIONAL 
 CONFERENCES. 
 
 There are other influences co-operating with this, in 
 which the political principle is combined with the 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 61 
 
 social. The importance of endeavoring, in some way 
 or other, to arrive at a common system of moneys, 
 weights, and measures, has been felt by governments 
 to be sufficient to justify the calling of international con 
 ferences to discuss this very thing. Now, though these 
 conferences have not resulted as yet in bringing actually 
 to pass the object for which they were summoned, still 
 they have furnished an independent and an important 
 indication of the extent to which public opinion every 
 where is turning toward the metric system, as destined 
 inevitably to be at length the system of all mankind. 
 For while the money question has invariably elicited a 
 large variety of opinion, and while an agreement of all 
 the delegates upon any one proposition for the unifica 
 tion of the coinage of the world has been found ex 
 tremely difficult, if not impossible, to secure, yet, as to 
 the question of weights and measures, there has been 
 no difficulty whatever. At the Paris conference of 1867, 
 for example, twenty-two nations were represented, 
 including the non-metric nations, Russia, Austria, 
 Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Great Britain, the United 
 States, and Turkey. The report of the committee in 
 favor of the metric system was an admirable document, 
 drawn up by the celebrated DE JACOBI, of St. Peters 
 burg ; and it received the absolutely unanimous con 
 currence of all the delegates of all the nations. It is 
 impossible to regard a phenomenon of this kind with 
 out seeing in it both an indication and an influence 
 an indication showing the march of opinion hitherto, 
 
62 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 and an influence which cannot fail to be felt in ac 
 celerating this march. 
 
 THE INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL CONGRESSES HAVE 
 ADOPTED THE SYSTEM. 
 
 But there is still another and a still more powerful 
 influence, uniting, like that last mentioned, the social 
 and political features, which has been gradually taking 
 shape and gathering strength within the past twenty 
 years, which is also destined to act powerfully in favor 
 of the speedy creation of an international system of 
 weights and measures, and which is already committed 
 in advance to the metric system for that purpose. In 
 explanation of this remark I will state that, about 
 twenty years ago, there was assembled at Brussels, on 
 the invitation of the government of Belgium, a con 
 vention which assumed the name of " The First Inter 
 national Statistical Congress. 7 This body consisted of 
 two hundred and thirty-six members, who were about 
 equally divided between Belgium and foreign coun 
 tries, thirty-five being delegates appointed by govern 
 ments. This first convention, held in 1853, has been 
 followed by six others ; of which the second was as 
 sembled in Paris in 1855 ; the third at Vienna, in 
 1857 ; the fourth at London, in 1859 ; the fifth at 
 Berlin, in 1863 ; the sixth at Florence, in 1867 ; and 
 the seventh at the Hague, in 1869. The spirit in 
 which these great international assemblages origi 
 nated, is explained in the following brief extract 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 63 
 
 from the report of Mr. S. B. RUGGLES, of New York, 
 the delegate from the United States* to the convention 
 of 1869, at the Hague, recently published by order of 
 the United States Senate. "The distinguished pro 
 moters of the first congress, at Brussels/ says Mr. 
 RUGGLES, " had seen enough of modern statemanship 
 to know that the government of nations, in their pres 
 ent state of material progress, cannot be wisely con 
 ducted without a thorough knowledge of quantities ;" 
 and that the systematic collection and philosophical 
 arrangement of the "quantities 77 needed for showing 
 the general condition of nations, is "an indispensable 
 preliminary to any recommendation by an international 
 congress of any measures seeking to promote the gen 
 eral welfare. 7 In accordance with this spirit, "the 
 official report (or compte rendu ) of the congress at 
 Brussels shows its labors to have been largely devoted 
 to the scientific analysis of quantities, in subjects inter 
 esting to all nations, to be used as a basis of a uniform 
 system of inquiries, in actually collecting the necessary 
 facts. 77 And in like manner all the succeeding con 
 gresses have devoted themselves sedulously to the 
 labor of bringing together every description of facts 
 obtainable, in regard to the actual wealth, the pro 
 ductions natural and artificial, the condition of indus 
 try and commerce, the character of the social institu- 
 
 * Mr. RUGGLES also ably represented the United States in the fifth congress, 
 at Berlin. 
 
64 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 tions, and other matters of kindred interest, relating to 
 the various peoples who make up the population of the 
 globe. The results of such inquiries could only be 
 made available for any useful purpose, on the con 
 dition that all the "quantities" so ascertained should 
 be reduced to a form in which they could be com 
 pared ; on the condition, therefore, that they should 
 be expressed in denominations of the same system of 
 weights and measures ; and, accordingly, it has been 
 urgently recommended by all these congresses that all 
 statistical statements everywhere should be made in 
 terms of the metric system. The seventh and most 
 recent of these assemblies, moreover, inaugurated a 
 work which, if efficiently prosecuted, will be in honor 
 able harmony with the magnificence of the idea which 
 originated these congresses of the nations. The nature 
 of this work is thus stated by Mr. RUGGLES : On the 
 last day of the session, Dr. ENGEL, the distinguished 
 director of the statistical bureau of Prussia, presented 
 to the body, in general assembly, a plan of great com 
 prehensiveness and importance, which had been ma 
 tured after full discussion in the appropriate section, 
 and conversation with most of the governmental dele 
 gates. It provides for a full and systematic explora 
 tion of the whole field of international statistical in 
 quiry, which is divided for that purpose under twenty- 
 four different heads, each to be the subject of a separ 
 ate investigation by the delegates or members from 
 some one of the nations to be selected, and which is to 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 65 
 
 embrace the statistics under that head of all the 
 nations. This great work, if fully carried out, will 
 furnish, in convenient encyclopedist^ form, a systema 
 tic series of carefully prepared reports on most of the 
 subjects of highest interest to the statesmen and legis 
 lators of the different nations. Editions of at least 
 two thousand copies of each report are to be published 
 in uniform octavo volumes, under regulations pres 
 ented in the plan, which was unanimously adopted by 
 the congress, with strong expressions of approbation. " 
 Without the metric system, the vast mass of in 
 formation thus collected would be unavailable the 
 encyclopedia would be illegible. This system has, 
 therefore, thus become something more than a mere 
 instrumentality in the service of statistical science ; it 
 has become even an integral part of the science itself. 
 Henceforth the two are so irrevocably wedded that 
 they can be separated no more forever. 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL 
 CONGRESS. 
 
 The "International Statistical Congress " may now 
 be regarded as an established institution. Its eighth 
 meeting in the order of succession will be held some 
 time during the course of the year 1871, and probably 
 in St. Petersburg. Already the influence of its deliber 
 ations, of the published results of its labors, and of the 
 spirit of comprehensive statesmanship which it has 
 inculcated and fostered, is beginning to be sensibly 
 
66 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 felt, and with each successive decade of years it will be 
 felt with a power continually increasing, in educating 
 the minds of the peoples, and in moulding the coun 
 sels of governments into harmony with the great prin 
 ciple that nations only then consult their truest inter 
 ests when they consult the common interests of 
 humanity. 
 
 EARLIEST SUGGESTION OF THIS INSTITUTION BY 
 MR. ADAMS. 
 
 The germ idea of an agency which, with time, has 
 developed itself into a power capable of controlling, 
 and destined so largely to control, the future of human 
 history, is to be found in the report of Mr. ADAMS to 
 the House of Representatives of the United States 
 Congress, made in 1821, which has been already cited 
 in this paper. Though this report discouraged the 
 adoption of the metric system by Congress, and though 
 its reasonings had the effect undoubtedly to impress 
 the popular mind in this country with the conviction 
 that the introduction of the system into these states is 
 hopeless, yet the author himself was as deeply imbued 
 with admiration of this system, considered as a scien 
 tific creation, as the warmest of its advocates ; and no 
 one felt more profoundly than he, how great would be 
 the boon to humanity, if one uniform system of weights, 
 measures, and moneys could be made to prevail every 
 where throughout the world. In the view of his large 
 and statesman-like intellect, very many of the embar- 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 67 
 
 rassments which attend intercourse between nations, 
 spring from the selfish and narrow legislation which 
 looks only to the immediate interests or convenience 
 of particular communities, and disregards the results 
 to the great family of man. To him, all nations and 
 all races are brothers by blood, inheriting the earth as 
 their common patrimony ; and though, in the existing 
 state of human society, it is necessary that the artificial 
 lines which divide states from each other should be 
 preserved, it is eminently desirable that, for as many 
 purposes as possible, they should be kept out of sight. 
 He therefore proposed that the President of the United 
 States should be authorized to invite the government* 
 of the several states having diplomatic relations with 
 that of the Union, to appoint delegates to a congress 
 of nations, charged with the duty of deliberating upon 
 measures likely to be promotive of the general welfare ; 
 but, foremost and especially, upon the possibility of 
 establishing a uniform system of weights and measures 
 for all mankind. That this important proposition was 
 productive of no immediate result, is attributed by Mr. 
 RUGGLES, and with apparent justice, to the political 
 condition of Europe during all the earlier portion of 
 this century ; and especially to that compact of political 
 rulers for the suppression of liberal thought, and the 
 stifling of all freedom of political discussion, which the 
 momentous events of recent history have since shat 
 tered, known as " The Holy Alliance. 77 Happily, how 
 ever, at length, to use the vigorous words of Mr. 
 
68 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 RUGGLES, "We find the germ of the general conven 
 tion, planted by the far-seeing sagacity of Mr. ADAMS, 
 in 1821, though slumbering for a generation beneath 
 the surface, actually fructifying in 1853, when the first 
 general assemblage of nations by government delegates, 
 and really international in its objects, was convened in 
 Brussels." 
 
 From this epoch dates a new era in the history 
 of the world s legislation. For the enlarged views 
 of the reciprocal duties, as well as of the true in 
 terests of nations, in which this great general move 
 ment originated, are destined, through its instrument 
 ality, to impress themselves more and more completely 
 upon human institutions ; until statutes shall at length 
 cease to be monuments of ignorance, prejudice, or 
 ignoble jealousies, and the aim of all laws shall be the 
 greatest good of the greatest number. One most 
 important result has already been secured by the 
 action of these congresses ; in that, so far as the science 
 of statistics is concerned, so far, we may even say, as 
 the successful conduct of governmental administration 
 is concerned, it has made the metric system of weights 
 and measures a system of universal necessity, and 
 rendered a familiar acquaintance with it absolutely 
 indispensable to every statesman, every publicist, 
 every teacher or student of political economy, and 
 every enlightened lawgiver throughout the world. 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 69 
 
 ALL CAUSES CONSPIRE TO RENDER THE ULTIMATE 
 TRIUMPH OF THE SYSTEM INEVITABLE. 
 
 It thus appears that there are powerful, permanent, 
 and all-pervading influences steadily at work to ad 
 vance the cause of metrological reform ; and that these 
 influences conspire to forward the movement in the 
 direction which it had already spontaneously taken 
 that is to say, toward the ultimate prevalence of the 
 metric system of weights and measures over every 
 other. It further appears that the actual progress 
 which the movement has made since the century 
 began, has by far exceeded anything which could have 
 been reasonably anticipated, and has been sufficient to 
 justify the most sanguine hopes for the future. When 
 we consider, for example, that, at the close of the last 
 century, the simple measure of length called the foot 
 had not less than sixty different values still probably 
 many more actually in use in different parts of 
 Europe ; and that, in 1867, at an Exposition in which 
 the measures of all the world were all brought to 
 gether, there could be found only eight of this discord 
 ant class still surviving ; argument would seem to be 
 needless in behalf of a cause which is so manifestly 
 making its own way unaided. Whether our own peo 
 ple are to be participators in this grand movement, 
 which has already gone so far, is not with me a ques 
 tion of probabilities, but only a question of time. I 
 expect very little to-day, and not much to-morrow ; 
 
70 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 but beyond to-day and to-morrow there are other days 
 coming, from which I expect everything. I know the 
 strength of early associations and the power of rooted 
 habits ; I know how fondly men will hug the evil 
 which is familiar and reject the good that is strange. 
 I know that the Greenlander greatly prefers his icy 
 mountains to the coral strands of India. My inference 
 is, that we must look to a generation which shall not 
 be so mentally one-sided as ours ; a generation in 
 whose training the good shall not be placed at so 
 tremendous a disadvantage as it has been in our own ; 
 a generation which shall bring to this great metrolo- 
 gical question a judgment at once fair, candid, un 
 biased, and un warped by the prejudices which mis 
 lead and bewilder us ; to pronounce the impartial 
 decision for which, it must be sadly admitted, we seem 
 disqualified ourselves. And such a generation, gen 
 tlemen, permit me to predict, will yet be born upon 
 the American continent, if it is not born already. 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 71 
 
 II. Objections to the Metric System considered. 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 In all that I have hitherto said, I have not dwelt for 
 one moment upon the intrinsic merits of the metric 
 system itself. I have not thought that necessary. I 
 am addressing intelligent men who know the system, 
 and who know that, for the whole circle of our deal 
 ings with quantities, it stands, for easiness of appre 
 hension, for convenience of use, and for the degree to 
 which it facilitates reductions, precisely where our 
 Federal currency stands, among systems of money. 
 The simplicity of the relations, moreover, by which it 
 connects the measures of surface, of capacity, and of 
 weight, with the linear base, is such as is nowhere else 
 found ; and such as to make of the system a powerful 
 intellectual machine, and an educational instrumental 
 ity of inappreciable value. All this I pass by. But 
 I cannot pass so lightly by the objections which 
 have been urged against the system, and of which, in 
 my view, the importance has been, in most instances, 
 exaggerated beyond all reason ; since, through the 
 wide circulation of the report of your committee on 
 this subject, the high authority of this learned convo 
 cation has been made liable to be popularly regarded 
 as attesting their gravity. Consistently with the duty 
 imposed upon me on this occasion, therefore, I cannot 
 pass them by ; although the extent to which I have 
 
72 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 already trespassed upon your indulgence forbids that 
 I should examine them with all the fulness that I 
 could desire. 
 
 FIRST OBJECTION THE UNIT BASE TOO LARGE. 
 
 We are told, then, first, that the linear unit of the 
 system is too large. Too large for what ? Too large, 
 in the words of your committee, " to be apprehended 
 by a young and uninstructed mind." This is some 
 thing which I confess that / do not apprehend. A 
 metre, I suppose, can be brought into the school 
 room ; and can be seen without difficulty, even by a 
 very small boy, from end to end. I remember, when 
 I was a very small boy myself, seeing something 
 brought in which was about as long as a metre ; and 
 if I did not apprehend it at the time, I was at least 
 very apprehensive of it. 
 
 But Mr. ADAMS says the metre is too long for a 
 pocket rule. " Perhaps," he remarks, "for half the 
 occasions which arise in the life of every individual for 
 the use of a linear measure, the instrument, to suit his 
 purposes, must be portable, and fit to be carried in his 
 pocket. Neither the metre, the half-metre, nor the 
 decimetre is suited to that purpose." What then 
 would Mr. ADAMS have ? Would the foot rule fit into 
 a man s pocket more conveniently than the decimetre ? 
 Does any man carry a foot rule in his pocket in any 
 other than a folding form? And cannot a folded 
 metre be carried in the pocket as easily as a folded 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 73 
 
 foot ? I at least find it so ; as this rule proves, which 
 I here present you. But since we have not yet 
 adopted the metre as our unit, and since, after all, in 
 spite of what Mr. ADAMS says, or what anybody else 
 says, it happens to be notorious that a foot is not the 
 measure which, " for half the occasions which arise in 
 the life of every individual," is the most useful ; the 
 portable measure which we commonly find in men s 
 pockets is a tape measure of a yard or a fathom in 
 length, put up more compactly than is possible for 
 any rule, whether long or short. 
 
 As to what ought to be the value of the standard 
 length-unit, opinions differ. The British standard is a 
 yard. The Russian is the sagene, more than twice as 
 long. Capt. PIAZZI SMYTH almost fanatically attaches 
 himself to the inch, a measure which he believes with 
 implicit faith to have been divinely given to CHEOPS, 
 builder of the great pyramid, and again to MOSES in 
 the wilderness ; and in what he, no doubt, regards as 
 the great work of his life, he uses no other to express 
 the largest dimensions. 
 
 But it is also said that there are ihings to be meas 
 ured in the common affairs of life that are less than a 
 metre. I should suppose so. There are likewise many 
 things to be measured, less than a foot, or an inch. 
 They measure these things in England even though the 
 yard is their legal standard. In mechanical engineer 
 ing, in France, the centimetre is the unit ; in physics 
 the millimetre. It does not unfit them for these uses, 
 
74 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 that their names happen at the same time to be ex 
 pressive of relation to the standard. The metric unit 
 of weight in commerce is the kilogramme ; in analytic 
 chemistry and pharmacy it is the gramme. The metric 
 unit for dry measure is the hectolitre ; for liquid meas 
 ure, it is the litre; the metric agrarian unit is the hec 
 tare ; the metric itinerary unit is the kilometre. It is, 
 in fact, one of the merits of the system, that while, 
 like all other systems, it allows any denomination to be 
 made a unit measure for special purposes, yet it allows 
 also instantaneous transformations from one denom 
 ination to another without changing a figure, but by 
 the simple removal of a point. This cannot be done 
 in non-decimal systems. The inch, for example, is 
 with us the unit of the mechanical engineer and the 
 draftsman. The rod is the farmer s unit of distance. 
 But to reduce inches to feet you must divide by twelve, 
 changing all your figures ; and to reduce rods to feet 
 you must multiply by sixteen and a half. This plan 
 does not seem to me preferable to the metric. When 
 your committee say that in their opinion " other units 
 besides the base-unit should be used, as secondary 
 bases for collections of numbers," I agree with them. 
 It is what, in the employment of the metric system, I 
 have always been in the habit of doing myself. But 
 if, when they say this, they mean to say that values 
 expressed in units of these secondary bases ought not 
 to be transformable by the simplest processes possible 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 75 
 
 into units of the standard base, my impression is that 
 they will fail to carry the world along with them. 
 
 SECOND OBJECTION THE DECIMAL DIVISION TOO 
 
 DIFFICULT. 
 
 Another serious difficulty is started, of an educa 
 tional character. Ten, it seems, is a difficult number 
 to grasp ; and one-tenth part is a still more difficult 
 fraction. We can never know anything about one- 
 tenth, " until we have divided the unit into two equal 
 parts, into three, into four, and so on up to ten. 7 
 Since this is the case, it is melancholy to reflect how 
 much more objectionable is our actual system of 
 weights and measures than the metric ; since it will be 
 necessary to divide the foot into two equal parts, into 
 three, into four, and so on all the way up even to 
 twelve, before the faintest conception of an inch can 
 begin to dawn upon our minds ; and when we turn our 
 attention to the pound and the ounce avoirdupois, the 
 formidably protracted extent of this unavoidable 
 operation becomes quite disheartening. Still, however 
 grave this business of ten may be, I suppose that our 
 children must some time or other know something 
 about decimal arithmetic; and they will have to know 
 something about it whether they learn the metric sys 
 tem or not. If they know it, they know the system, 
 all but its nomenclature ; if they don t know it, then I 
 can conceive no educational machinery better suited to 
 make them know it, than the visible magnitude of the 
 
76 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 metric measures placed before their eyes. The ques 
 tion is not whether we shall teach the metric system to 
 babes, but whether we shall teach it along with the 
 arithmetic, and as a part of the arithmetic, which boys 
 must learn at any rate. The objector does not appa 
 rently discover that his argument is no less damnatory 
 to our Federal currency than to the metric system ; 
 yet my observation in the streets of New York satisfies 
 me that gamins of very tender years, without having 
 enjoyed the advantages of scholastic culture, or having 
 been carefully and systematically carried through the 
 mental operation of dividing the unit into two parts, 
 into three parts, into four parts, and so on up to ten, 
 acquire an acute appreciation of the relative value of a 
 dime stamp and a nickel. 
 
 THIRD OBJECTION THE DECIMAL DIVISION UNSUITABLE 
 
 FOR PRACTICAL PURPOSES. 
 
 It is objected again that, while the decimal ratio is 
 infinitely more favorable to calculation than any other, 
 yet for sensible objects, and for the daily purposes of 
 life, the binary subdivision is to be preferred. If so, 
 then let us use the binary so far as convenience may 
 demand. There is no need on this account to reject 
 the decimal, which for purposes of calculation is of 
 priceless value. No harm is going to arise from em 
 ploying both. We divide the dollar certainly into 
 halves and quarters, to our great convenience ; and 
 the decimal system of the Federal currency is none 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 77 
 
 the worse for that. We used to divide it into eighths 
 and sixteenths even ; and Mr. ADAMS says that, if the 
 Spanish mint had not furnished us with coins repre 
 sentative of these values, we should have been obliged 
 to coin them ourselves. Yet within ten years after 
 Mr. ADAMS wrote, we had effectually swept out all 
 this fry of foreign coinage, and nobody now perceives 
 the want of it. Again, the Swiss pound is half a 
 kilogramme. Take half any number of Swiss pounds 
 and you have kilogrammes. Double the number of 
 kilogrammes and you have Swiss pounds. The Swiss, 
 moreover, use both the decimal and the binary subdivi 
 sion. I presume they would not do this if they did not 
 find it for some purposes useful, as we do in our Federal 
 currency. The Swedes, some fifteen years ago, intro 
 duced the decimal subdivision, but they still retain 
 some binary relations. Some such binary relations 
 are recognized also by the French law ; but it does 
 not therefore follow, as your committee infer, that 
 this fact "must give rise to much confusion. ;? Neither 
 is it true, as they also maintain, that we cannot adopt 
 the essentials of this system without " adopting it as a 
 whole and excluding every other :" by which I under 
 stand them to mean that we shall not even adopt 
 metric values for our units, as Denmark has done, and 
 as Austria has done, and as Turkey has done to a 
 certain extent, without adopting the nomenclature 
 throughout, and sternly prohibiting the use of all 
 binary division ; or that we shall not adopt if we 
 
78 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 please the decimal relations, as Sweden has done, with 
 out adopting either metric values or the nomenclature; 
 nor adopt the metric values and the decimal system 
 complete, and yet reject the nomenclature, as Holland 
 continued to do for half a century, and has only 
 ceased to do within the last two years. Surely, things 
 that other people have done, we may do ; nor is there 
 going to be, as your committee apprehend, any "fierce 
 conflict " about the matter, nor any need to talk about 
 " the spirit of a free people," or to insist on the fact 
 that Americans are not habituated to " blind obedi 
 ence to imperial edicts." 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF METROLOGICAL REFORMERS MISAPPRE 
 HENDED. 
 
 Can it not be understood that nobody of the great 
 party who are seeking metrological reform and perfect 
 international accord on this important subject, is big- 
 otedly devoted to the metric system for its own sake ; 
 or resolutely determined to yield nothing that is in it, 
 or to accept nothing that is not in it, on any consid 
 eration whatever ? Their battle is for a common sys 
 tem, be that what it may ; but if they believe that 
 that common system will be found at last to embrace 
 the main features of the metric system, they are not 
 to be told that they shall have nothing else, if anything 
 else superadded to it will make it either theoretically 
 or practically better. Mr. ADAMS wrote fifty years 
 ago. What he wrote seems to have impressed your 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 79 
 
 committee much more forcibly than all that has hap 
 pened since. But the world has moved since the time 
 of Mr. ADAMS ; and it is perhaps not quite in order to 
 tell us that, if we think it a good thing to divide by 
 ten, we shall never be permitted to divide by any other 
 number so long as we live. The first great point to 
 be secured is commensurability of unit bases. That 
 point once gained, the battle is substantially over. As 
 for nomenclature and subdivisions, however important 
 these matters may be, their importance is secondary, 
 and they may be attended to afterwards. 
 
 THE DANGER OF JUMPING AT CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 Sweeping propositions are rarely wholly true. It is 
 not a fact that binary subdivisions of weight and 
 measure are always necessarily the best. In small 
 dealings, the convenience of buyers and sellers is best 
 consulted, when the multiples and submultiples of 
 quantities correspond with the multiples and sub- 
 multiples of coins. If a pound of any commodity costs 
 twenty-five cents, it would suit all parties who use the 
 Federal currency better, if we could divide the pound 
 evenly into five parts, than it does now to divide it 
 into four. Nothing is more certain than that quanti 
 ties bought and sold, and the instrument of purchase 
 and sale, should be subject to the same law. 
 
80 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 COMMENSURABILITY OF UNIT BASIS FIRST TO BE SOUGHT. 
 
 But, as just remarked, the first point and the great 
 point to be secured is, commensurability of unit bases. 
 This can be accomplished, if we please, with great 
 facility. Our foot differs from three decimetres by a 
 very inconsiderable fraction less than two-tenths of 
 an inch. If we make this slight change in the length 
 of our foot, we are in harmony with nearly all of con 
 tinental Europe. As for the other measures, they 
 present no difficulty when the measure of length is 
 once adjusted ; for measures of length determine the 
 dimensions of permanent constructions, while pounds 
 and gallons are for ascertaining quantities of sub 
 stances usually perishable. Men are disposed, there 
 fore, to adhere with more obstinacy to their measures 
 of length than to those either of weight or of volume. 
 
 PAST INSTABILITY OF BRITISH MEASURES AND WEIGHTS. 
 
 Mr. ADAMS S report shows that, in the past history 
 of England, nothing has been more unstable than the 
 value of the pound, the bushel, and the gallon. There 
 was a time when the gallon of liquid capacity con 
 tained only 216 cubic inches in one sense a judi 
 ciously chosen value, since it was just one-eighth part 
 of a cubic foot. The dry measure gallon contained, at 
 the same time, 264.34 cubic inches, corresponding to a 
 bushel of 2,114.68 cubic inches. And there was a 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 81 
 
 ratio connecting the liquid and dry measures, which 
 was that of the specific gravities of wheat and Gascon 
 wine. Mr. ADAMS is quite enamored of this dupli 
 city, which extended to the weights as well, between 
 which the ratio has been pretty closely preserved 
 down to our time. But this liquid gallon went on, as 
 Mr. ADAMS explains, to be successively 217.6 cubic 
 inches, 219.43 cubic inches, 224 cubic inches, and 
 finally, as with us now, 231 cubic inches. As to the 
 bushel, it seems to have had all sorts of value. By 
 statute of 1496, passed in the reign of HENRY YIL, it 
 seems to have been ordered that this measure should 
 contain 1792 cubic inches ; but this statute was never 
 carried out. There are two exchequer standards of 
 this reign, one of 2124 cubic inches, and one of 2146 
 cubic inches, which latter is called the Winchester 
 bushel. But then, under HENRY Till., we have the 
 large bushel of 2256 cubic inches, from which came 
 the ale gallon of 282 cubic inches, so long in use with 
 us. A bushel afterwards appeared, of 2148.5 cubic 
 inches ; and subsequently the Winchester bushel was 
 found to have somehow worked its way up to 2150.42 
 cubic inches : at which value it was, in 1701, made the 
 standard in England, and so became tl 
 
 us, as it continues to be yet. ^ffC^^**^**^ 
 
 ^ i *^ 
 
 Library* 
 
 California. 
 
82 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 SUMMARY PROCEEDING OF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT ON 
 THE SUBJECT. 
 
 But just three years and a half after Mr. ADAMS so 
 strongly expressed his regrets at the destruction of the 
 beautiful " uniformity of proportion " contemplated 
 by the theory of the British measures, the British 
 Parliament took this whole business in hand. Instead 
 of improving the capital opportunity afforded them of 
 correcting the irregularities which his report signalizes, 
 they quietly struck out of existence every measure of 
 capacity in use, whether wet or dry; and established 
 the system of imperial measures, wherein the bushel 
 contains 2218.1907 cubic inches, and the gallon 277.- 
 2738 cubic inches, to be used equally for commodities 
 of all descriptions. This was a tolerably formidable 
 change and a tolerably sudden change; but it occa 
 sioned no insurrection; nor did the people even run 
 after the carriages of the ministers, shouting " give us 
 us back our bushel;" as we are told they shouted in 
 1752, " give us back our eleven days, 7 when the Gre 
 gorian calendar was first introduced into England. 
 Changes of metrological systems, then, are possible, 
 and are possible even for us, without provoking 
 "fierce conflicts. 7 All that is necessary is that the 
 people should know what they are, and should feel 
 that they are desirable. 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 83 
 
 THE COMMITTEE OF THE CONVOCATION THEMSELVES ADVO 
 CATE REFORM. 
 
 Your committee themselves are not adverse to all 
 change. There is one modification of our system 
 of weights which they actually propose to our accept 
 ance. The recommendation is made moreover so im 
 pressively, out of a sense of " duty, plain and impera 
 tive," that for one I was prepared for something start 
 ling ; for at the very least a proposition to do away 
 forever with the perfectly unnecessary Troy pound. 
 I am compelled to confess my disappointment. The 
 proposed innovation so solemnly introduced is ex 
 plained in the following words: "In analyzing these 
 weights, it is found that the ounce in the apothecaries 
 weight and the ounce in the weight Troy are identi 
 cal, and that each exceeds the ounce avoirdupois by 
 its eighty-three-thousandth part very nearly; hence, if 
 the ounce Troy, or the apothecaries ounce, be dimin 
 ished by its eighty- three-thousandth part, the result 
 will be the ounce avoirdupois, or the one-thousandth 
 part of the weight of a cubic foot of distilled water, 
 and then these three weights will have a common 
 unit." 
 
 I have pondered this passage profoundly, but I have 
 not been able to see my way to the bottom of it. It 
 has been my lot to be compelled to transform Troy 
 ounces into avoirdupois ounces very frequently; but I 
 have always found the difference to be 42.5 grains, 
 
84 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 while it is here apparently hardly six one-thousandths 
 of one grain. Presuming, however, that something 
 may have been intended which is not said, and that, at 
 any rate, it is designed somehow to make the Troy 
 and apothecaries ounce equal to the avoirdupois 
 ounce, I accept this proposition as a concession so far 
 as it goes to the cause of uniformity and simplicity ; 
 but I ask what justification can exist, after abolishing 
 the smaller denominations, which alone are used by 
 the jewellers and dealers in bullion, or even by the 
 druggists (for the wholesale drug trade is carried on in 
 avoirdupois pounds) what justification can exist after 
 this, for retaining the useless pound of twelve ounces. 
 I would point out further that, since the ounce, 
 after being reduced by nearly its eleventh part, is still, 
 according to the proposition of your committee, to 
 consist of four hundred and eighty grains, the grain 
 must accordingly be reduced in the same proportion; 
 so that all the confusion which could arise in phar 
 macy and the trade in precious metals from changing 
 the grain for the milligramme, whereby something 
 might be gained, will be here introduced without gam 
 ing anything at all. 
 
 FOURTH OBJECTION THE DECIMAL DIVISION HAS FAILED, 
 
 AS APPLIED TO THE CIRCLE. 
 
 It has been furthermore urged as a fact very in 
 jurious to the pretensions of the metric system, that 
 this system has never been permanently applied to the 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 85 
 
 division of the circle, to which, if to anything, it ought 
 to be peculiarly adapted. Those who use this argu 
 ment ought to remember that the Arabic numerals, 
 the symbols of algebra, and the division of the circle, 
 are three things (and the only three things, I believe), 
 which were the same for all civilized mankind when 
 the metric system was created. To change the law of 
 circular division was to introduce diversity where uni 
 formity prevailed before ; and also to destroy the use 
 fulness of a vast scientific literature which had been 
 founded on the sexagesimal division. Yet the French 
 did make the experiment of dividing the quadrant 
 centesimally, both in tables and in instruments ; and 
 what was thought of its convenience by the ablest 
 astronomers and geodesists of that day may be inferred 
 from the following incidental remarks of DELAMBRE, in 
 his description of the operation of measuring the great 
 French meridian arc. " Three of our four circles," he 
 observes, " were divided into decimal grades or degrees, 
 each having the value of 360 -f- 400=0. 9 540 = 
 3240". This division is much the most convenient for 
 the uses of the repeating circle, and would be equally 
 so for the verniers of all instruments whatever. Many 
 persons hold to the old system by habit, and because 
 they have made no use of the new ; but no one of 
 those who have practised both, will willingly return to 
 the old." 
 
 When the metric system shall be universal, it is 
 probable that the decimal division will be once more 
 
86 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 applied to the circle. Nothing could be less conveni 
 ent than the sexagesimal which is now employed. And 
 in point of fact, this law of subdivision has been al 
 ready abandoned for all values below seconds ; such 
 values being now invariably expressed decimally, 
 though, two or three hundred years ago, it was carried 
 to thirds, fourths, and even fifths, as may be seen in 
 any old astronomical work, or in DELAMBRE S History 
 of the Astronomy of the Middle Ages. I regard this 
 objection therefore as without foundation. 
 
 FIFTH OBJECTION THE UNIT OF LENGTH SHOULD BE 
 SOME DIMENSION OF THE HUMAN PERSON. 
 
 But it is apparently a very strong point with most 
 objectors to the metric system, that our present meas 
 ures of length have their representatives the assump 
 tion is that they have their prototypes in the dimen 
 sions of some parts of the human body. Thus, your 
 committee say, the foot " was undoubtedly adopted as 
 a standard of measure from the part of the body from 
 which it takes its name. 77 Some foot was undoubtedly 
 so adopted, but what foot ? The Greeks used the foot 
 earliest, and the Olympic foot is said to have been the 
 measure of the foot of HERCULES. But there were foot 
 measures in use among them of several other magni 
 tudes ; and while it is difficult to know with certainty 
 what any of them were, compared with ours, it is not 
 difficult at all to ascertain that they differed widely 
 among themselves. Thus the authorities state that the 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 87 
 
 Macedonian foot was 14.08 inches, the Olympian 12.14 
 inches, the Pythian 9.72 inches, and the Sicilian 8.75 
 inches. Here, in the earliest history of this measure, 
 we have the largest room for choice. In more recent 
 times, the diversity has been greater still. Thus in 
 Italy the foot was, not long ago, 11.62 inches in 
 Rome; 13.68 inches in Lombardy ; 23.22 inches in 
 Lucca. In France, it was 9.76 inches in Avignon ; 
 9.79 inches in Aix-en-Provence ; 10.57 inches in 
 Rouen ; 14.05 inches in Bordeaux ; while the Pied du 
 roi, for France generally, was 12.79 inches. In Swit 
 zerland, it was 10.52 inches in Neufchatel ; 11.33 inches 
 in Rostock ; 11.99 inches in Basel ; and 19.21 inches 
 in Geneva. In the Spanish Peninsula, it was 10.12 
 inches in Aragon, and 10.96 inches in Castile. In 
 Germany, it was 9.25 inches in "Wesel ; 10.89 inches in 
 Bavaria ; 10.998 inches in Heidelberg ; 11.45 inches in 
 Gottingen ; and 13.12 inches in Carlsruhe. In the 
 Netherlands, it was 10.86 inches in Brussels, and 
 inches in Liege. These examples will suffice, 
 there are plenty more behind. w ~w 
 
 It can hardly be supposed that all these measures^ 
 were taken from the human foot ; it is hardly probable 
 that any of those used in the later centuries were so. 
 The name has been perpetuated from a very early 
 time ; but the thing named has either lost by degrees 
 its original value, or it has been arbitrarily changed. 
 As to the origin of the British foot, it is pretty easily 
 explained. There is no reason to doubt the account 
 
88 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 commonly given of the adjustment of the yard from 
 the arm of HENRY I., in 1101. The foot is certainly 
 derived from the yard, which has always been the 
 standard of length in England, and is simply the third 
 part of that measure. I know that we are continually 
 told that our American foot is in length but a fraction 
 in excess of the average foot of man. It astonishes 
 me that any one who has two feet to walk on himself 
 should ever entertain this opinion. The length of the 
 human foot is given in the Encyclopedia Britannica, 
 (authority Dr. THOMAS YOUNG) as 9.768 inches. Upon 
 how large an extent of observation this determination 
 is founded, is not known; but the question in issue is 
 pretty well settled in the volume of " Investigations in 
 the Military and Anthropological Statistics of American 
 Soldiers, by Dr. B. A. GOULD," published, in 1869, 
 among the Memoirs of the U. S. Sanitary Commission. 
 Nearly 16,000 individual men, volunteers for the 
 army, of very various races and nationalities, were 
 subjected to measurement, of whom about 11,000 
 were white, and the rest colored. Dr. GOULD says : 
 " The mean length [of the foot] was found for no 
 nationality to exceed 10.24 inches ; and for none to 
 fall below 9.89 inches ; the value for the total being 
 10.058 inches," or about a twentieth of an inch above 
 ten inches. This approaches much more nearly to a 
 quarter of a metre than to a third of a yard. 
 
 Let it be understood that nobody is objecting to the 
 foot measure. It is a very convenient measure to have. 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 89 
 
 If it were slightly modified so as to be equal to three 
 decimetres, it would be more desirable still ; but it is 
 quite unnecessary to defend it on the ground that it is 
 the measure of the human foot ; and it is judicious not 
 to do so, because that happens not to be the case. 
 
 However, the facility of measuring off the yard on 
 the arm is a fact which furnishes to the objector firmer 
 ground. We can do that. Sir JOHN HERSCHEL S rule 
 is : " Hold the end of a string or ribbon between the 
 finger and thumb of one hand at the full length of the 
 arm extended horizontally sideways, and mark the 
 point that can be brought to touch the centre of the 
 lips, facing full in front." Yery well ; now if you will 
 carry the string or ribbon entirely across the lips, and 
 mark the point that can be brought to touch the angle 
 of the jaw or the lobe of the ear, you will have a 
 metre. Or, if you carry the ribbon across the breast 
 instead of the lips, and bring it to the point character 
 istic of that part of the person, you will have a metre 
 once more. 
 
 The breadth of the palm is a decimetre ; the breadth 
 of the little finger at its extremity is a centimetre. A 
 pace is an artificial step, and not a natural one ; but 
 suppose that it were natural for us to stride three feet, 
 or suppose, at any rate, that we have learned to do 
 so ; and suppose that a metre is too large a step to be 
 easily acquired ; a pace is practically nine-tenths of a 
 metre, and any number of paces are reduced to metres 
 by dropping a tenth part. Thus, fifty paces are forty- 
 
90 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 five metres, and one hundred paces are ninety metres. 
 This reduction is the simplest of all possible processes. 
 Thus, I do not see that, by adopting metrical meas 
 ures, we are going to be in the slightest degree dis 
 abled from finding, in the dimensions of our own per 
 sons or of our steps, all the means of effecting rough 
 measurements which we possess at present ; and this 
 objection falls to the ground. 
 
 SIXTH OBJECTION AN OBJECTION OF THE COMMITTEE 
 
 WE CANNOT CONVENIENTLY DEAL IN ONE SYSTEM AND 
 THINK IN ANOTHER. 
 
 But there is still another practical objection which 
 is so perfectly well founded, that I hardly know what 
 to say about it so that I am not sure that the truest 
 wisdom in me would not be to let it alone altogether. 
 It is the undeniable truth, that, if we give up our 
 present measures we shall cease to have them any longer. 
 " What follows ?" say your committee with anxiety; 
 "we have blotted from the mind of the nation the 
 foot, and a knowledge of every measure into which it 
 enters as a unit. 7 This is evidently a serious business. 
 It reminds us of the sad case of the lad, who, having 
 eaten his cake, desired to have it again. The com 
 mittee go on to explain that, instead of twenty-five 
 feet we shall have to say something else ; and instead 
 of one hundred and forty-five miles we shall have to 
 say something else still. And exploring the extent of 
 the calamity, the committee become gloomily figura- 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 91 
 
 live ; and, speaking with deep emotion of " the cubic 
 foot, known wherever the English language is spoken," 
 they tell us that this cherished object "is also gone, 
 and in the twilight of its existence, we grope about 
 for a substitute." I do not deny that this is eloquence ; 
 but I respectfully submit that it is not argument. 
 There cannot but be same of us who will consider that 
 this tenderly lamented cubic foot, with its inconvenient 
 numerical relation to the cubic inch of 1728 to 1 ; and 
 its more inconvenient relation to the common unit of 
 liquid capacity of 1728 to 231 ; and its even still more 
 inconvenient relation to the unit of dry capacity of 
 1728 to 2,150.42, is very well out of the way. 
 
 I will not attempt to follow the committee further 
 in their lament. But I cannot omit to notice, in pass 
 ing, the perplexing embarrassment of the honest man 
 who, setting out to purchase the convenient quantity 
 of fourteen pounds of beef for his dinner, after there 
 have ceased to be any pounds, is astounded at finding 
 that he will be compelled to pay for the amazing num 
 ber of grammes expressed by the figures six thousand 
 three hundred and fifty-six ; or in case that he is bank 
 rupted by this huge demand, will be permitted to com 
 promise the matter only on condition of buying six 
 kilogrammes, three hectogrammes, five decagrammes, 
 and six grammes. I wish to present a parallel to this. 
 I go to my tailor for a coat, and he states to me the 
 price, in a sum expressed by the four digits named 
 above, in the same order, viz., six, three, five, six. 
 
92 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 The committee has given the general rule for reading 
 concrete decimal numbers, as follows : "All the read 
 ings are made in the lowest unit." Hence, the cent 
 being the lowest money unit involved in the price 
 named, my tailor is under the necessity of informing 
 me that I can have the coat for six thousand three 
 hundred and fifty-six cents ; and it will not be lawful 
 for him to vary the form of expression in any manner 
 unless to say, by way of alternative, that he will give 
 me the coat for six eagles, three dollars, five dimes 
 and six cents. 
 
 I would, however, advise the unfortunate man who 
 finds so much trouble with his marketing, not to buy 
 his meat by the pound after pounds have gone out of 
 date ; but to content himself with a round six kilo 
 grammes, or, in case he is very hungry, say six and a 
 half. 
 
 SEVENTH OBJECTION THE ADOPTION OF THE SYSTEM 
 
 WILL INVALIDATE LAND TITLES. 
 
 As it respects the objection that the introduction of 
 the new measures would invalidate the titles to lands 
 held under old surveys, nothing can be more imagi 
 nary. No legislation on this subject can be retroactive 
 it would not be constitutional if it were. The 
 registry of deeds in the past would continue to have 
 the same validity as now. In making a new deed in 
 the future, nothing would be easier than to translate 
 the language descriptive of linear and superficial di- 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 93 
 
 mensions from one form of expression to the other. 
 Changes would thus come on gradually, as property 
 should change hands. Deeds have to be made anew 
 when sales are effected, and only then. The labor of 
 making them in one form or the other is precisely the 
 same. 
 
 NINTH AND TENTH OBJECTIONS THE BASE NOT WELL 
 CHOSEN, NOR CORRECTLY DETERMINED. 
 
 One final objection, or pair of objections allied to 
 each other and closely connected together, I have re 
 served to be considered last. Some gentlemen honor 
 ably eminent in science have criticised the metric 
 system on the ground that its base is not well chosen. 
 This base purports to be the ten-millionth part of a 
 quadrant of the terrestrial spheroid. But it is said the 
 earth is not a spheroid, being rather an ellipsoid of three 
 unequal axes; whence it follows that the meridians are 
 unequal, and that the metre, if truly the ten-millionth 
 part of one quadrant, is not a ten-millionth of any 
 other differently situated in the ellipsoidal surface. 
 The polar axis of the earth, on the other hand, is the 
 common minor axis of all meridians ; it is a magnitude 
 entirely unique ; and, even if the earth were a true 
 spheroi d, there would be a higher degree of scientific 
 fitness, there would be something on which the mind 
 would dwell with more entire satisfaction, if we should 
 take a fraction of that axis as the base of a system of 
 metrology, rather than a fraction of any quadrant, or 
 
94 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 any other known magnitude. This is the view of Sir 
 JOHN HERSCHEL and of Capt. PIAZZI SMYTH, and if the 
 whole thing were to be done over again, it would 
 probably be the unanimous view of the scientific world. 
 But the matter has gone too far now to change the base. 
 In the meantime, therefore, there is no impropriety in 
 saying, that it is by no means yet proved that the 
 earth is an ellipsoid. Neither, indeed, is it proved 
 that it is a spheroid, if by that word is to be under 
 stood a figure geometrically true. What has been 
 proved may be understood from the following succinct 
 statement. 
 
 SKETCH OF GEODETIC OPERATIONS CONDUCTED HITHERTO. 
 
 There have been measured upon the surface of the 
 earth, in all, excluding re-measurements, some sixteen 
 meridian arcs. Most of these are very short, not ex 
 ceeding three or four degrees in length, and generally 
 less than two. The longest of them all is the Russian 
 arc, of twenty-five and one-third degrees ; and the 
 shortest, the first Swedish arc, measured in 1737, by 
 MAUPERTUIS, of fifty-seven and a half minutes. Two 
 short arcs have been measured on the American Con 
 tinent, one in Peru and one in Pennsylvania. The 
 latter, only about one and a half degrees in length, 
 was measured by Messrs. MASON AND DIXON, in 1767, 
 without triangulation, and is esteemed of compara 
 tively little value. The Peruvian arc, which is rather 
 more than three degrees long, was admirably triangu- 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 95 
 
 lated by BOUGUET and LA CONDAMINE, in 1735, and the 
 two or three years succeeding. A short arc of about 
 a degree and a half was measured at the Cape of Good 
 Hope by LACAILLE in 1751. In this measurement, the 
 effect of local attractions on the plumb-line was such 
 as to lead to very erroneous conclusions. This arc has 
 been recently re-examined and extended to more than 
 four and a half degrees, by Messrs. HENDERSON and 
 MACLEAR this operation bringing to light the causes 
 which had vitiated the former. A long arc of twenty- 
 one and a third degrees has been measured in India. 
 With the exception of the Indian, the African, the 
 Peruvian, and the Pennsylvanian arcs (the last hardly 
 meriting to be included in the enumeration), all the 
 rest are in Europe, and are embraced within limits of 
 longitude differing, at widest, but about twenty-seven 
 degrees. 
 
 -DETERMINATION OF THE EARTH S FIGURE FROM GEODETIC 
 MEASUREMENTS. 
 
 Now supposing the earth to be a spheroid, it mat 
 ters not, for the determination of its figure, what are 
 the longitudes in which meridian measurements are 
 made, provided the latitudes are different ; for on this 
 supposition degrees in the same latitude are equal 
 everywhere. Also, if the spheroid is oblate, the curv 
 ature in the higher latitudes will be less and the 
 degrees longer than in the lower. Now, as in an 
 ellipse, the linear amplitudes of any two arcs differently 
 
,96 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 i 
 
 distant from the apsides, along with the angles made 
 by the normals at their extremities, suffice to deter 
 mine the axis and the eccentricity, it was to be ex 
 pected that a comparison of any two properly selected 
 meridian arcs measured upon the earth s surface in 
 different latitudes, would furnish constantly the same 
 value of the polar and equatorial diameters, and the 
 same value for the compression of the poles. But this 
 expectation has been singularly disappointed. The 
 international scientific commission which, in 1799, fixed 
 definitely the length of the metre, in comparing the 
 French arc with the Peruvian arc, made the compres 
 sion of the earth one 334th ; but Messrs. LAPLACE and 
 LEGENDRE, both eminent geometers, members of that 
 commission, by comparing one portion of the French 
 arc with another, made it, the first, 1-1 50th and the 
 second, l-148th. DELAMBRE, one of the geodesists who 
 effected the measurement, deduced from his compar 
 isons with the Peruvian arc, the value, one 312th, and 
 afterwards one 309th. The French arc was subse 
 quently extended southward nearly three degrees 
 more ; making a total length of twelve and one-third 
 degrees, when a recomparison with the Peruvian arc 
 by DELAMBRE gave a compression of one 178th. The 
 effect of these differences of result upon the calculated 
 length of the quadrant of the meridian passing through 
 Paris would not be very great, upon the hypothesis 
 that the earth is really a spheroid ; for it happens that 
 the French arc is so situated as to give very nearly the 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 97 
 
 value of the mean degree, independently of the eccen 
 tricity. But if the earth is an ellipsoid, it is evident 
 that it is entirely wrong in principle to compare two 
 arcs with each other, when they differ materially in 
 longitude. 
 
 INVESTIGATIONS OF GEN. T. F. DE SCHUBERT. 
 
 Now it is a part of the history of this subject that, 
 in the year 1859, Gen. T. F. DE SCHUBERT, an officer 
 of the Russian army of distinguished ability, after a 
 laborious series of comparisons of several arcs com 
 bined two by two in all possible ways (the arcs were 
 eight in number, and the combinations twenty-eight), 
 found such remarkable discordances, that he felt him 
 self forced to the conclusion that the earth is not 
 spheroidal, but must be ellipsoidal in form. The com 
 pressions found by him varied, for instance, between 
 the wide extremes of one 14501st, and one 116th ; and 
 the difference between the largest and smallest value 
 for the polar axis amounted to 362,126 feet, or 68.584 
 miles. 
 
 Now observe what these deductions prove, and what 
 they do not prove. They prove certainly that the 
 earth is not a perfectly regular spheroid, and in this 
 they are corroborated by other evidences ; but they do 
 not prove it to be an ellipsoid. The corroborating 
 evidences just alluded to may be slightly glanced at in 
 passing. In the first place, the successive degrees of 
 the French arc do not increase, in going northward, in 
 
98 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 the manner they ought if the meridian is truly ellip 
 tical. And, secondly, it is true, that after that arc had 
 been extended southward, as above mentioned, to the 
 Island of Formentera, in the Mediterranean, the de 
 grees at the southern extremity were found actually to 
 diminish in going northward, instead of increasing, as 
 in a regular ellipse they should have done. 
 
 Colonel EVEREST, also, the accomplished geodesist, 
 who executed the measurement of the northern section 
 of the great Indian arc, found that, when he compared 
 the northern half of the northern section with the 
 southern half of the same section, he obtained an 
 eccentricity of one 192d ; but that when he compared 
 the southern half of the northern section with the 
 whole southern section, the resulting ellipticity was 
 one 390th, or only one-half as great. The values of 
 the polar axis of the earth also, obtained from these 
 comparisons, differed by 67,106 feet, or about 12.71 
 miles. 
 
 These facts (and many like them might be stated) 
 are to be borne in mind in judging how far the method 
 of General DE SCHUBERT, with the data thus far gath 
 ered to go upon, is to be trusted. This gentleman, 
 concluding very properly that comparisons of arcs 
 measured in different longitudes are unworthy of con 
 fidence, resolved to deduce values of the polar and 
 equatorial diameters of each meridian, by such com 
 parisons as that of Colonel EVEREST just described. 
 But here his material is at once largely reduced ; for 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 99 
 
 of the eight arcs employed in his previous comparisons, 
 only three are long enough to permit the application 
 of this method, viz. : the Russian, twenty-five and one- 
 third degrees ; the Indian, twenty-one and one-third 
 degrees, and the French, twelve and one-third degrees. 
 The British arc is now long enough to allow a fourth 
 comparison (ten and a quarter degrees), but it is so 
 nearly in the meridian of the French arc that it may 
 better be treated as a prolongation of that. Gen. DE 
 SCHUBERT divided each of his three arcs into two parts, 
 as nearly equal as convenience would allow. From 
 each he thus deduced a value for the major and 
 minor axis of the meridional ellipse. If his hypothesis 
 was true, the minor axes should have come out equal 
 and the major axes unequal. The latter anticipation 
 was realized, but the former only imperfectly so. The 
 polar axis found from the Russian arc, compares pretty 
 well with that found from the Indian ; differing only 
 about fifteen hundred feet, or rather more than a 
 quarter of a mile ; but the difference between the 
 values of the same axis, as deduced from the Russian 
 and the French, is fifteen thousand one hundred and 
 sixteen feet, or nearly three miles. On account of 
 this discrepancy G-en. DE SCHUBERT discards the French 
 arc in this computation, and determines a value for the 
 polar axis on the basis of the Russian and the Indian 
 alone ; giving, at the same time, quite arbitrarily, 
 twice the weight to the former as to the latter. And 
 with the axis thus determined and the aid of the Peru- 
 
100 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 vian arc. lie finds a third equatorial radius ; which, 
 combined with the Indian and Russian equatorial radii, 
 enable him to place the axes of his imaginary equa 
 torial ellipse. Finally, with the axes of the equator 
 and their longitude, and also the equatorial eccentrici 
 ty, he is able to compute the length of the equatorial 
 radius corresponding to the French arc ; and from 
 that, the length of the theoretic French quadrant. 
 Then, comparing this theoretic quadrant with the 
 length of the same as deduced from the actual meas 
 urement of its ninth part, he feels himself justified 
 in pronouncing the metre to be too short by the two 
 hundredth part of an inch. I think it does not require 
 a profound mathematician to see that the data on 
 which this conclusion rests are too meagre to justify so 
 important a deduction. The case is one to which Prof. 
 HUXLEY S witty remark upon the power of the math 
 ematics may be properly applied. " The mathema 
 tics/ observes the Professor, " may be compared to a 
 mill of exquisite workmanship, which grinds you 
 stuff to any degree of fineness ; but, nevertheless, 
 what you get out depends on what you put in. 77 And 
 here it appears to me that we are not yet prepared to 
 put in material enough to furnish us with a grist worth 
 carrying away. 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 101 
 
 INVESTIGATIONS OF CAPT. A. R. CLARKE. 
 
 Prof. AIRY perceived the weakness of this method 
 and pointed it out. He suggested an improvement on 
 it which is worth more, and his suggestion was taken 
 up by Captain A. R. CLARKE, an accomplished officer 
 connected with the ordnance survey of Great Britain. 
 This method consists in bringing together the latitudes, 
 determined both geodetically and astronomically, of as 
 many stations as possible, upon selected meridian arcs ; 
 and then, all the elements of the problem being left 
 indefinite, proceeding to ascertain what values given 
 to the indeterminates will make the sum of the squares 
 of the errors of latitude a minimum. He first pre 
 sented his results to the Royal Astronomical Society, 
 in 1860; and afterwards, having slightly modified some 
 of his data, republished them in an appendix to a large 
 volume issued in 1866 by the Royal Ordnance Survey. 
 His last conclusion puts the metre in error one 172d 
 of an inch. The number of latitudes employed by 
 Captain CLARKE in this investigation is forty. Some 
 slight variations made upon a portion of those in the 
 Russian and the French arcs, between the first and the 
 second determinations, amounting generally only to 
 very small fractions of seconds, produced a sensible 
 difference in the length of the polar axis, in the value 
 of the compression, and in the computed error of the 
 metre ; reducing this last from one 163d of an inch, 
 which was his original determination, to one 172d, as 
 
102 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 given above. But Captain CLARKE himself regards 
 the data as entirely insufficient to make a correct 
 determination of the earth s figure a possibility. His 
 own words are : " It would scarcely, I conceive, be 
 correct to say that we had proved the earth not to be 
 a solid of revolution. To prove this would require 
 data which we are not in possession of at present, 
 which must include several arcs of longitude. In the 
 mean time it is interesting to ascertain what ellipsoid 
 does actually best represent the existing measure 
 ments." And having found this, he proceeds next to 
 apply the same method, i. e., the method of least 
 squares, to the object of ascertaining, secondly, what 
 spheroid will best represent existing measurements ; 
 and he is brought thus to the conclusion that such a 
 spheroid is nearly as probable as an ellipsoid ; the 
 numbers representing these probabilities being 154 
 and 138 respectively (where the smaller number indi 
 cates the greater probability). We may admit then 
 that the ellipsoidal theory is slightly the more prob 
 able ; and with this preliminary we are prepared to 
 consider the two objections spoken of above. 
 
 CONSIDERATION OF THE NINTH OBJECTION RESUMED. 
 
 The first is, that the earth s meridians being unequal, 
 the ten-millionth part of a quadrant, even if we had 
 such a measure correctly, could be only the ten-mil 
 lionth of one particular quadrant, so that the ideal of 
 a natural standard everywhere present and belonging 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 103 
 
 equally to all the world must be abandoned. Still it 
 cannot be denied that the quadrant chosen, though a 
 particular quadrant, possesses the essential property of 
 a standard, that is to say, invariability, quite as com 
 pletely as if all the quadrants were equal. If this 
 natural standard were intended to be, or were capable 
 of being made, a standard of convenient reference, and 
 not merely a standard of value ; if, in other words, a 
 tradesman, suspecting his metre to be in error, could 
 adjust it by simply stepping out of his door and apply 
 ing it to the earth s meridian ; there might be some 
 reason for complaint on the part of those, and they 
 would be the majority of mankind, whose distance 
 from the standard would deprive them of this facility. 
 This not being the case, no practical disadvantage 
 arises out of the inequality of the meridians, and it is 
 only the simplicity of the original conception that 
 suffers. 
 
 THE TENTH OBJECTION DISCORDANCE BETWEEN THE 
 
 ACTUAL AND THE THEORETICAL METRE. 
 
 The second objection to the base of the system an 
 objection which is often urged in a tone which implies 
 that the objector regards it as nothing less than fatal 
 is that the metre is not, after all, exactly the ten-mil 
 lionth part of the particular meridian from which it 
 was derived. It is possible that it is not : nay, we 
 may safely assert that it would be nothing short of a 
 miracle if it were. We have glanced at the condition 
 
104 THE METRIC SYSTEM OP 
 
 of the problem of the earth s figure and magnitude in 
 the hands of the geodesists. We have seen that every 
 meridian measurement which has yet been made has 
 served but to accumulate evidence that this figure is 
 not geometrically regular, and is not probably, if 
 words are to be applied with severe exactness, either 
 spheroidal or ellipsoidal. It will easily be understood 
 that a local irregularity actually affecting but a limited 
 extent of a terrestrial arc, may, when it is allowed to 
 give character to a whole circumference, lead to extra 
 ordinary conclusions ; and we have seen the fact that 
 it will do so, illustrated in the examples cited from 
 Col. EVEREST and others. What hope can there be 
 that the effects of such irregularities can be eliminated 
 by an investigation which, however admirable in prin 
 ciple and however ably wrought out, rests on a com 
 parison of only forty latitudes ? Not a single geodetic 
 measurement has yet been made in all the immense 
 expanse of northern and eastern Asia, of northern and 
 central Africa, or of Australia and the Australasian 
 archipelago. ]\ T or, except in the small Peruvian arc, 
 and the still smaller Pennsylvanian, which latter does 
 not count, has the great American continent made any 
 contribution to the solution of the difficult problem 
 under consideration. When we consider, therefore, 
 that the introduction of minute corrections, amounting 
 only to small fractions of seconds, into only a part of 
 the data employed in Captain CLARKE S equations, 
 suffices to modify the resulting dimensions of the earth 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 105 
 
 to such an extent as to produce, as we have seen, a 
 very sensible change in the calculated value of the 
 error of the metre, I think that the assertion just now 
 made will be admitted to be perfectly well founded, 
 i. e., that if the length given originally to the metre 
 had been exactly the ten-millionth part of the Paris 
 meridian, this result would have been neither more nor 
 less than a miracle. I may further add that, even if 
 the metre had been quite correct, its authors could not 
 have known it to be so, and we should not know it to 
 be so now. When measurements shall have been 
 made in those vast regions just mentioned, which have 
 not yet been attacked by the geodesists, and when, 
 instead of forty latitudes, four thousand shall have 
 been thrown into the hopper of Prof. HUXLEY S mill 
 (though I confess that in such a case I should not be 
 envious of the miller s task), we shall get out an in 
 evitably different and a very certainly more satisfactory 
 grist than has yet been ground for us. In the mean 
 time, we may as well take the metre as we find it, and 
 not concern ourselves about this Protean and micro 
 scopic fraction of error, which has so long been thrown 
 up to it as a reproach. 
 
 EVERY ASSUMED "NATURAL STANDARD 77 LIABLE TO THE 
 SAME OBJECTION, WHICH IS THEREFORE NO OBJECTION 
 AT ALL. 
 
 It is a little remarkable that the objectors who find 
 the error of the metre to be so grave a blot upon its 
 
106 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 character, should nevertheless agree in urging us to 
 accept a standard derived from another natural dimen 
 sion of the earth, equally invariable no doubt with the 
 quadrant, but at the same time equally unmeasurable 
 the polar axis or the polar radius. This is a dimen 
 sion of which the authorities give us as many different 
 values as they give of the quadrant ; and of which 
 they are sure to give us a new one every time an addi 
 tion is made, no matter how trivial, to the data from 
 which it is deduced. The values fluctuate perhaps 
 between narrower limits of variation ; and if the ten- 
 millionth part of the earth s polar axis or the earth s 
 polar radius were our theoretic metre, the absolute 
 error of our practical metre would be probably rather 
 less in proportion to its length, than that of the metre 
 now in use. But the error would be there none the 
 less ; for, as before, it would be nothing short of a 
 miracle if it were not ; and between two errors, both 
 of them microscopic, and neither of them affecting any 
 conceivable human interest, I see for my own part 
 little to choose. If the advocates of the radius metre 
 could come to the defenders of the quadrant metre, 
 and say to them, "Here, you see our metre has no 
 error at all, and yours has one, 77 the case would be a 
 strong one ; but that does not seem to be the case. 
 Since these things are so, why then, you may inquire, 
 should we endeavor to fix our standard of length with 
 reference to either axis or quadrant or any other 
 dimension which we do not know, and which it is per- 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 107 
 
 fectly certain that we shall never be able exactly to 
 ascertain ? That, gentlemen, is a question which you 
 may very well ask, but which I shall not attempt to 
 answer. I accept the metre as it is, not because it is 
 the ten-millionth part of the French quadrant (though, 
 according to Captain CLARKE, it is the ten-millionth 
 part of the quadrant passing through New York, with 
 in less than the ten- thousandth part of an inch), but 
 because it is the actual base of an admirable system of 
 weights and measures already in use among one hun 
 dred and sixty millions of people, rapidly growing in 
 favor among those who have not yet adopted it, and 
 destined in my belief to be sooner or later the system 
 of all the world. 
 
 NO COERCIVE MEASURES DESIRED IN BEHALF OF THE 
 METRIC SYSTEM. 
 
 But, gentlemen, I do not expect that this system 
 will make its way in the world against the will of the 
 people of the world. I do not expect that our people, 
 and I do not desire that any people, shall be coerced 
 into receiving it by the force of " imperial edicts" or 
 by the terror of bayonets. What I do expect is, that 
 they will sooner or later welcome it as one of the 
 greatest of social blessings. What I do expect is, that 
 they will one day become conscious of the many in 
 conveniences to which they are subjected from the 
 anomalous numerical relations which connect, or rather 
 
108 - THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 we might say, disjoin, the several parts of their pres 
 ent absurd system ; inconveniences which they have 
 learned to endure without reflecting on their causes or 
 suspecting that they were unnecessary in the nature of 
 things ; and that when fully at length awake to the 
 slavery in which they live, they will burst its shackles, 
 and rejoice in the deliverance which the metric system 
 brings. This cannot take place, of course, until the 
 people are thoroughly informed. There are influences, 
 therefore, which are now only beginning to operate, 
 which must first have their full course before the re 
 sults I anticipate will make themselves manifest. 
 
 EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCES TO BE INVOKED. 
 
 The first and most important of these is the educa 
 tion of the young to a thorough understanding of this 
 system, and a perfect familiarity with its practical ap 
 plications. The metric system must be taught in all 
 our schools. It ought of course to be taught there, as 
 being the system actually in use among nearly or quite 
 half the inhabitants of the civilized world already, 
 and without any regard to the question whether it is 
 to be ours or not. But it ought to be taught, too, 
 with special reference to this question, in order that 
 another generation may meet it and settle it intelli 
 gently. And I think I hazard nothing in saying, that 
 when one generation shall have grown up, into whose 
 minds this knowledge shall have entered along with 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 109 
 
 the first rudiments of their learning, the question will 
 no longer have two sides. 
 
 CUSTOMS DUTIES TO BE LEVIED ON THE BASIS OF THE 
 METRIC MEASURES AND WEIGHTS. 
 
 But, in the second place, the system should be prac 
 tically illustrated before the eyes of our people, by 
 being introduced into our custom-houses, and made 
 the guide according to* which duties are assessed and 
 collected. This measure will disturb the habits of no 
 one in the affairs of ordinary life. Importing and ex 
 porting merchants will interpose no objection to the 
 change. On the contrary, they will welcome it as 
 greatly diminishing the amount of computation which 
 they are now compelled to make. It is, in fact, the 
 complaint of Capt. PIAZZI SMYTH, that it was the 
 pressure of the commercial class which came so near 
 to making the metric system the exclusive system in 
 England in 1868. Our tariff laws will require trans 
 formation ; but that transformation may be made 
 without in any manner disturbing their essential pro 
 visions : so that no trouble need arise from this cause. 
 What it is here proposed to do is nothing more nor 
 less than what was actually done, some thirty years 
 ago, by all the members of the German Zoll-verein. 
 And though the state of things produced by it there 
 will be superseded on the first of January, next, by 
 the extension of the metric system in full over all the 
 
110 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 component states of the late North German confedera 
 tion, if not over the entire German empire ; yet it 
 will still exist in Austria, and will continue to exist in 
 that empire until she, too, shall adopt the same system 
 for her domestic affairs likewise. 
 
 PUBLIC SURVEYS TO BE CONDUCTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH 
 THE MEASURES OF THE METRIC SYSTEM. 
 
 By degrees our Federal government may introduce 
 the metric weights and measures into our public sur 
 veys ; such as the coast survey, the several boundary 
 surveys, the geological, topographical, and land sur 
 veys of the territories, and the surveys of the lakes. 
 In the published reports of these works, or at least in 
 such of them as are intended for, or are likely to have, 
 a large circulation among the people, it would be 
 advantageous, and would familarize metric values to 
 the popular apprehension, if dimensions, quantities, 
 and weights should be expressed both in metric denom 
 inations and those of the existing system. 
 
 NAVAL AND MILITARY ESTABLISHMENTS REQUIRED TO 
 USE THE SYSTEM. 
 
 The metric weights and measures may further be 
 introduced into actual use in the navy yards and 
 military posts maintained by the government in the 
 different parts of our territory ; and, finally, the busi- 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. Ill 
 
 ness of the post office department may be largely, if 
 not wholly, conducted, so far as weights and measures 
 are concerned, in metric denominations. 
 
 THESE MEASURES RECOMMENDED BY THE PARIS CONFER 
 ENCE OF 1867. 
 
 These are measures which were unanimously recoTii- 
 mended by the international conference on weights, 
 measures, and moneys, which was convened in Paris, 
 in 1867, consisting of delegates appointed by the 
 governments of twenty-two different nations, includ 
 ing, of those not using the metric system, Austria, 
 Russia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Turkey, Great 
 Britain, and the United States. To most of them, as 
 it appears to me, there can be no reasonable objection, 
 even on the part of those who have no admiration for 
 the metric system themselves, and no faith in the pre 
 diction of its final prevalence. If nothing follows 
 them, they can at least do no harm. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 I have occupied, gentlemen, a larger portion of your 
 time than I intended, and larger, I fear, than will have 
 seemed to you reasonable. The subject itself is a large 
 one, and my interest in it is deep. I am so far from 
 pretending to have exhausted it, that I feel that what 
 I have said is but the merest skeleton of an argument. 
 I wish to be indulged only in a single additional re- 
 
112 THE METRIC SYSTEM OF 
 
 mark, which shall be in regard to the able and com 
 prehensive, and, at times, eloquent report of Mr. JOHN 
 QUINCY ADAMS, which you have republished in the 
 same volume with the report of your committee. 
 
 The original publication of that report, able and 
 powerful as it is, and for the very reason that it is 
 able and powerful, I esteem to have been a serious 
 public misfortune. It effectually extinguished all hope 
 of metrological reform in the United States for half a 
 century. And yet Mr. ADAMS, decidedly as he dis 
 couraged any legislation, at least for the time being, 
 and apparently for a very long time, looking toward 
 the recognition of the metre in America ; darkly as he 
 drew in the lines as he painted the picture of France 
 writhing in the toils which the metric system had 
 thrown round her ; and fondly as he lingered over that 
 beautiful system of British weights and measures dis 
 tinguished by the priceless property of a "uniformity 
 of proportion " of which he laments that there remain 
 to us only the ruins ; Mr. ADAMS, after all, was an 
 admirer of the metric system to such an extent, that 
 one is sometimes at a loss to d.ecide whether he seems 
 to love or to fear it most. In the midst of his doubts 
 and his misgivings, he cannot refrain from occasionally 
 enlarging upon its merits, in language strong enough 
 to satisfy even the most enthusiastic of its advocates. 
 And when for a moment he succeeds in forgetting 
 France, and in shaking himself free from the embarras 
 sing associations of the immediate present, he becomes 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 113 
 
 as it were inspired with a spirit of prophecy, under 
 the influence of which he is oblivious of all diffi 
 culties, and glowingly anticipates that very approach 
 ing triumph which his own labors are destined so con 
 siderably to postpone. No words that I can use can 
 add to the positiveness of assertion with which he pre 
 dicts that final consummation to which I have declared 
 to you to-day that I so confidently look forward. I 
 cannot do better, therefore, in concluding these re 
 marks, to which I thank you for having so indulgently 
 listened, than to adopt his own language, and to ex 
 press with him the conviction that, "If man upon 
 earth be an improvable being, if that universal peace 
 which was the object of a Saviour s mission, which is 
 the desire of the philosopher, the longing of the phil 
 anthropist, the trembling hope of the Christian, is a 
 blessing to which the futurity of mortal man has a 
 claim of more than mortal promise ; if the Spirit of 
 Evil is, before the final consummation of things, to be 
 cast down from his dominion over men, and bound in 
 the chains of a thousand years, the foretaste here of 
 man s eternal felicity ; then this system of common 
 instruments to accomplish all the changes of social and 
 friendly commerce will furnish the links of sympathy 
 between the inhabitants of the most distant regions ; 
 the metre will surround the world in use as well as in 
 multiplied extension; and one language of weights and 
 measures will be spoken from the equator to the 
 poles." 
 
APPENDICES. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 NOTE ON THE UNIFICATION OF MONEYS. 
 
 (REFERRED TO OX PAGE 24.) 
 
 THE expediency, or rather, in fact the necessity, of treating 
 independently and separately the difficult question of the unifi 
 cation of the monetary systems of the world, is made imme 
 diately evident when we consider that, though moneys are 
 measures of value, their relations to the measures of material 
 quantity are not fixed by any necessary law. In all systems of 
 ordinary metrology, to settle the standard of length, settles the 
 standards of capacity and weight as well ; but it leaves the 
 standard of money still unsettled, and permits most widely dif 
 ferent views to be maintained on this point, with almost equal 
 plausibility. There are besides, as mentioned in the foot note on 
 page twenty-four, a number of considerations which specially 
 complicate the monetary problem ; and to postpone the simpler 
 question of metrological reform until all these can be disposed 
 of to the satisfaction of all nations, would be as unwise as it 
 is unnecessary. 
 
 The popular impression is undoubtedly quite the reverse of 
 this. It is an opinion easily taken up upon a primd facie view 
 of the subject, that the pound sterling of Great Britain, the 
 dollar of the United States, and the franc of the French re 
 public, might, by the simplest process of legislation in the world, 
 be reduced to a regular geometrical series of values. Hence 
 therefore it is probable that everybody, who knows anything 
 about these important national money-units and the relations 
 
113 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 in which they stand to each other, has often said to himself, in 
 the language of one of the resolutions reported to the Convoca 
 tion of the University of the State of New York, by their com 
 mittee on weights, measures, and coinage, that " such changes 
 should be made in the values of the franc, the dollar, and the 
 English pound sterling, that five francs be exactly equal in value 
 to one dollar, and five dollars exactly equal in value to one 
 pound sterling." It was surely not an observation so little pro 
 found as this, that the convocation had a right to expect of 
 their committee. Considered as a help toward the attainment 
 of the desired uniformity of currencies, it rather reminds one of 
 good Mrs. Nickleby s very practical suggestions to her embar 
 rassed husband. "My dear Nicholas," said this excellent lady, 
 " why don t you do something ? Why don t you make some 
 arrangement ? " 
 
 The committee propose to the convocation to resolve that the 
 discordance existing between the monetary systems of three great 
 nations ought to disappear. But this is only what all the world 
 resolved long ago ; and therefore it has happened, that the sun 
 dry international conferences which have been called during the 
 last fifteen years to consider this subject, have wasted no breath 
 in axiomatic propositions and empty generalities, but have given 
 all their collected strength to the study of the knotty problem, 
 how this thing is to be done. To the solution of this problem, 
 considered by the ablest publicists and profoundest financiers 
 of all nations to be one of the most perplexing with which legis 
 lation has to grapple, the committee might surely have contrib 
 uted something, had it been only in the way of making known 
 the difficulties by which the question is embarrassed. This 
 would have been better than, like Mrs. Nickleby, to recom 
 mend that the nations should " make some arrangement." 
 
 Without attempting to exhaust the subject, let us hint at a 
 few of these embarrassments. The pound sterling, the dollar, 
 and the franc are respectively units of the money of account 
 
UNIFICATION OF MONEYS. ] 19 
 
 of the peoples of Great Britain, the United States, and France. 
 The pound sterling is represented in currency by a gold coin, 
 called a sovereign; the dollar, by a coin of either gold or silver, 
 called also a dollar; and the franc, by a silver coin, bearing like 
 wise the name franc ; but a coin of five francs is struck either 
 in gold or in silver. The British mint coins silver, but gold is 
 the standard metal, and the silver coins are legal tenders only 
 for small amounts. In France and the United States, gold and 
 silver are both standard metals or there exists legally what is 
 called a double standard; hence all gold coins in either country, 
 and all silver dollars in the United States, or silver five franc 
 pieces in France, are legal tenders for all amounts. The theor 
 etic basis of the French system cf coinage is the silver franc 
 (composed of nine parts of pure silver to one part of alloy), 
 having the metric weight of five grammes. This coin, which is 
 now no longer issued from the mint, and which has long since 
 ceased to have a practical existence, was also a legal tender for 
 any sums while it lasted. The present silver currency of France, 
 with the exception of the silver five-franc piece, is a debased 
 coinage, and is not legal tender except in small transactions. 
 Similarly, the silver currency of the United States below the 
 silver dollar, is, if not debased, at least degraded, by being 
 diminished in weight, so that its nominal value is greater than 
 its real value, and it is not a legal tender except for trifling 
 sums. Now the reason why the silver legal tendtrs have disap 
 peared from circulation in France and the United States, is 
 explained as follows. 
 
 Since, to coins of determinate legal value, determinate weights 
 must be assigned and permanently maintained, it follows that, 
 where the double standard exists, the relative value of gold and 
 silver must be fixed by law. But the relative value of these two 
 metals is not fixed in the nature of things, any more than is 
 that of any other two commodities. It varies with the varying 
 supplies of these two metals respectively, and of the varying de- 
 
120 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 mand for them, not only for the purposes of coinage, but also for 
 the uses of luxury and of the arts. Accordingly, in the course of 
 the last few centuries, it has widely fluctuated in Europe. About 
 the middle of the thirteenth century, gold was worth in Eng 
 land only about ten times as much as the same weight of silver. 
 A century later, the ratio stood as twelve and a half to one. 
 The highest point it has ever attained appears, by the researches 
 of E. B. ELLIOTT, Esq., Statistician to the United States Treas 
 ury Department, to have been fifteen and eighty-three one-hun- 
 dredths to one. The same authority puts this ratio, now, at 
 fifteen and thirty-eight one-hundredths to one. Now, the ratio 
 between legal tender silver and legal tender gold is, in tho 
 United States, sixteen to one. And as a gold dollar will pay a 
 debt as well as a silver dollar, while the gold dollar is really 
 worth only fifteen and thirty-eight one-hundredths times its own 
 weight of silver, and the silver dollar weighs sixteen times as 
 much as the gold dollar, it is evidently for the interest of the 
 holder of silver dollars to deprive them of their character as 
 coins, by melting them up ; and to sell the resulting bullion for 
 gold dollars. Hence the disappearance of our legal tender sil 
 ver, and the degradation by law of our smaller silver currency 
 to a degree which brings down the ratio so low as to fourteen 
 and eighty-eight one-hundredths to one. 
 
 The French have fixed the ratio between these two metals at 
 fifteen and five-tenths to one. This is nearer the present truth, 
 but it is still sufficiently too high to allow the circulation of legal 
 tender silver ; and, accordingly, the legal tender silver franc, 
 which is the theoretic basis of the system (in the absence of 
 which this system, considered as a metrical system, is com 
 pletely fictitious), has ceased to be coined, and exists only in 
 name. 
 
 Now, if the law in France which fixes the relative value of the 
 two standard metals should be slightly changed, so as to make 
 the ratio fifteen to one, it is obvious that the silver five-franc 
 
UNIFICATION OF MONEYS. 121 
 
 pieces, of which many still exist, would immediately return to 
 circulation, and would be in great demand; also, that the legal 
 tender franc might again be safely coined, though possibly it 
 might not be coined largely on account of the greater wear of 
 small coins by abrasion. And from this time forward it is 
 equally obvious that gold would begin to disappear. 
 
 The impossibility which is thus seen to exist, of maintaining 
 two legal tender coinages of different metals side by side, would 
 seem to most minds, at the first examination of the question, to 
 be a quite conclusive reason against the adoption of the double 
 standard. And yet it is on this very fact that some of the most 
 eminent publicists of France have founded their strongest argu 
 ments in defence of a system so seemingly vicious. At the 
 International Conference which was called in 1867, to consider 
 questions of money, weights and measures, Mr. WOLOWSKI urged 
 that, when the legal ratio is fixed nearly at the mean actual 
 ratio, the tendency, in case of fluctuations, to bring at one time 
 one metal into demand, and at another time another, exerts a 
 steadying effect upon values, and operates to retard these fluc 
 tuations, and to diminish their extent. 
 
 Now there is solid reason in the view thus taken ; and if the 
 tendency spoken of were to be left undisturbed, it would cer 
 tainly temper, if not entirely obviate, the undeniable evils at 
 tendant on the double standard. But, historically, it is certain 
 that this tendency has never been left undisturbed; and there is 
 therefore good reason to believe that it never will be. The fact 
 has constantly been, that, so soon as one of the metals has begun 
 to be crowded out of circulation, the attempt has been made to 
 legislate it back by degrading or debasing the coinage in that 
 metal. And thus the maintenance of the double standard, 
 instead of maintaining the equilibrium of ratios, as imagined by 
 Mr. WOLOWSKI, operates as a constant temptation to the com 
 mission of the gravest of all possible errors of legislation in 
 matters of finance. 
 
122 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 But, obviously, we are in no condition to agree upon a com 
 mon system of money for all the world, until we can, at least, 
 agree first upon a common representative standard of money 
 values. The French begin with a silver franc of determinate 
 fineness and simple determinate metric weight. From this, by a 
 numerical relation of values, entirely arbitrary and artificial, they 
 deduce the weight of the one-franc theoretical, or of the five-franc 
 piece actual, of gold of similar fineness ; which weight is fifty 
 thirty-first parts of one gramme a quantity no longer simply 
 metrical, nor expressible by a finite decimal. But this five-franc 
 piece of gold, which is not metrical in weight, the Paris Confer 
 ence of 18G7 recommended to the world as the basis of an inter 
 national coinage ; making this recommendation in the same 
 breath in which they recommended the universal adoption of 
 the metric system of weights and measures. 
 
 It is manifest that the double standard cannot be maintained. 
 But supposing the double standard abandoned, it does not fol 
 low that the single standard of gold will be immediately and 
 universally accepted. Of nations recognizing but a single 
 standard, some, like Holland, prefer silver to gold. It is notori 
 ous that the Oriental peoples, who have absorbed the silver 
 dollar coinage of Spain, Mexico, and the United States, as fast 
 as it could be produced, have always steadily refused the sover 
 eigns and the eagles and the doubloons and the napoleons. 
 Before we can proceed a step, therefore, toward the creation of 
 an international monetary system, we must not only agree upon 
 a single standard, but agree also what that standard shall be. 
 
 But such an agreement is by no means so simple a matter to 
 reach as it seems. Notwithstanding that the drift of opinion 
 among statesmen and authorities on finance is decidedly towards 
 gold, the need of a coin which will be received by the people of 
 China and Japan is one which must be met ; while the metric 
 nations of France, Belgium, Italy, and Switzerland, who are 
 allied for the maintenance of a common monetary system, will 
 
UNIFICATION OF MONEYS. 123 
 
 abandon very reluctantly, if at all, the alternative silver stand 
 ard ; since, in abolishing that, they must abolish at the same 
 time the agreeable fiction which maintains their coinage in 
 decimal relations with the metric system of weights and 
 measures one ideal napoleon of silver weighing exactly one 
 hundred grammes, while one actual napoleon of gold weighs 
 6.4516129 -\- grammes, the decimal being without end. 
 
 But, supposing this difficulty to be somehow or other disposed 
 of, we presently encounter another, usually quite overlooked in 
 popular or conversational discussions of this subject a difficulty 
 which, nevertheless, is grave enough to require no small effort to 
 remove it. It is well known that the precious metals, when in a 
 state of purity, are too soft to be advantageously employed as 
 the material for coinage. Their alloys offer greater resistance 
 to abrasion, and therefore wear longer. On this account such 
 alloys are preferred, for the uses of the mint, to the pure metals. 
 But as the weight of pure metal (gold or silver) in a coin deter 
 mines its value, so the total weight of any given coin must be 
 increased in proportion as the metal of which it is composed is 
 more largely alloyed. It is therefore obviously advisable to 
 introduce as small an amount of base metal into the compound 
 as practicable, consistently with the attainment of the desired 
 hardness. But the question, what are the proportions which 
 under a given value combine the maximum of durability with 
 the minimum of weight, is one which, as a question of pure 
 science, has not yet been solved. Accordingly, the statutory 
 provisions established by different governments in regard to the 
 standard fineness of their coins, are widely discordant. For 
 coins of gold, the proportion of nine parts of the precious metal 
 to one part of alloy has been adopted by our own country, and 
 by France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Prussia, Bavaria, and 
 Spain. Austria employs the same for her gold crown and half- 
 crown, and Holland for her double-William and its sub-multi 
 ples. But for her ducat and double-ducat, Holland employs an 
 
124 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 alloy containing fifty-nine parts of pure gold to one of alloy ; 
 and Austria, for a coin of the same name, prescribes a fineness 
 of seventy-one parts of pure gold out of seventy-two of total 
 weight. This latter is also the proportion employed in the gold 
 coins of Wurtemberg. 
 
 The standard of fineness in use in Great Britain, Portugal, 
 Brazil, and Turkey, consists of eleven parts of pure gold to one 
 of base metal ; and that of Sweden, of thirty-nine parts of pure 
 gold to one of the alloy. In other countries the standard falls 
 below nine-tenths. In Denmark it is eight hundred and ninety- 
 five one-thousandths ; in Russia, eighty-eight one-hundredths ; 
 in Mexico it is different in different coins, being eight hun 
 dred and seventy-five one-thousandths in the piece of twenty 
 pesos, and eight hundred and sixty-six one-thousandths in 
 the doubloon ; in Bolivia it is eighty-seven one-hunclredths ; 
 in Ecuador, eight hundred and forty-four one thousandths ; and 
 so on, reaching in the Japanese cobang the extreme debasement 
 represented by five hundred and seventy-two parts of pure gold 
 to four hundred and twenty-eight of alloying metal. 
 
 Similar diversity of legislation is observable in regard to 
 silver coins ; but as to these there is a more general conformity 
 to the standard of nine-tenths. Such is the fineness of the large 
 silver coins of the United States, and of France, Belgium, Italy, 
 Switzerland, Prussia, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Baden, Hesse 
 Darmstadt, Austria, and Spain ; while England employs an 
 alloy of thirty-seven fortieths; and Holland, one of nine hundred 
 and forty-five one-thousandths. In other countries the stand 
 ard is generally lower; and in most or all of those above named, 
 the subsidiary silver coinage is materially less fine. 
 
 As the several German States named in the foregoing para 
 graphs are now members of the German empire, the diversities 
 noticed among them will probably soon disappear. There 
 appears to be everywhere a growing disposition to adopt the 
 uniform standard of nine-tenths. But to change a standard of 
 
UNIFICATION OF MONEYS. 125 
 
 this kind is by no means so simple a thing as it seems. Sup 
 pose, for instance, there happens to be already a vast existing 
 coinage, circulating among a people who propose to make such 
 a change. The modification of the standard changes the appear 
 ance of the coin to the eye (the color, in the case of gold) and 
 changes also the weight, without, nevertheless, changing the 
 value. Both these changes are disadvantageous to the freedom 
 of circulation. In our own country, for example, differences of 
 color between different coinages of eagles and double-eagles, 
 arising out of the fact that, in the refining of the native gold, the 
 metals naturally associated with this have not always been 
 separated with equal thoroughness (though the residual im 
 purity has always been carefully determined and allowed for as 
 part of the alloy), have been regarded by the director of our 
 mint, Gov. POLLOCK, to be sufficiently prejudicial to the character 
 of the coin to call for notice in his communications to the Treas 
 ury Department, and to require measures to be taken for their 
 correction. But the difference in the weight of coins produced by 
 varying the proportions of the alloy, is the occasion of a much 
 more serious disadvantage. To count out coined money in large 
 sums is a very time-consuming operation. In minting establish 
 ments and in great banks of deposit, there may be, and in the 
 former case there usually will be, found mechanical contriv 
 ances for counting by hundreds of pieces at once (available, how 
 ever, only when the coins are all of the same denomination) ; but 
 it is not to be supposed that tradesmen, merchants, or even 
 bankers generally can be provided with such conveniences. Coins, 
 when transferred from hand to hand in large masses, are there 
 fore rarely counted. They are simply weighed in bulk ; and the 
 weight, when the composition is uniform, is an infallible indica 
 tion of the value. But this cannot be the case if the mass consist 
 of mixed coins, some of them of one degree of fineness and some 
 of another. Hence, whenever the standard of fineness is changed 
 by law, it becomes desirable and even almost necessary, to with- 
 
126 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 draw from circulation all the legal tender coinage in the same 
 nietal already in existence. This consideration is one of no 
 trilling importance to a people who, like the British people, have 
 no less than eighty millions of pounds sterling say four hun 
 dred millions of dollars in the form of gold sovereigns and half 
 sovereigns. This is the estimate of the existing British gold 
 coinage, as made by the eminent statistician, Prof. JEVONS, in a 
 communication made in 1868 to the Statistical Society of Lon 
 don, and corroborated by Mr. MILLER, of the Bank of England, 
 who is quoted as authority to this effect by Dr. FARE, delegate 
 from Great Britain to the International Statistical Congress, 
 held at the Hague, in 1869, in a report made by him to that 
 body. It may easily be conceived that Great Britain would 
 bring herself reluctantly to the adoption of the standard of 
 nine-tenths, even though convinced that it is a better standard 
 than that which she employs at present. Her delegates to the 
 International Conference of 1867 gave their assent to the 
 proposition favoring the nine -tenths standard, though not con 
 cealing their preference for their own,* solely, as it would 
 appear, because they saw no hope of a general agreement upon 
 any other. 
 
 But let us suppose that we have got over the difficulty of 
 the standard metal, and of the double or single standard, and 
 also over any difficulty as to the standard of fineness ; we 
 find yet behind a difficulty far more troublesome. The visible 
 representative of our unit of account is to be, we will say, a coin 
 of gold of the fineness of nine- tenths ; the question now arises, 
 what shall be the weight of this coin ? It is easy to see that 
 this question may be so answered as to demonetize at once the 
 entire metallic currency of the world ; and that, if we are ever to 
 have an universally accepted international coinage, it must be 
 
 * Report of the Master of the Mint. Sir THOMAS GRAHAM, and Mr. C. RIVERS WILSON, delegates 
 to the International Monetary Conference, made Dec. 2, 1867, to the Lords Commissioners of the 
 Treasury. 
 
UNIFICATION OF MONEYS. 127 
 
 so answered as to produce, to some extent, and, it may be, to a 
 large extent, an effect of this kind. To touch an interest of so 
 vast magnitude as the coinage of the world, is a thing which, to 
 be done safely, must be done cautiously. It is a low estimate, to 
 place the value of the gold and silver coin now existing at twenty- 
 five hundred millions of dollars. This is the estimate of Mr. 
 McCuLLOCH, in the article on the "Precious Metals," contributed 
 by him to the Encyclopedia Bntannica. But in this he attributes 
 to Great Britain only from seventy to seventy-five millions ster 
 ling of coin in both gold and silver, taken together; while Pro 
 fessor JEVONS and Mr. MILLER, as we have seen, place the gold 
 alone as high as eighty millions, while putting the silver coinage 
 at fourteen millions: thus making a total of ninety-four millions. 
 The coinage of France Mr. McCuLLOCH puts at from one hun 
 dred and thirty to one hundred and forty millions sterling. 
 That of the rest of Europe, of North and South America, of 
 Australia, of the Cape of Good Hope, and of Algeria united, he 
 supposes may equal three hundred millions ; so that, summing 
 up all these several estimates, he would make out a grand total 
 for the world, excluding Asia and all Africa excepting Algeria 
 and the Cape, falling somewhere between four hundred and 
 ninety and five hundred and ten millions say in round num 
 bers five hundred millions, which is the mean of the two, and is 
 nearly equivalent to twenty -five hundred millions of dollars, as 
 above. 
 
 From statements made by the Hon. SAMUEL B. RUGGLES, the dis 
 tinguished representative of the United States at the International 
 Monetary Conference of 1867, in a written argument addressed 
 to the conference, we should be justified in carrying the total 
 much higher, perhaps to not less than three thousand millions 
 of dollars. Mr. KUGGLES stated that the mint of the United 
 States had coined, up to that time, eight hundred and forty-five 
 millions of dollars, in all ; and that, of this sum, probably three 
 hundred millions still remained in the country. He took the 
 
128 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 estimates of DE PAEIEU for France, Belgium, and Italy, at four 
 teen hundred millions; and allowing four hundred millions more 
 for the remaining countries of continental Europe, he made the 
 total for the continent entire, eighteen hundred millions. This 
 last assumption is considerably more than justified by the esti 
 mates of McCuLLOCH, since the latter authority puts down Russia 
 alone for two hundred and seventy millions of dollars ; which 
 would leave, comparing this statement with that of Mr. EUGGLES, 
 only one hundred and thirty millions for Spain, Portugal, Hol 
 land, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, Turkey, 
 and all Germany. 
 
 Taking, however, the eighteen hundred millions of this report 
 of Mr. RUGGLES as the total for continental Europe, and his three 
 hundred millions as a proper estimate for the United States, with 
 the four hundred millions of McCuLLOCH for Great Britain, we 
 shall have the twenty-five hundred millions complete, without 
 going any further, or making any allowance for Mexico, British 
 America, the West India Islands, Central America, South Ame 
 rica, Australia, the Cape, Algeria, or Egypt. Considering that 
 we have, among these, some of the principal gold producing and 
 silver producing states of the world, it is a small estimate to 
 suppose that they have among them the five hundred millions 
 necessary to bring up this result to the round total of three 
 thousand millions, named above. It must further be noted that 
 no account is taken in either of these estimates of British India, 
 or of China and Japan, which latter countries have been large 
 recipients of the silver coin of Europe and America. 
 
 A more recent and very carefully considered estimate by Mr. 
 RUGGLES, embraced in his supplementary report, as delegate to 
 the International Monetary Conference above mentioned, made 
 April 8, 1870, to the Secretary of State of the United States, 
 reduces this total to twenty-five hundred and fifty millions of 
 dollars. As this estimate classifies the nations in groups as 
 using the gold franc, the gold dollar, the gold sovereign, or 
 
UNIFICATION OF MONEYS. 129 
 
 other coins of gold, it has an important practical interest in 
 connection with the question of the unification of coinage. Mr. 
 RUGGLES says : 
 
 "According to the estimates of political economists and 
 bankers in Europe and the United States, believed to be reliable, 
 the amount of gold coin now outstanding, in the various parts 
 of Europe and America, is in round numbers :* 
 
 "I. In France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy 
 
 and Pontifical States, using the gold franc $1,250,000,000 
 
 "II. In Austria, Spain, Sweden, Greece and 
 
 Roumania, agreeing to use the franc 200,000,000 
 
 $1,450,000,000 
 "III. In the United Kingdom using the 
 
 sovereign 450,000,000 
 
 "VI. In the United States using the gold 
 
 dollar 200,000,000 
 
 "V. In Germany, (North and South,) Nether 
 lands, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Russia 
 and Turkey using other gold coins, all 
 differing in value 300,000,000 
 
 $2,400,000,000 
 
 " YI. In Canada, Mexico, Central America and 
 South America using sovereigns, dollars, 
 doubloons and various other gold coins. . 150,000,000 
 
 $2,550,000,000 
 
 * To make the exhibit complete, the following statement of the population and foreign com 
 merce of the several groups of nations above given, should be added. It is derived also from the 
 report of Mr. RUGGLES referred to. 
 
 Population. Foreign Commerce.^ Gold Coin Outstanding. 
 
 Using the franc 135, 700,000 $1,648,000,000 $1,250,000,000 
 
 pound 30,400.000 1,251,500,000 450,000,000 
 
 " d ollar 38, 555, 983 438, 500, 000 200, 000. 000 
 
 " other gold coins.... 135, 500, 000 852,000,000 300,000,000 
 
 " various coins 373,600,000 240,000,000 150,000,000 
 
 \ Deducting duplications: in the full statistics of commerce, the same values appear twice. 
 
130 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 It is evident from the foregoing, that great exactness is not 
 yet attainable in the statistics of this subject. What can only be 
 exactly known are the issues of the several mints. The his 
 tory of those issues after they have passed into private hands, 
 is not easily traced. Dr. FARE, in his valuable and elaborate 
 report, above spoken of, to the Statistical Congress at the Hague, 
 gives the methods and results of some interesting investigations 
 concerning the average life of the British gold sovereign. Such 
 inquiries throw much light upon the subject ; but as the con 
 ditions of the life of coin are not necessarily the same in all 
 countries, they must be prosecuted longer and more generally 
 before they can be regarded as having acquired for this branch 
 of statistics the character of an exact science. 
 
 Yet, whatever may be the degree of confidence or of doubt 
 with which we speak in definite terms of the immense values 
 actually existing in the world in the shape of coin, we can enter 
 tain no doubt at all that these values are really immense. And 
 hence we perceive the serious gravity of the interests liable to 
 be affected by the answer which may be given to the question, 
 what shall be the weight of the visible representative of the 
 international monetary unit? The persons who settle great 
 questions of international coinage over the breakfast-table, or 
 block out schemes for the reconciliation of discordant monetary 
 systems in their moments of leisure or recreation, frequent 
 ly express impatience of the sluggishness with which the world 
 advances in a path so plain ; and account, perhaps, for the 
 phenomenon, on theories of the indifference or unskilfulness of 
 diplomatists, or of the obstinacy of ministers. It rarely occurs 
 to such persons to consider that diplomatists and ministers have, 
 in fact, as great an interest in the happy solution of this im 
 portant question as they; and are, perhaps, making progress as 
 rapidly as they themselves would be likely to do, if they had the 
 management of the whole business in their own hands. The 
 grave fact, which has rendered unavailing the labors of all the 
 
UNIFICATION OF MONEYS. 131 
 
 international monetary conferences of the last fifteen years, lias 
 been, that no common currency can be adopted by the nations, 
 without condemning the entire coinage of one or another of 
 them, and perhaps of several, to the melting pot. This consid 
 eration, and the consequences it involves affecting the liquida 
 tion of existing debts in coin of altered weight, determined the 
 State Department of our own country to propose to the govern 
 ments of Europe, about a year ago, a plan for giving to the gold 
 coin of all nations an international circulation, without essen 
 tially altering their present actual weights or values. The plan 
 here referred to consists in assuming a common unit of value so 
 small, that the most important gold coins of all nations may be 
 made, by slight changes, exact multiples of this. And in order 
 to avoid any embarrassment from diversity in the standards of 
 fineness, it also proposed to make the unit a definite weight, not 
 of alloyed gold, but of pure gold. The unit weight proposed was 
 one decigramme. The value of one decigramme of pure gold is 
 very nearly six and two-thirds cents. The gold dollar contains 
 of such pure metal fifteen decigrammes and a little more than 
 forty-six one-thousandths of a decigramme. By dropping the 
 small fraction in excess of fifteen decigrammes, the value of which 
 is but thirty-one one-hundredths of a cent, the dollar becomes 
 just fifteen times the unit ; and the half-eagle, seventy-five times 
 the unit. The sovereign, by a similar slight adjustment, becomes 
 equal to seventy- three times the unit ; the napoleon, to fifty- 
 eight times the unit ; the double ducat of Austria, to sixty-nine 
 times the unit ; and so on with respect to other coins. 
 
 The merit of this scheme, and it is not a small one, is, that it 
 would bring the monetary units of the different nations into re 
 lations of commensurability, without impairing the usefulness for 
 the purposes of money of the coin actually in existence. The 
 disadvantages attending it are, that the ratios of commensura 
 bility which it establishes are lacking in the simplicity which is 
 the indispensable condition of practical usefulness ; and that the 
 
132 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 diversity of alloys employed in the coins of the different nations 
 must always prevent any national coinage from securing a free 
 international circulation. This scheme, therefore, though simple 
 and at first view seemingly feasible, does not appear, upon 
 mature consideration, to offer an adequate solution of the diffi 
 cult problem before us. 
 
 Other propositions, looking to the same end, have been : 
 
 1. To adopt as a unit of account the value of some convenient 
 coin now actually existing, with its corresponding weight in 
 gold ; a proposition which is equivalent to requiring that all the 
 systems of coinage now in use, except one, shall be abandoned ; 
 and that this one, from being simply national, shall become 
 international and universal. 
 
 2. To adopt a value represented by no coin at present, but of 
 which the representative in gold shall be the unit base of such 
 system of weights as may be adopted for international use (say 
 the metric system), or shall bear a decimal relation to that base. 
 
 3. To adopt a value of which the representative in gold shall 
 be in simple, though not necessarily in decimal, relation to the 
 base unit of the system of weights ; and which shall itself be 
 such that the coinage of the principal commercial nations may 
 be conformed to it without very large changes of weight. 
 
 In considering the first of these propositions, no existing 
 coins will be likely to suggest themselves as possessing claims 
 worth attention, except the gold piece of five francs, the gold 
 dollar, or the gold sovereign. The sovereign, out of England, is 
 likely to find no support ; being elsewhere regarded generally as 
 representing too large a value to be conveniently employed as 
 a unit of account. In fact, the British commissioners to the 
 international conferences have themselves proposed, rather, a 
 determinate part of the pound sterling as an eight-shilling 
 piece, for example than the pound sterling itself. The piece of 
 five francs, with its present actual weight, and actual fineness of 
 
UNIFICATION OF MONEYS: 133 
 
 nine-tenths, was recommended as the international unit by the 
 monetary conference of all nations, held at Paris in 1867; and it 
 is now warmly advocated by men eminent as statesmen, statisti 
 cians, and publicists, in the United States and on the continent 
 of Europe. The representatives of France in that conference 
 went even so far, in the .ardor of their desire to win over other 
 nations to a measure so nattering to their country, as to consent 
 to the abolition of the double standard and the adoption of the 
 gold standard only ; although by so doing they would be com 
 pelled to sever the connection between their monetary system 
 and their system of weights and measures ; thus presenting 
 to the world the remarkable spectacle of the first of metric na 
 tions recommending and advocating a non-metric coinage. 
 
 It is not, however, to any sentiment of a merely selfish nature, 
 that this important concession on the part of these gentle 
 men is to be ascribed. The result must rather be regarded 
 as a reluctant sacrifice of a cherished ideal, to what seemed to 
 them, at least, the constraining force of accomplished facts. Some 
 idea of the weight of the considerations which led them to their 
 conclusion, may be gathered from the following summary of the 
 debate in the conference, given by Mr. RUGGLES in his supple 
 mentary report of April 8, 1870. 
 
 "The debates were systematically conducted by means of 
 questions methodically and carefully arranged. They were com 
 menced by the discussion much at length of the following pre 
 liminary and comprehensive question : 
 
 " By what means is it most easy to realize monetary unifica 
 tion : whether by the creation of a system altogether new and 
 independent of existing systems ; or by the mutual coordination 
 of existing systems, taking into account the scientific advantages 
 of certain types and the number of the populations which have 
 already adopted them ? 
 
 " On this cardinal question, the debate was prolonged and 
 important, in which the delegates from many of the nations 
 
134 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 took part. It was commenced by M. MEES, delegate from the 
 Netherlands and President of the Netherlands Bank, who 
 declared that if he could admit the immediate realization of 
 the unification of coinage, he would give the preference to the 
 first of the two alternatives. In this case, in effect, the creation 
 of a new system, avoiding all national susceptibilities, would 
 seem to him the best way to obtain the end. But it does not 
 seem possible to him, that complete uniformity can be speedily 
 attained, and therefore he considers the second alternative as 
 being alone of a nature to produce actual practical results. 
 
 " The Count D AVILA, delegate from Portugal, and recently its 
 Minister of Finance, maintained that if the different States 
 found themselves obliged by the establishment of a system 
 altogether novel to change simultaneously their monetary regu 
 lations, the difficulties of the attempt would be multiplied in 
 such manner that they would become insurmountable. He 
 further deemed it essential that an agreement should take 
 place between England, France, and the United States, that it 
 would sooner or later rally also the other countries, and that 
 the example would have a decisive effect. He declared himself 
 ready to vote for a single gold standard, the reduction of the 
 pound sterling to twenty-five francs, and the American dollar to 
 five francs, with the gold coin of five francs as the monetary 
 unit. 
 
 " The delegate from Austria, the late Baron DE HOCK, favor 
 ably known by his works on finance, concurred in the opinion 
 expressed as to the impossibility of securing the acceptance of 
 an entirely new system, and completely breaking up inveterate 
 habits. In Germany, said he, we find a striking example : 
 there was a wish to introduce into the German States a coin not 
 correspondent with any existing types. Although it was the 
 most rational and accorded perfectly with the metric system, it 
 could not find its way into calculations. The gold crown only 
 passed from the mint into the melting pots of the goldsmiths. 
 
UNIFICATION OF MONEYS. 135 
 
 It is only as expressed in the second sentence of the first ques 
 tion, by the mutual coordination of existing legislation, by 
 taking into account the scientific advantages of certain types, 
 and the number of the populations which have already adopted 
 them, that a solution may be found. He added that gold, 
 which has spread in such considerable amounts through the 
 European markets during the last twenty years, would be the 
 most convenient agent for a universal monetary circulation. 
 
 " M. FEER HERZOG, one of the two delegates from Switzerland 
 and familiar with its financial affairs, said that there is in 
 France a school important because of the scientific authority of 
 its adepts, which admits no other monetary unity than metric 
 unity in round numbers, and proposes to take for the unit a 
 weight of five grams of gold, nine-tenths fine, (equivalent to 
 $2.99 1 a 9 u of the present money of the United States). This 
 theoretic solution would be wanting in one essential quality, 
 that of practicability. At the time we have arrived at, we can 
 not invent a monetary unit not in relation with any type actu 
 ally existing. The franc itself had been compelled not to depart 
 too far from the Iwre tournois, in order to make itself acceptable, 
 and the gold crown, containing ten grams, has not been able to 
 get into circulation in Germany because it is not adapted to the 
 florin of Austria, nor the florin of Bavaria, nor the thaler of 
 Prussia. By the very force of things, said he, it is the napo 
 leon [twenty francs], a foreign coin, which represents beyond 
 all others the monetary circulation of gold in Germany. 
 
 " The delegate from Russia, M. DE JACOBI, Privy Councillor of 
 the Crown, and member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at 
 St Petersburg, highly distinguished in Europe not only in 
 general physical science, but especially by his earnest and able 
 advocacy of the merits of the metrical system, said that he 
 adopted in full the ideas developed by M. FEER HERZOG. He 
 would have been glad that a relation should exist between coins 
 and the systems of weights and measures, but in the double 
 
136 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 view of science and practice, he saw no necessity for the estab 
 lishing of such relations to the prejudice of other more impor 
 tant interests. He could not, therefore, regard as serious the 
 reproach cast upon the coin of France, as having widened the 
 breach in the French metric system. He added that the 
 creation of an entirely new coinage was so much the less oppor 
 tune, that he could not let the occasion pass without noticing 
 the agreement, perhaps accidental but almost complete, between 
 the intrinsic value of the principal French coins and those of 
 Russia. Thus the silver rouble coincides very nearly with four 
 francs, the difference not exceeding the limits of the tolerance. 
 In the same way the demi-imperial has a value only fifteen ko 
 pecks (about eleven cents,) higher than the twenty franc gold 
 piece. 
 
 "M. MEINECKE, the delegate from Prussia, thought it of prime 
 necessity to adopt as the base of the new system, a system 
 already recognized and reduced to practice. The difficulty, 
 said he, c of adopting the gold standard, is much greater in 
 Prussia than for any other country; but if the labors of the con 
 ference should aim at establishing the basis for a general mone 
 tary arrangement, Prussia would study with care the best mode 
 of connecting herself with it. 
 
 " On the other hand, Mr. STAS, one of the two delegates from 
 Belgium, said that he would prefer the establishment of an 
 entirely new monetary system, and that the conference assume 
 as its mission, to settle principles and not expedients in practice. 
 To follow the latter course would be to leave traces in the snow, 
 not to engrave footprints in rock. He also maintained that 
 the creation of a system based on a standard of gold of five or 
 ten grams would offer the immense advantage of having it more 
 readily accepted by all nations, as it would avoid all national 
 susceptibility. Doubtless the adoption of the new unit would 
 require the general reminting of all coinage, but this recoinage 
 would bring with it a definitive system sanctioned by science. 
 
UNIFICATION OF MONEYS. 137 
 
 He further asserted that, mathematically speaking, the kilo 
 gram cannot be divided into one hundred and fifty-five equal 
 portions. 
 
 " Mr. FEEE HERZOG, replying to the remarks of Mr. STAS, said : 
 there is nothing to hinder the definition of this napoleon by 
 indicating the round number one hundred and fifty-five, which 
 a kilogram includes, or rather it should be divided by the frac 
 tional number of grams which represent its weight, neglecting 
 the decimals beyond the thousandths decimals, which practically 
 are of no importance and have only an interest purely scientific. 
 It is not indispensable to the goodness of coin that it should be 
 metrically proportioned. 
 
 " The delegate of the U. S. [Mr. KUGGLES] said it would be as 
 impossible to abolish the expression of the dollar in the 
 "United States, as that of the sovereign in England, but that 
 both might be retained in reducing their intrinsic values. 
 He said that two milliards ($2,000,000,000) in gold had been 
 thrown into the money market since the discovery of the mines 
 of Australia and California, and that it was certainly possible 
 that the coinage of gold in the United States, in the next fifteen 
 years may reach five milliards of francs ($1,000,000,000). In 
 view of such a future, the American government would prefer 
 to reduce its monetary unit at once. * But the United States in 
 consenting to recoin its gold now in circulation, would expect 
 France on her side, will consent to coin pieces of twenty-five 
 francs, in which case monetary unification would at once assume 
 a practical form. " 
 
 " On closing the debate the question was taken by ayes and 
 noes, on a roll-call of the nations, which resulted in an unani 
 mous vote in favor of the second alternative in the question, in 
 the following words, to wit : 
 
 " It is more easy to realize monetary unification by mutual 
 coordination of existing systems, taking into account the scien 
 tific advantages of certain types, and the numbers of the popu 
 lations which have already adopted them. " 
 
 * Approval of Department of State, in letter from Mr. SEWARD, June 21, 1867. 
 
138 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 Subsequently, also, in a debate in the French Senate, on the 
 expediency of immediately issuing, in furtherance of the plans 
 of the conference, a gold coin of the value of twenty-five francs, 
 the conflict between the perfection of theory and the possibilities 
 of practice was brought very sharply out. The following is an 
 abridged outline of the discussion, as given by Mr. RUGGLES. 
 
 : In this interesting and instructive debate, which occupies 
 fourteen printed columns of the Journal Official, the compara 
 tive merits of the twenty-five franc coin and of a new coin of 
 ten even grams (or a decagram), equivalent to thirty-one exist 
 ing francs, were fully examined. The metrical merits of the pro 
 posed decagram coin had been urged on the twenty-first of 
 January, by Mr. MICHEL CHEVALIER, in a general speech on the 
 coinage of France, in which he had claimed for the decagram 
 its perfect conformity to the logic of the metrical system. 
 
 "It is, however, specially noticeable that in the latter portion 
 of his speech, Mr. CHEVALIER, who combines with his abstract 
 philosophies, a large admixture of practical statesmanship, after 
 stating these indications of logic, very pertinently proceeds 
 to ask and then to answer as follows : 
 
 " Is it necessary to abandon ourselves absolutely and exclu 
 sively to logic ? It is a question. Logic is a power ; but 
 various conventional requirements (convenances diverges} may 
 cause us to disregard it ( peuvent faire qu on s en ecarte). 
 
 " When, in order to conform wholly to logic, it is necessary 
 to submit to considerable sacrifices, or to change the inveterate 
 and cherished habits of peoples : and when even the triumph of 
 logic is not to be followed by great advantages, we are allowed 
 to hesitate. A wise administration may lay aside logic, and 
 adopt combinations which from other points of view would be 
 advantageous to the public interest. 
 
 " The debate of the twenty-fifth of January was opened by Mr. 
 LE VERRIER, the astronomer and savan measuring the outmost 
 limits of planetary space by his skilful use of exact science. In 
 
UNIFICATION OF MONEYS. 139 
 
 a powerful speech of wide range, be supported the plan of the 
 twenty-five franc coin, as being practicable, in preference to that 
 of the decagram, as being merely theoretical. He was followed 
 by Mr. DUMAS, President of the Commission on Coins, and 
 as such, Director of the Mint, who stated that the recoinage 
 required by the decagram, would cost seventy millions of francs, 
 or fourteen millions of dollars. Mr. LE ROY DE SAINT- ARNAUD con 
 curred with Mr. LE VERKIER, and held that the question could be 
 resolved only in accordance with practical ideas. I admire 
 science, said he; I bow before the savans ; but in questions of 
 this nature, in which so many persons and interests are inter 
 mingled, * * * I regret the excess of science, and fasten 
 myself to the facts. He was followed by General Marquis DE 
 LAPLACE, who denounced the twenty-five franc coin as unmetrical 
 and unnecessary, and urged among other objections, that it 
 differed too little in size from the twenty-franc coin, and might 
 tend to raise to twenty-five francs, the price of objects now sell 
 ing at twenty. 
 
 " In closing the debate, the necessity for the immediate issue 
 of the twenty-five franc coin, and indeed the w r hole plan of the 
 Paris conference, were vindicated with signal ability by Mr. DE 
 PARIEU, the universally acknowledged leader in Europe of the 
 pending measure of monetary unification, and now president of 
 the council of state in the new liberal ministry. Suffice it to say 
 that in accordance with the form of proceeding peculiar to the 
 body, the Senate passed to the order of the day, thereby 
 rejecting the proposition of the decagram, and virtually 
 expressed their approbation of the twenty-five franc coin by 
 leaving its issue to the proper minister charged with the coin- 
 age." 
 
 Since 1867 some progress has been made on the continent of 
 Europe toward unification on the plan here proposed. The 
 following further extract from the supplementary report of Mr. 
 RUGGLES shows to what extent this is true : 
 
140 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 "Up to the present time the recommendation of the confer 
 ence in respect to the five franc gold unit (deferring the imme 
 diate consideration of the question of the single standard), has 
 been adopted by nine of the nations of Europe, to wit : by 
 France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, the Pontifical States, Spain, 
 Greece, Koumania, and Sweden, having an aggregate population 
 of one hundred million, three hundred thousand inhabitants. 
 
 " The preliminaries of a monetary treaty, providing for a coin 
 assimilating the ten florins of Austria with the twenty -five francs 
 of France, were signed by the authorized representatives of those 
 two nations on the 31st of July, 1867. It contained a condition 
 in respect to the double standard, not yet complied with by 
 France, but specimen coins were struck in anticipation, in Octo 
 ber, 1867, bearing the heads respectively of the Emperors of 
 France and of Austria, with the reverse, inscribed 10 florins, 25 
 francs. The adoption by France of the single standard, to 
 which a school of political economists in that country still re 
 mains violently opposed, but which has been repeatedly and 
 earnestly recommended in the reports of official investigations 
 (enquetes) by large commissions of imposing authority, will secure 
 the completion and execution of the treaty by Austria, and 
 thereby increase the number of European nations using the franc 
 to ten, with an aggregate population of one hundred and thirty 
 five million, four hundred thousand inhabitants. 
 #*#**##* **** 
 
 "The actual issue of the gold franc international coin has 
 been commenced by some of the nations not included in the 
 treaty of 1865. It is already in circulation in the flourishing 
 principality of Eoumania under the government of its present 
 enlightened ruler, who has introduced in full the metrical 
 weights, measures, and coins of France. His example, in all 
 probability, will soon be followed by the Sultan of Turkey, who 
 has manifested so strongly his wish to keep pace with the civili 
 zation of Europe. 
 
UNIFICATION OF MONEYS. 141 
 
 " The assent of Spain to the franc system was given by the 
 provisional government, in a formal decree, published at Madrid 
 and Paris, soon after the expulsion of Queen Isabella.* A speci 
 men of the new half franc silver coin now in possession of the un 
 dersigned, bears the well known pillars with the ancient arms 
 of Spain, encircled by the legend 400 piezas en kilogramo," thus 
 distinctly and arithmetically recording its assimilation with the 
 franc, two hundred of which are equiponderant with the 
 French kilogramme. 
 
 " Among the northern European powers, the liberal and in 
 telligent government of Sweden, so distinguished by its success 
 ful public works of intercommunication, has already issued the 
 new gold pieces called Carotins, bearing the words 10 francs, 
 and now in common circulation in the countries on the Baltic. 
 They are stamped with the image and superscription of the 
 Swedish monarch, CHARLES XV., lineally descended from BERNA- 
 DOTTE and EUGENE BEAUHARNOIS, and now taking the lead in the 
 civic march of monetary reform in the north of Europe. Under 
 his influence and authority, Norway, which has a separate legis- 
 tive body, will soon be united with Sweden in the gold franc 
 system. His steady support of the legislative efforts of Mr. WAL 
 LENBERG, president of the Bank of Stockholm and one of the two 
 delegates of Sweden and Norway in the Paris conference, has 
 secured the coinage of a Swedish gold coin of twenty-five francs, 
 to be issued as soon as similar pieces shall be put into circula 
 tion by the government of France." 
 
 These statements show a remarkable advance in public opin 
 ion since the fifth meeting of the International Statistical Con 
 gress, held at Berlin in 1863, at which time a measure so radical 
 as the absolute unification of all currencies, seemed to the 
 majority of that body altogether impracticable ; so that a com 
 mittee of the congress, while proposing to reduce the units of 
 money "to a small number," deliberately recommended that the 
 pound sterling, the dollar, the florin, and the franc, should all 
 
 * These assurances were renewed to Mr. DE PARIEU, on a visit by him to Madrid in 1871. 
 
142 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 continue to be retained. Even at that early day, Mr. KUGGLES, 
 who was present as the delegate to the Congress from the United 
 States, protested against a conclusion so lame and impotent ; 
 and advocated universal unification on the basis of the gold unit 
 of the value of five francs. He was thus the originator of the 
 plan which, though defeated for the moment, was accepted later 
 by the International Conference of 1867 ; and which has since 
 been favored by the legislation of the continent to the extent 
 above stated. 
 
 A proposition of this kind would, of course, not be made^ 
 unless the practical considerations in its favor were felt to 
 outweigh any objections, derived from the beauty of cori- 
 gruity, or the exactions of a perfect theory. The arguments 
 above cited therefore depend very much for their cogency upon 
 the fact, that the gold coinage founded on the franc which is now 
 actually in existence, constitutes nearly three-fifths of the 
 total gold coinage of the world, and probably not less than two- 
 thirds of that of Europe, including England. The unit of five 
 francs, if adopted, will give at once an international character 
 to this immense mass of coin, amounting to more than fourteen 
 hundred millions of dollars a fact of which the importance can 
 not be overestimated. It is, however, alleged in the report 
 of the director of our mint, made in 1867, and also in state 
 ments by Baron EUGENE NOTHOMB in the Prussian Annals, that 
 the gold coinage of France is below standard weight (though 
 within the limits of tolerance) even on its first issue from the 
 mints ; and that it has even been designedly made so. The 
 officers of the mint in Paris are said, however, to have denied 
 this charge, and to have claimed that their coinage not only 
 falls very little below the standard, but often exceeds it. Opin 
 ions must therefore be suspended ; but if the statement be well 
 founded, it must tend to diminish the weight of the argument 
 derived from the magnitude of this coinage. To the people of 
 Great Britain and of the United States, whose coins, if this unit 
 were adopted, would require to be recoined, the latter being 
 
UNIFICATION OF MONEYS. 143 
 
 more than three and a half per cent, in excess of weight, the plan 
 will only become acceptable, when it shall have been clearly 
 demonstrated to them that no other possibility exists of recon 
 ciling the monetary systems of the world. 
 
 The second of the expedients enumerated above as proposed 
 for securing an international currency, viz., that of adopting the 
 unit of weight, or one of its decimal derivatives, as the visible 
 representative in gold of the unit of money, was suggested by 
 Mr. MICHEL CHEVALIER, in the first instance, in the Journal de* 
 Economises, for November, 1868, and afterwards advocated by 
 him in the French Senate, as appears in the debate above 
 cited. He proposed to take as a unit the gramme of stand 
 ard gold, nine tenths fine, of which the value in our cur 
 rency would differ but by an inappreciable fraction from sixty 
 cents; or the dekagramme, which would be equivalent, with a 
 correspondingly slight difference, to six dollars. Calling the coin 
 of one gramme weight the soldo, the dollar would become, by an 
 insignificant modification, one soldo and two thirds of a soldo ; 
 or six dollars would be equal to ten soldos. Our gold coins 
 might therefore continue to serve as money without inconve 
 nience, until such time as, having been worn out, they should be 
 replaced by other coins in the form of soldos and multiples of 
 the soldo. The napoleon, increased in weight by less than 
 three fourths of one per cent., would be equal to six and a half 
 soldos. The pound sterling, diminished in weight by one and 
 two thirds per cent, would have the value of eight soldos. Thus 
 the coinage of the three principal commercial nations of the 
 world could still be made to subserve the purposes of money, 
 till such time as a new coinage should be created to take its 
 place. But these three nations, and all others adopting the 
 system, would be obliged at once to change their unit of account, 
 and with it their whole monetary system. 
 
 This scheme certainly has its advantages. It is strongly advo 
 cated by Dr. FARE, the able delegate from Great Britain to the 
 
METRIC SYSTEM - APPENDIX. 
 
 International Statistical Congress held at the Hague in 1869 ; 
 though with a preference for the dekagramme, of the value of 
 six dollars, or of one and a quarter (modified) sovereigns, as a 
 unit, which he would name the Victoria. Five sovereigns on 
 this plan would be equal to four Victorias. 
 
 The third of the methods suggested as offering a practicable 
 solution of the problem under consideration, is exemplified in a 
 proposition made in 1868 by Mr. GEORGE F. DUNNING, Superin 
 tendent at that time of the United States Assay Office in New 
 York. This is to assume a unit having a weight of one gramme 
 and sixty-two one-hundredths of a gramme of gold, nine-tenths 
 fine ; which corresponds, with a fractional difference entirely in 
 appreciable, to twenty-five grains Troy. As a dollar weighs 
 twenty-five grains and eight-tenths, this unit is but about three 
 and one-tenth per cent, less, and it is proposed to call it still a 
 dollar. The piece of five francs increased by forty-four one- 
 hundredths of one per cent, becomes then equal to a dollar, and 
 the sovereign diminished in the same proportion becomes the 
 equivalent of the half eagle. This scheme has simple relations 
 to the grain weight; but this recommendation is likely to lose 
 its force with the prospective probable abandonment of the use 
 of that weight altogether. The change which it proposes in the 
 weight of the French coin, though not large, is in a direction 
 unfavorable to the preservation of that coin long in use, if, as 
 affirmed, the coinage is already too light ; and it diminishes ma 
 terially the value of our dollar without any corresponding advan 
 tage, which would not be gained by making it equal at once to 
 the piece of five francs. 
 
 Another proposition founded upon the same principle, but 
 recommended by a simpler relation to the metric system of 
 weights, and a close approach in the unit proposed to the value 
 of the American dollar, was presented in a petition to Congress 
 from the American Statistical Association in 1867, and was laid 
 before the American Association for the Advancement of Science 
 
UNIFICATION OF MONEYS. 145 
 
 at its meeting of 1868 in Chicago, by Mr. E. B. ELLIOTT, of the 
 United States Treasury, with whom it originated. This consists 
 in making the dollar of such weight of standard gold as to con 
 tain one gramme and a half of the pure metal. The proposed 
 alloy being one part in ten, it follows that the total weight of the 
 dollar will be one gramme and two thirds; or employing the 
 word tergramme to signify one third of a gramme, the weight of 
 the dollar will be five tergrammes. 
 
 The division by three is justified, and even recommended, by 
 the consideration that the presence of an alloy in the metal of 
 coinage precludes the possibility of a strict adherence to the 
 decimal scale. As it is probable that the fineness of nine-tenths 
 will ultimately be universally preferred to any other, it will fol 
 low that ten parts of the alloyed metal will contain nine of the 
 pure metal ; which latter is only accounted to have value. And 
 the simple divisor of nine is three. 
 
 This unit is less in value than the American dollar by a little 
 more than three-tenths of one per cent. ; a difference which is 
 below the limit fixed by law for the tolerance of variations in 
 weight, in the half eagle and inferior coins ; so that the existing 
 coinage of the United States would not be displaced by it. Its 
 adoption in England would require an increase of weight of two 
 and forty-three one-hundredths per cent, in the sovereign ; and 
 its introduction into France would necessitate a change in the 
 napoleon in the same direction, to the extent of three and thirty- 
 three one-hundredths per cent. Affecting, therefore, so seriously 
 a very large proportion of the gold coinage of the world, this 
 unit is likely to make its way but slowly, if at all. It is, never 
 theless a more convenient unit of account than the pound ster 
 ling or the franc ; it is simply related to the metric system of 
 weights, which bids fair to become in due time universal ; it is 
 very nearly the equivalent of the Spanish dollar, so extensively 
 employed in the commerce of the far east ; it is an exact sub- 
 multiple of the triple crown of the German Muntzverein;*and it 
 
 * This coin has practically disappeared from circulation. 
 
146 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 is not so largely discordant with the coinage systems of England 
 and France even, as to exclude the coins of those countries from 
 circulation ; though, till replaced by others, such coins might 
 circulate at a discount. 
 
 In the notice which has here been taken of the several plans, 
 which up to this time have been seriously advocated, for the 
 unification of the monetary systems of the world, it has not been 
 intended to indicate a preference for one of these rather than for 
 another ; nor even to assume that the possibilities in the case 
 have been exhausted, or that a better plan than any one of them 
 may not yet be proposed. The object in view has been simply 
 to point out the peculiar difficulties which surround the subject, 
 find to illustrate their magnitude ; so that the propriety of deal 
 ing separately with the question of weights and measures may 
 not seem doubtful. 
 
 To the plan of unification which rests on the French gold 
 piece of five francs as its basis, the nations parties to the mone 
 tary treaty of December 23, 1865, including France, Belgium, 
 Switzerland, and Italy are already prepared to assent. These 
 nations have, in fact, only to abolish the double standard, and 
 they have the system already The treaty referred to establishes 
 for the parties to it a common system of coinage, to be main 
 tained until January 1, 1880, if not sooner repealed. Spain, 
 Sweden, Austria and Greece have exhibited a willingness to ac 
 cept the same system ; and Roumania has put it into practice. 
 
 The system of which the basis is the five tergramme coin of 
 gold, of the fineness of nine-tenths, exists, as we have seen, prac 
 tically, in the United States, at the present time. An important 
 and rather unexpected encouragement has been afforded to the 
 advocates of this scheme, during the current year, by the action 
 of the government of the Japanese Empire. Sometime during 
 the year 1870, the Master of the Mint of that Empire was de 
 puted as a commissioner to visit Europe and the United States, 
 with instructions to inquire into the systems of currency and 
 
UNIFICATION OF MONEYS. 147 
 
 coinage prevailing among different peoples, in the design to effect 
 a complete remodelling of the coinage of Japan. Commissioner 
 ITO, after having fully informed himself of the diversity of views 
 entertained by the prominent authorities on the subject in the 
 countries visited by him, returned at length prepared to recom 
 mend, first, an entire departure from the traditions of the East 
 as to a standard metal, by discarding the silver standard, and 
 adopting the standard of gold only; and secondly, the adoption, 
 as the unit basis of the new system, of a gold coin of the weight 
 of one gramme and two-thirds, of the fineness of nine tenths. 
 The views of the Commissioner were approved ; and a decree of 
 the empire, which was promptly issued in conformity with them, 
 provides for the stamping of gold coins of the several values, one 
 yen, two yens, five yens, ten yens, and twenty yens the yen being 
 the name given to the unit-base or gold dollar. This coinage is 
 made the only legal tender in the empire ; except for small pay 
 ments, which may be made in fractional coins of a subsidiary 
 silver currency ; and except also for transactions in the open 
 ports, for which a silver one-yen, the equivalent of the Spanish 
 dollar, continues to be coined, and is made legal tender for all 
 sums. 
 
 This remarkable action, which illustrates in a striking manner 
 the energy, the independence, and the freedom from prejudice, 
 with which the sagacious rulers of the Japanese islands are seek 
 ing to improve the social, political, and material condition of 
 their people, is possibly destined to have a larger influence on the 
 ultimate settlement of the question of an international coinage 
 than immediately appears. Should the example of Japan be 
 followed by the neighboring and more populous empire of China, 
 the demand of Oriental commerce may hereafter be for gold dol 
 lars instead of for silver; and this demand may decide the ques 
 tion what precise weight can be most advantageously given to the 
 gold coins of Europe and of America. 
 
 The latest incident of importance which has occurred in the 
 
1-18 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 political world, affecting the question of monetary unification, is 
 one which rather increases than diminishes the difficulties sur 
 rounding this question; and one which we are therefore com 
 pelled to regard as a serious misfortune. During the closing 
 months of the year 1871, Germany has permitted to pass unim 
 proved, or rather has put to a very bad use, an opportunity such 
 as can rarely be presented to a people for securing a great pub 
 lic benefit an opportunity which she might have improved in 
 such a manner as to settle decisively, at least for the continent 
 of Europe, the question of an international coinage. While 
 these lines are in writing, intelligence is received of the adoption 
 of a monetary gold unit for the empire, upon a new basis called 
 the mark, supposed to be equivalent in present value to one 
 third of a Prussian silver thaler. The principal coin of this 
 system is to contain twenty marks of gold, nine-tenths fine, and 
 to have the weight of seven thousand, nine hundred and sixty- 
 five milligrammes : with, the value, in the currency of the 
 United States, of 4.76426 dollars.* This coin not being com 
 mensurable in weight or in value with either the franc, the dol 
 lar, or the sovereign, serves only to embarrass still further a 
 problem already sufficiently difficult ; and its introduction must 
 have the effect to postpone indefinitely, for central Europe at 
 least, the enjoyment of the great blessing of an uniform interna 
 tional currency, of which the prospect seemed recently so 
 promising. 
 
 The heavy discouragement which this untoward action has 
 brought with it to the cause of uniformity is, however, measur 
 ably relieved by some attendant and partially compensating 
 advantages. If Germany has failed to grasp the favorable occa 
 sion for reconciling the conflicting monetary systems of Europe, 
 
 * The law provides for the minting of two gold coins ; a piece of ten marks, and a piece of 
 twenty marks. One hundred and thirty-nine and a half ten-mark pieces, or sixty-nine and 
 tlirec -quarters twenty-mark pieces are to be made from one German pound (five hundred 
 grammes) of fine gold. A mark has the value of 23.8213 cents of the currency of the United 
 States. 
 
UNIFICATION OF MONEYS. 149 
 
 she has nevertheless brought order out of the confusion of her 
 own. Henceforth, in reference to this matter, she contributes 
 but a single element instead of many to the general discord ; 
 and permits us to say that the number of the inharmonious ele 
 ments which, in studying the question of unification, we are 
 compelled to consider, is practically reduced to these four the 
 mark, the franc, the pound sterling and the dollar. The rela 
 tions which these bear to each other, as presented in the weights 
 and values of their characteristic gold coins most nearly approxi 
 mate, are given here the weights being expressed in grammes 
 and milligrammes, and the values in the currency of the United 
 States : 
 
 S. StaSSfU ValUe 
 
 Germany, 20-inark piece 7.168 7.965 $4.76.4 
 
 France, 25-franc piece (proposed) 7.258 8.065 4.82.4 
 
 Great Britain, Sovereign 7.322 8.136* 4.86.5 
 
 United States, Half Eagle 7.523 8.359 5.00.0 
 
 In this exhibit we have the whole case immediately under the 
 eye. Till Germany intervened, the widest range of difference 
 between the representative coins of the systems which it seemed 
 most important to reconcile, was less than eighteen cents. She 
 has extended it to nearly twenty-four. If the hope of an early 
 and general unification seemed doubtful before, it must now be 
 pronounced little better than desperate. 
 
 Yet it by no means becomes the friends of monetary reform 
 on this account to fold their arms in discouragement. The 
 very hopelessness of the case in the aspect here presented, 
 imposes upon the four great powers above named, the moral 
 obligation to lend their most serious attention to every alter 
 native possibility of relief which may be suggested ; and, in 
 the actual state of things it is eminently well worth their 
 consideration, whether present effort should not be directed 
 
 * Reduced to fineness of nine-tenths; present weight, eleven-twelfths fine, 7.988 grammes. 
 
150 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 toward the creation of a coinage for international use upon 
 a plan entirely independent of all local and purely national 
 systems. Such an international coinage, though not in strictly 
 commensurable relations with the coins now actually in use, 
 would be productive of the great benefit of immensely sim 
 plifying commercial exchanges, and of providing travellers 
 with a currency everywhere invariable in value. The advan 
 tages which its introduction would bring with it, are to some 
 extent even now actually enjoyed throughout a large part of 
 Europe, in consequence of the extended circulation which the 
 gold napoleon has secured beyond the limits of the French ter 
 ritory. This coin is in fact international with the nations par 
 ties to the monetary treaty of December, 1865; and it is to this 
 fact, no doubt, that it owes much of its popularity elsewhere. 
 But though it circulates freely all over Germany, Austria, Hol 
 land, Denmark, and Sweden, it circulates only by toleration, and 
 because of its great convenience ; and is not a legal tender for 
 payments of any amount, in any of those countries. 
 
 The international coinage here suggested will command, if 
 established, an immediate circulation among all the peoples who 
 shall unite in its creation ; and will bring with it greater advan 
 tages than have attended the continental circulation of the na 
 poleon. The existence of such a coinage will moreover keep 
 constantly before the minds of ail those who use it, the desira 
 bility of a currency which shall be not only international but 
 everywhere uniform and identical. Thus the proposed coinage 
 may become a powerful instrumentality in promoting the attain 
 ment of the object for which it seems at first to be only designed 
 as a substitute the ultimate complete unification of the mone 
 tary systems of the world. 
 
 An international coinage devised without reference to systems 
 actually existing, and controlled in its principles by no consider 
 ations of what may be their discordances or resemblances, may 
 be moreover constructed on a strictly scientific plan; and thus, 
 
UNIFICATION OF MONEYS. 151 
 
 when time shall have familiarized the nations with its values 
 and its visible forms, it may happen that, without violence, 
 and by the spontaneous action of peoples themselves, diver 
 sity may silently give place to uniformity, and a better sys 
 tem than any which present legislation could create, may 
 ultimately prevail throughout the world. 
 
 NOTES SUPPLEMENTARY. 
 
 1. Effect upon existing Contracts of a Change in the Legal Weight of Coins. 
 
 Since committing the foregoing pages to the press, it is felt that sufficient prominence has 
 not been given to the thought, cursorily suggested on page one hundred and thirty-one, that 
 every change, small or great, introduced into the weight of legal tender coins, while the same 
 coins continue to be unchanged in nominal value, imposes upon the government making it, the 
 most stringent obligation, in honor and in morals, to provide for the full and exact fulfilment 
 of all outstanding pecuniary engagements in the sense in which they were understood at the 
 time they were contracted. From this obligation there is no possibility of escape. The public 
 opinion of the world, to which in this age even monarchs must defer, will not suffer that, in 
 the light of the nineteenth century, governments shall presume, on any pretext whatever, to 
 imitate practices such as those to which unscrupulous despots were accustomed to resort 
 in ruder times, that they might wring from the hand of honest industry its hard earned 
 wages. There is one thing that is more valuable than national wealth or national power, 
 and that is national honor ; and it would be better to endure, to the end of time, all the evils 
 and disadvantages with which the diversity and incongruity of existing monetary systems 
 embarrass intercourse and encumber commerce, or even to go back to the rude iron currency 
 of the Spartans, than to possess ourselves of the most perfect system that science can devise, 
 through the operation of a legalized injustice. There can be little doubt that it was the 
 gravity of these considerations which determined the government of the United States to 
 make to the governments of Europe the proposition mentioned on the page above re 
 ferred to ; the effect of which would be, in case of its acceptance by those governments, 
 to acquire to some extent for existing coinages the character of an international coin 
 age, by making the values of their principal coins commensurable. 
 
 This plan, if adopted, owing to the minuteness of the changes which it demands, would 
 simplify the legislation required for the introduction of an international coinage, and would 
 secure the people, whom such legislation affects, against the inconvenience arising from the 
 necessity of discharging their pecuniary liabilities in a currency differing from that which 
 existed at the time when those liabilities were incurred. 
 
152 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 2. Tlie JYeio System of Coinage of the Japanese Empire. 
 
 In addition to the statements made on page 147, the following particulars may interest 
 The fineness of the subsidiary silver coinage is eight-tenths ; and the ratio in value of 
 the silver in this to gold is 1:13%. This coinage is legal tender to the amount of ten yen 
 (dollars). In the silver one-yen coin for the open ports, the fineness is nine-tenths ; and 
 the ratio 1:16.173. (The gold one-yen contains 1.5 grammes of pure gold, and the silver 
 one-yen, 24.260726 grammes of pure silver.) 
 
 The gold coins are as follows : one yen, two yen, five yen, ten yen, and twenty yen. 
 These are all legal tender for all payments, to any amount. 
 
 The rules relating to the silver one-yen are peculiar, and are as follows : 
 
 "For the sake of rendering facility to foreign commerce at those ports open to foreigners, 
 and in accordance with the requirements of the traders, both foreign and Japanese, our 
 government will coin the silver one-yen and make it useful only for foreign commerce. 
 This silver one -yen will be the legal tender in payment of local taxes and of import and 
 export duties. It will also be the legal tender in any commercial transaction in the open 
 ports. The said silver one-yen will, however, not be the legal tender in any other place than 
 the said open ports, and shall not be used for the payment of internal revenue of any 
 kind, nor will it be lawful currency in the interior : but by mutual agreement any person 
 or persons may use it to any amount throughout Japan. 
 
 "In the payment of the import and export duties, the comparative rate of the gold 
 yen to the silver one-yen will be as follows : thus, one hundred silver one-yen shall for 
 the present be equivalent to one hundred and one gold yen." 
 
 The world will wait with interest for the result of this curious experiment. It need 
 hardly have been provided that the silver one-yen shall not be legal tender in the inte 
 rior. The probabilities are that it will never be seen there ; and it is furthermore proba 
 ble that, so long as the legal relation between the silver one-yen and the gold yen 
 ramains as provided in the last paragraph foregoing, all the silver one-yen coins that 
 can be produced will be promptly bought up and exported as fast as they are issued from 
 the mint 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 NOTE 1. ON MEASURES OF CAPACITY, AND THE 
 WEIGHT OF A GIVEN VOLUME OF WATER 
 
 (REFERRED TO ON PAGE 39.) 
 
 A measure of capacity is, theoretically, a certain defined 
 volume expressible in cubic units, integral or fractional, derived 
 from some invariable linear measure. In theory, therefore, the 
 measure of capacity is the same under all conditions. But, in 
 practice, the capacity measure, being a vessel of metal, wood, or 
 other material subject to expansion and contraction with varia 
 tions of temperature, can correspond strictly with the theoretic 
 measure only at some particular temperature. 
 
 In the United States the standard temperature is that at which 
 the density of pare water is maximum. This is stated by Mr. F. 
 K. HASSLER, by whom, as Chief of the Bureau of Weights 
 and Measures, the experimental investigations were conducted 
 which resulted in fixing the methods of adjusting the mea 
 sures of capacity, in a report made by him, Jan. 27, 1832, as 
 being true at 39. 83 * of the thermometer of Fahrenheit. The 
 capacity of the bushel was, at the same time, fixed at 2150.42 
 cubic inches, which is the capacity of the old Winchester bushel 
 of England ; and that of the gallon, at 231 cubic inches, corre 
 sponding to the British wine gallon. But, inasmuch as the 
 British standard temperature is 62 F., the Winchester bushel 
 
 * In his report of 1842, ten years later, Mr. HASSLKR tacitly admits that this temperature is 
 too high, by speaking of 39 F., as the temperature of maximum density. PLAYFAIR and JOULK 
 make it 3. 945 C. = 39. 101 F. 
 
154 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 of England and the Winchester bushel of the United States are 
 equal to each other neither at 39.83 F., nor at 62 F., nor 
 at any other common temperature. In point of fact, the 
 British Winchester bushel, when made of brass, contains, ac 
 cording to Mr. HASSLER, only 2148.9 cubic inches at the tempera 
 ture adopted as standard in the United States ; falling short of 
 ours by one cubic inch and fifty-two one hundredths ; while ours 
 exceeds the British by the same amount, at the temperature 
 according to which the standards of Great Britain are ad 
 justed. 
 
 To construct a measure of any description, whether of length, 
 or of capacity, or of weight, in exact conformity with a standard 
 previously imposed, is a practical problem of extreme delicacy 
 and difficulty. The verification of capacity measures is more 
 over attended with the special disadvantage, that the interiors 
 of vessels cannot be subjected to microscopic measurement, 
 with the same facility as the external contours of solids. Capaci 
 ty measures designed to serve as standards are therefore 
 verified by an indirect process, which consists in determining, 
 by means of the balance, what quantity of pure \vater of known 
 temperature they are capable of containing.* But in order that 
 this method may be worthy of reliance, it is necessary first that 
 the absolute weight of a given volume of water should be ascer 
 tained with the utmost exactness ; and this not only at a given 
 temperature, but at every temperature within a pretty wide 
 range ; since the rate of expansion of water with increasing 
 temperature from the point of its maximum density, is governed 
 by no obvious law. To the determination, therefore, of the 
 
 * During the process of weighing, the measure is closed by means of a plate of truly plane ground 
 glass, the top or rim being correspondingly ground. It would not, of course, be possible, by any 
 exercise of dexterity, to fill an open vessel exactly full of liquid, and no more ; nor, supposing 
 that condition reached, could it be verified by simple observation. Should any air bubbles be 
 inclosed within the covering, they are brought by management to the centre of the plate, where 
 there is a small perforation, through which the deficiency of fluid may be supplied. The filling 
 having been perfectly accomplished, the exterior of the vessel and cover are then carefully dried 
 belore weighing. 
 
MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 155 
 
 weight of a cubic inch, or of some other determinate volume, of 
 water, there has been devoted a vast amount of laborious ex 
 perimental inquiry ; with results which differ only by a few one- 
 thousandths of a grain per cubic inch, and which are at length 
 probably as near to accuracy as it is possible for human skill to 
 attain. 
 
 In the prosecution of this inquiry the method pursued has not 
 been to prepare first a vessel of measured capacity, and then to 
 ascertain by the balance what weight of water in ounces or 
 grains it will hold. The difficulties already mentioned in the 
 way of constructing capacity measures by actual direct measure 
 ment, prevent this, But the plan has been to prepare a solid of 
 regular geometrical figure, and of specific gravity superior to 
 water ; and then to find experimentally the apparent loss of 
 weight which this body undergoes, when immersed in water. 
 The dimensions of such a solid can be determined with great 
 accuracy. It displaces precisely its own bulk of the fluid ; and 
 the observed loss of weight is therefore directly the thing sought 
 that is, the weight of the same bulk of water. 
 
 The weight of the cubic inch of water at maximum density, as 
 accepted at the Bureau of Weights and Measures of the United 
 States, is stated by Mr. HASSLER, in a report to the Secretary of 
 the Treasury, dated March, 1842, to be 252.7453 grains; and this 
 is there said to have been deduced from the " English determina 
 tions ;" and to be the value according to which the measures 
 of capacity of the United States are adjusted. It is a little 
 curious to observe, however, that the same authority gave, in 
 his report of 1832 the report in which the regulating weights 
 of those measures of capacity were first declared and prescribed 
 a materially different value of the same constant. In that 
 report he states the capacity of the gallon to be two hundred 
 and thirty-one cubic inches ; and the weight of two hundred and 
 thirty-one cubic inches of water at maximum density to be 
 58,372.1754 grains ; from which it appears that the cubic inch of 
 
156 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 water at maximum density was supposed by him then to weigh 
 only 252.G934 grains, as given in the text of the foregoing address. 
 This, however, is not a British determination; but it is Mr. 
 HASSLER S own, deduced from the weight of an authentic kilo 
 gramme, described by him to be "an original kilogramme of 
 brass, standarded by the Committee of Weights and Measures 
 in Paris [the committee on the definitive metre ] exactly equal 
 with all those of the deputies of foreign nations present at the 
 committee ; " combined also with " an authentic metre of the 
 committee," which he had himself twice compared. This value 
 of the kilogramme is 15,433.1669 grains, exceeding that found by 
 Prof. MILLER, in 1844 (the value given implicitly on page 15), by 
 0.81816 grains. Mr. HASSLER S determination of the metre was 
 39.3810327 inches, exceeding that received at the British Stand 
 ard s Office, as established by KATER in 1818, by the small frac 
 tion of an inch represented by the decimal 0.0102427. If we 
 employ the numbers of MILLER and KATER, we shall find the 
 weight of the cubic inch of water in vacuo, at maximum density, 
 as deduced from the kilogramme, to be 252.87718 grains. Sup 
 posing the weighing to take place in air, it will be necessary to 
 deduct from this, the weight of the air which the water displaces, 
 diminished by the weight of the air displaced by the counterpoises. 
 In the British computations, the specific gravity of the counter 
 poise weights is taken at 8.5. The allowance for buoyancy must, 
 according to this, be taken at ~. ths of the weight of a cubic 
 inch of air ; or of a cubic inch of the water weighed, multiplied 
 by the specific gravity of the air at the time of the experiment, 
 taken with reference to water of that density. According to Mr. 
 HASSLER, the value of this specific gravity which was employed by 
 the French committee was TTTJ ; and if we compute the correction 
 upon this specific gravity, we shall find it to amount to 0.28978; 
 so that the resulting weight of the cubic inch of water at maxi 
 mum density, weighed in air at 39. 83 F. and at 30 inches of 
 barometric pressure, will be 252.5874. 
 
MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 157 
 
 This specific gravity is, however, too large, as is shown more 
 at length in NOTE 2, following. It should be put at 0.001269582 
 -^-g-i-g^ ; and if this value be employed, the correction will 
 become 0.28345 ; and the weight of the cubic inch of water in 
 the air at normal pressure, deduced from MILLER S weight of the 
 kilogramme, will be 252.59373 grains. 
 
 HASSLER S weight of the cubic inch, as derived from his own 
 authentic kilogramme, must be regarded as a weight in vacuo ; 
 although he treats it as a weight in air, and makes it the basis 
 of his methods of adjusting the standards of capacity of the 
 United States ; in which adjustments the weighings take place, 
 of course, in the air. He has not informed us whether, when 
 his brass kilogramme was compared with the platinum standard, 
 allowance was made for displacement ; but we should naturally 
 suppose that that was done, and the agreement of the weight 
 with the weight of the prototype of the Archives, as found by 
 Prof. MILLER, within about eight-tenths of a grain, is in favor of 
 the supposition. Moreover, the effect of displacement in this 
 comparison could only be slight. According to the determina 
 tions given in NOTE 2, following, the weight of air displaced by 
 the brass kilogramme at the temperature of 62 P., and under 
 30 inches of pressure, would be only 2.20693 grains, and that of 
 the platinum kilogramme 0.89328 grains. The resultant effect 
 would therefore be 1.31365 grains ; an amount by which Mr. 
 HASSLER S kilogramme ought to be increased in order to give the 
 weight in vacuo, if the allowance was not originally made.* 
 
 But that the allowance was made can hardly be doubted; since 
 Mr. HASSLER says, not that his brass kilogramme was compared, 
 merely with the platinum prototype, but that it was " standard- 
 ed" by it and that this was done, moreover, by the original 
 standards-committee of 1799. The weight of the cubic inch of 
 
 * In determining the weight in grains of the brass kilogramme, after the comparison with the 
 prototype, no allowance for displacement was necessary, the counterpoise weights being of the 
 same metal 
 
158 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 water found from it, by dividing by the number of cubic inches in 
 the cubic decimetre, as derived from his own authentic metre, 
 which weight is 252.6934, is therefore a weight supposed to be 
 taken in vacuo at the maximum density. This weight will be 
 sensibly increased, if the cubic decimetre as determined by KATER 
 (now generally received) be made the divisor ; becoming in this 
 case 252.89065 grains. 
 
 That Mr. HASSLEK should have taken this weight, which is thus 
 seen to be a weight in vacuo, as the basis of the adjustments of 
 the national standards of capacity by weighings in the air, is a 
 circumstance too remarkable to be credited, except upon the 
 most conclusive evidence. His report of 1832 leaves, how 
 ever, no doubt upon that point. In that report, after hav 
 ing stated that water at its maximum density " is very 
 properly chosen to determine the bushel and gallon by the 
 weight of distilled water which their legal capacity will contain," 
 he proceeds to add : " Thus were determined, in weight of the 
 Mint in Philadelphia, to contain distilled water at the maximum 
 density, and at thirty inches barometer, the bushel =543,391.89 
 grains = 77.627413 pounds avoirdupois; the gallon =58,372.- 
 1754 grains = 8.33888220 pounds." 
 
 If we now divide 58,372.1754 by 231, the "legal capacity" of 
 the gallon in cubic inches, the quotient is exactly 252.6934, 
 without remainder. If we divide 543,391.89 by 2150.42, the 
 capacity of the bushel, the harmony of the two statements is 
 not at first apparent ; the dividend wanting a little more than 
 five grains in order to furnish the same quotient ; but we pres 
 ently perceive that Mr. HASSLER has given to the bushel only 
 2150.4 cubic inches, dropping the last decimal ; and that 
 252.6934 X 2150.4-= 543,391.88736 ; or, taking the nearest deci- 
 ,mal in the hundredths place, 543,391.89, as stated in the re 
 port. 
 
 The value given, as mentioned above, by Mr. HASSLER, in his 
 report of 1842, as being "the English determination," and 
 
MEASURES OP CAPACITY. 159 
 
 which is there stated by him to be the basis on which the 
 United States measures of capacity are founded, is also given 
 explicitly in the report of ten years before i. e., the same report 
 in which, as we have seen, the standards of capacity are regu 
 lated in accordance with the weight derived from the kilo 
 gramme ; so that the choice at that time seems to have been 
 deliberately made. The difference between the values is not of 
 serious importance, amounting only to eleven or twelve grains 
 in a gallon ; but it is certainly a logical error to found a measure 
 of capacity which is to be adjusted by weighing in the air, upon 
 a unit of weight which is true only in vacuo. It was perhaps 
 also an error of judgment to derive this unit of weight from the 
 kilogramme at all ; when the remaining determinations cited in 
 the report in which this choice is made, are discordant with this, 
 and are generally harmonious among themselves. 
 
 It might be supposed that when Mr. HASSLER, in 1842, announced 
 that the capacity measures of the United States were adjusted 
 by weight in accordance with the English determination of the 
 weight of the standard cubic inch of water, viz., 252.7453, he 
 had modified the total weight of the gallon correspondingly; 
 and this, if he had been silent as to that point, would necessarily 
 have been taken for granted. He removes, however, the possi 
 bility of such an impression, by immediately stating, in the 
 same report of 1842, that the weight corresponding to the gal 
 lon is 58,373 grains ; a weight identical with the original 
 determination, excepting that the decimal is dropped, and 
 the last figure of the integral number is increased by a 
 unit. If the British value had been actually employed, the 
 gallon, in order to preserve its " legal capacity," should have 
 been made to contain 58,384.1643 grains ; or 11.9889 grains 
 more than assigned it in 1832.* 
 
 * On supposition that the value 252.7453 grains is true, the actual standard brass gallon meas 
 ure of the United States has the legal capacity of 231 cubic inches, not at the temperature of the 
 maximum density of water, but 6. 51 F. above that temperature; or, putting the temperature of 
 maximum density at 39. 1 F., the brass standard gallon contains 231 cubic inches at 45. 61 F. 
 
160 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 The rep6rt of 1832 gives not only the determination called the 
 English; but also the manner in which this value was deduced. 
 It is a mean of several, all of which were obtained by reducing 
 the weight given in the British act of Parliament of 1824 fixing 
 the standards of capacity, as being that of a cubic inch of water 
 taken at 62 F. of temperature and under a barometric pressure 
 of thirty inches, to the temperature of the maximum density of 
 water ; by means of coefficients, experimentally determined, for 
 the variation of density with changes of temperature. The value 
 given in the act is 252.458 grains. It was derived originally from 
 the very elaborate researches upon weights and measures of Sir 
 GEORGE SHUCKBUEGH EVELYN, a member of the Koyal Society ; 
 of which a full account was published, in 1798, in the Philo 
 sophical Transactions. In determining, in the course of 
 these researches, the weight of a given volume of water, Sir 
 GEORGE made use of three different solids; one of them being 
 a cube, one a cylinder, and one a sphere. In the year 1818, a 
 Royal Commission was appointed and charged with the duty of 
 inquiring and reporting on the subject of weights and measures, 
 with a view to legislation. The chairman of this committee was 
 Sir JOSEPH BANKS ; and it embraced, among other distinguished 
 members, Dr. WOLLASTON, Dr. YOUNG, and Captain HENRY KATER. 
 The experimental inquiries instituted by the committee were 
 chiefly conducted by Capt. KATER; and, in the course of them, 
 this gentleman carefully revised the researches of Sir GEORGE 
 SHUCKBURGH, remeasuring with microscopic accuracy the three 
 solids which had been used by him. The weighings were not 
 repeated. They had been made by means of a set of weights con 
 structed expressly for the purpose by TROUGHTON; which weights 
 accorded perfectly among themselves, but were a trifle light 
 when compared with the parliamentary standard; the difference 
 amounting to nearly two thirds of a grain in one thousand grains. 
 The weighings were made in the air at different temperatures 
 and under different pressures, the temperature of the water clif- 
 
MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 161 
 
 fering also from that of the air ; but the results were all reduced 
 to the standard temperature of 62 o F., and the standard press 
 ure of thirty inches of the barometer. The volume of the cube 
 was 124.1969 cubic inches, at 62 F. of temperature; that of the 
 cylinder, 75.2398 cubic inches; and that of the sphere 113.5264 
 cubic inches. The first gave the weight of the cubic inch of 
 water, in vacuo, 252.907 of Sir GEORGE SHUCKBURGH S grains; the 
 second 252.851, and the third, 252.907. The mean of these 
 values is 252.888; which reduced to grains of the parliamentary 
 standard is 252.722. 
 
 In making these reductions, every circumstance which could 
 affect the result was carefully considered ; the difference of bulk 
 of the solid at the temperature of the experiment and at 62 F., 
 as well as the difference of density of water at the same two 
 temperatures, being computed with severe accuracy. The buoy 
 ant power of the atmosphere in diminishing the weight, not only 
 of the solid immersed, but also of the counterpoise weights, was 
 likewise taken into the account.* 
 
 The weight in the air deduced from the weight in vacuo given 
 above, is obtained by subtracting the calculated weight of the air 
 displaced by the water, less that of the air displaced by the 
 counterpoises. The remainder, being multiplied by a coefficient 
 expressive of relative density at the two temperatures compared, 
 gives the weight at the temperature of maximum density, and 
 under the standard pressure, f Mr. HASSLER S report of 1832 
 gives three such coefficients, derived directly or indirectly from 
 GILPIN, with the weights obtained by means of them ; and also 
 the mean of these weights, which is 252.7487 : but the particular 
 result which is called, in the subsequent report, " the English 
 determination," viz., 252.7453, is one given by VAN DER TOORN, 
 of Amsterdam, from his own computations, based on GILPIN. 
 
 * From an examination of RATER S computations, it appears that the constants employed by 
 him may, in some instances, be advantageously modified. His reductions have been, therefore, 
 carefully re-examined, and the results are given in a separate note, which follows the present 
 
 t This was Mr. HASSLER S order of proceeding : rigorous accuracy would require, however, that 
 the reduction to maximum density should be made before correcting for buoyancy. 
 
162 
 
 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 In the same report are also given four results from French 
 authorities, with a mean of 252.7098 ; and quite a variety from 
 VAN DER TOORN, ranging from 252.5658 to the one given above, 
 viz., 252.7453. The results from British authorities, of which 
 the mean is given in the last paragraph, are all higher than any 
 from other sources. Of fifteen different determinations embraced 
 in the table of the report, all except five are greater than that 
 upon which Mr. HASSLER founded the capacity measures of the 
 "United States. 
 
 It is difficult to account for the not inconsiderable difference 
 which appears, from the foregoing figures, to exist between the 
 weight of the actual prototype platinum kilogramme of France, 
 and the weight of the theoretic kilogramme, as deduced from the 
 British experiments. The original determination of this standard 
 was made with great care, in 1795, by M. LEFEVRE GINEAU ; the 
 method employed by him having been the same which has been 
 described as used by Sir GEORGE SHUCKBURGH. The solid employed 
 in the weighings was constructed in the form of a cylinder, such 
 a body being capable of being constructed and measured with 
 the greatest precision. It was hollow, being made only heavy 
 enough to sink freely in water. In dimensions it was nearly 
 two decimetres and a half in diameter, and of equal height. The 
 exact mean height and diameter were determined by an extreme 
 refinement of measurement to the ten thousandth of a milli 
 metre, at the temperature of 17.6 C = 63.68 F. The volume 
 computed upon these measurements was then reduced to the 
 temperature of melting ice, at which it was determined to be 
 very nearly 11.28 cubic decimetres = 688.385 cubic inches. 
 
 The weighings were made by means of weights prepared ex 
 pressly for the purpose ; the unit being an approximate kilo 
 gramme, and the smaller weights, decimal sub-multiples of this 
 down to the one-millionth part, carefully verified, and pre 
 sumed to be less than one half of one one-millionth part in error. 
 The counterpoise weights having been of the same metal with the 
 
MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 163 
 
 cylinder, no allowance for displacement was necessary in weigh 
 ing in the air, the interior of the cylinder being in communica 
 tion with the atmosphere during this operation. In weighing 
 the cylinder immersed, the weight of the confined air was de 
 ducted as well as that of the air displaced by the weights. Thus, 
 no precaution was neglected which seemed to be necessary to 
 secure accuracy; and yet the resulting weight of the cubic deci 
 metre of water as thus determined is sensibly less than that de 
 duced by the British and by most of the continental experi 
 menters. 
 
 Mr. CHISHOLM gives, however, in the Sixth Appendix to the 
 Second Eeport of the British Standards commission, " an impor 
 tant computation of the actual weight of a cubic decimetre of 
 water at its maximum density, in terms of the standard Kilo 
 gramme des Archives, the computation being based upon KUPF- 
 FER S observations of the weight of a cubic inch of water and of 
 the standard kilogramme." The details of these observations 
 and calculations are given in a voluminous report of the com 
 mission appointed to fix the standards of weight and measure of 
 the Russian empire, published in 1841. 
 
 KUPFFER appears to have found the weight of the cubic inch of 
 water in vacuo, at 13 J E. = 16. 67 C = 62 F., to be only 
 252.598 grains. He also found the weight of the standard kilo 
 gramme to be 15432.36186 grains ; exceeding that found by 
 Prof. MILLER by the minute fraction 0.01312. Mr. CHISHOLM re 
 marks that, " according to this computation, based upon KATER S 
 valuation of the metre, a cubic decimetre of water at its maxi 
 mum density weighs 1000.0115 grammes ; and therefore 11.5 
 milligrammes, or 0.17747 grains more than a kilogramme. By 
 a similar computation, if Capt. CLARKE S more recent valuation 
 of the metre = 39.370432 English inches be taken as the base, 
 a cubic decimetre of water, at its maximum density, weighs 15 
 milligrammes, or 0.23145 grains less than a kilogramme. If the 
 mean of these two computations be taken, the weight of a cubic 
 
164 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 decimetre of water at its maximum density will be only 1.75 
 milligrammes, or 0.027 grains less than a kilogramme." 
 
 Mr. CHISHOLM has carefully verified all the computations of 
 KUPFFER, and remarks that " KUPFFER S operations for determin 
 ing the weight cf a cubic inch of water appear to have been 
 made with the greatest possible care and accuracy." He con 
 cludes, however, with the observation, that " in point of fact, the 
 authority of a computation based upon the imperial weights 
 and measures used by KUPFFER cannot be put in comparison 
 with that based on the imperial standards used by SHUCKBURGH 
 and KATER ;" and that " it may therefore be stated that the legal 
 weight in a vacuum of a cubic inch of water at 62 Fahrenheit, 
 thus scientifically and authoritatively determined, is 252.722 
 grains." 
 
 One further remark remains to be added, in order that the 
 purpose of this note may be complete ; which is in reference 
 to the mode of adjustment of the standard measures of capa 
 city actually employed in practice at the Bureau of "Weights and 
 Measures. Though the weight of water which these standards 
 should contain is that of a definite number of cubic inches taken 
 at the temperature of maximum density, and under the baro 
 metric pressure of thirty inches, yet the adjustments are made at 
 the ordinary temperature, and in any state of the barometer ; the 
 test weight which the vessels are made to contain being that 
 which the expansion of the material from the standard tempera 
 ture to the temperature of observation would adapt them to 
 hold of the fluid, which also expands simultaneously. If it were 
 true that the capacity of the vessel and the bulk of the contained 
 liquid expanded equally throughout the range to which observa 
 tion extends, then it would happen that the vessel would hold 
 exactly the same weight of liquid under all variations of 
 temperature. But this is not the case. Near the standard 
 temperature, the capacity is enlarged by elevation of tempera 
 ture more rapidly than the bulk of the liquid ; and, therefore, 
 
MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 165 
 
 for a range of about twelve or thirteen degrees above the tem 
 perature of maximum density, the vessel is capable of holding a 
 somewhat larger weight than at that temperature. But above 
 the forty-sixth degree of Fahrenheit s thermometer, the volume 
 of the liquid begins fco expand faster than the capacity of the 
 vessel ; so that, at about 52 F., the weight of the water which 
 the vessel will contain is once more equal to what it was at the 
 standard temperature. This makes the temperature of 52 F. 
 a particularly favorable one for the practical operations of the 
 adjustment ; and it is one which is more easy to command than 
 that of 39 F. 
 
 The barometric corrections, according to Mr. HASSLER, are 
 made on the supposition of a constant specific gravity of i y , of 
 air, under the normal pressure. In NOTE 2, which follows this, 
 are stated some reasons for believing that this specific gravity 
 is too small. By the method there described, the weight of a 
 cubic inch of air of ordinary humidity under the pressure of 30 
 inches, at 52 F., is found to be 0.31124313 ; and this, divided 
 by the weight of a cubic inch of water in vacuo at 62 F., as 
 there found, viz., 252.75965, gives the specific gravity 0.001231400 
 = 81 2 Qft 3- As in practice, however, the specific gravity appears 
 to be made a factor in a coefficient of correction, which is mul 
 tiplied directly into the observed weight of the water in the 
 vessel, the divisor should be the weight in vacuo of the cubic 
 inch of water at 52 F. rather than at 62 F. ; which weight is 
 252.94021 grains, giving a specific gravity of 0.001230501 
 = bia b77 But as it is, probably, the water only which is 
 taken at 52 F.; the weighing being made in air of ordinary 
 temperature, or between 60 F. and 70 F., Mr. HASSLER S 
 specific gravity will, under the actual circumstances, be very 
 near the truth. It is however to be observed that, if the normal 
 weight of the cubic inch of water at maximum density in air, 
 be taken on supposition that the air is itself also at the tem 
 perature of 39. 1 F., there should be a correction for the thermic 
 
166 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 condition of the atmosphere, as well as for pressure : and as this 
 would, in general, be materially the greater of the two, it is 
 apparently a needless refinement of accuracy to consider the 
 fluctuations of the barometer, if the atmospheric temperature 
 be disregarded. A cubic inch of air, under normal pressure, 
 weighs, at 62 F., about one twenty-third part less than at 39 
 F. ; while even so large a barometric variation as an entire 
 inch, affects, at constant temperature, the same weight, only one 
 thirtieth part. Neglect of the first of these corrections would 
 occasion error in the weight of the gallon to the extent of nearly 
 three grains (2.88 gr.) ; while, in the case of the second, the 
 error would ordinarily be less than one grain ; and would 
 amount to only about two, on the supposition, just made, of the 
 extreme barometric variation of an entire inch. 
 
 Supposing, however, that the regulating weight of the meas 
 ures of capacity is not the weight in the air, but the weight in 
 vacuo, of a cubic inch of water of maximum density, it is the 
 total weight of the air displaced by the water, less that of the air 
 displaced by the counterpoises, which should be allowed for in 
 the adjustments. Such a regulating weight appears, as shown 
 in the preceding note, to have been selected by Mr. HASSLER ; 
 yet his formulas for correction are constructed as if this weight 
 had been determined by weighing in the air under the normal 
 pressure at the temperature of 62 F. Hence would follow the 
 theoretic consequence, that the bushel and gallon, at the stand 
 ard temperature, must be slightly above their legal capacity. 
 But inasmuch as this regulating weight, derived as we have 
 seen from the kilogramme, is below that deduced from the 
 British experiments as being the weight under normal pressure 
 in the air, there seems to be a probability that the error of the 
 standard measures of capacity of the United States, if any 
 exists, is on the side of deficiency rather than of excess. 
 
MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 167 
 
 NOTE 2. REEXAMINATION OF CAPTAIN KATER S 
 DETERMINATION OF THE WEIGHT OF A 
 GIVEN VOLUME OF WATER. 
 
 In recomputing Captain KATER S results, referred to in the 
 preceding note, employing his own data, some slight, though 
 not very important, discrepancies are observed. The details of 
 the recomputation are here presented. 
 
 I. FOE THE CUBE: 
 
 Temperature of air during the weighing. = 62 F. 
 
 " water " " = 602 F. 
 
 Height of barometric column during the 
 
 weighing =29 inches. 
 
 Specific gravity of air at 62 F. and 30 
 
 inches barometer = ^ 
 
 Specific gravity of weights employed .... =8.5. 
 Density of solid to density at 62 F. 
 
 as unity = 1.0000567. 
 
 Density of water to density at 62 F. 
 
 as unity = 1.00017. 
 
 Volume of solid at 62 F = 124.1969 cu. in. 
 
 Apparent weight of water displaced. . . . = 31,381.79 grains. 
 With these data, the following are the results obtained as 
 compared with those originally deduced by KATES, himself from 
 the same. 
 
 1. Correction for displacement: 
 
 KATER S RESULT. BECOMPUTATION. 
 
 i oq 7 K 
 
 31,381.79 . - - . -=- . -- =32.000. 32.094. 
 
 oOi oO o.O 
 
 2. Weight in vacuo of water displaced : 
 
 KATER S RESULT. RECOMPUTATION. 
 
 31,381.79 + 32.00 = 31,413.79. 31,381.79+32.094 = 31,413,884, 
 
168 METRIC SYSTEM -- APPENDIX. 
 
 3. Reduction to the standard temperature: 
 
 KATEB S RESULT. RECOMPUTATION. 
 
 3M13.79 . = 31410.24. 
 
 4. "Weight in vacuo of cubic inch of water at 62 F. : 
 EATER S RESULT. RECOMPUTATION. 
 
 II. FOR THE CYLINDER: 
 
 In this case, the temperature of the air at the weighing, 
 and therefore, also, its specific gravity, remain the same as 
 before. The stand of the barometer is likewise the same, and 
 the same counterpoise weights continue to be used. The other 
 conditions are different, as follows: 
 
 Temperature of the water during the weigh 
 
 ing ............................... = 605 F. 
 
 Density of solid to density at 62 F ..... = 1.000047. 
 
 Density of water to density at 62 F ____ = 1.0001456. 
 
 Volume of solid at 62 F .............. = 75,2398 cu. in. 
 
 Apparent weight of water displaced ..... = 19,006.83 grains. 
 
 From which we obtain, 
 
 1. Correction for displacement : 
 
 KATEE S RESULT. RECOMPUTATION. 
 
 1!U385 
 
 2. Weight in vacuo, of water displaced: 
 
 KATER S RESULT. RECOMPUTATION. 
 
 19,00683+19.43 = 19,020,26. 19,006.83+19.4385 = 19,026.2685. 
 
 3. Reduction to standard temperature: 
 
 KATER S RESULT. RECOMPUTATION, 
 
 19 26 - 20 
 
MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 169 
 
 4. Weight in vacuo of cubic inch of water: 
 
 KATEK S RESULT. RECOMPUTATION. 
 
 
 
 III. FOR THE SPHERE: 
 
 The conditions in this experiment are all changed, excepting 
 the specific gravity of the counterpoise weights. The rest are 
 as follows : 
 
 Temperature of the air during the weigh 
 
 ing ............................... = 67 F. 
 
 Temperature of the water during the 
 
 weighing .......................... = 66 F. 
 
 Height of barometric column .......... =29.74 inches. 
 
 Specific gravity of air at 67 F ......... = y-i^. 
 
 Density of solid to density at 62 F ..... = 0.999874. 
 
 Density of water to density at 62 F ____ = 0.99958. 
 
 Yolume of solid at 62 F .............. = 113.5264 cu. in. 
 
 Apparent weight of water displaced . . . . = 28,673.51 grains. 
 
 Whence we deduce 
 
 1. Correction for displacement: 
 
 KATEK S RESULT. RECOMPUTATION. 
 
 28,673.51 . -L . ?^i . = 29.72. 29.7519. 
 
 olo oU o.o 
 
 2. Weight in vacuo of water displaced: 
 
 KATEK S RESULT. RECOMPUTATION. 
 
 28,673.51+29 72 = 28,703.23. 28,673.51 + 29.7519=28,703.2619. 
 
 3. Reduction to standard temperature : 
 
 KATER S RESULT. RECOMPUTATION. 
 
 28 703 - 23 = 28 711 66 - 28 703 2619 =^.711.6992. 
 
 4. Weight in vacuo of cubic inch of water: 
 
 KATEK S RESULT. RECOMPUTATION. 
 
 ^711.66 28,711.6992 
 
 113.5264 
 
 __ 
 
 ~ 252.90768. 
 
170 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 KATEK S RESULT. RECOMPUTATION. 
 
 Kesulting mean 252.888 252.8885 
 
 Mean in parliamentary grains 252.722 252.7225 
 
 Whence weight in air, 62 F. and 30 in. bar. 252.456 252.4551 
 
 In the final result the discrepancies which appear in the pro 
 cess of calculation nearly balance each other. 
 
 The computations of Captain KATER, here reviewed, form an 
 appendix to the third report of the parliamentary committee 
 of 1818. In the report itself, the weight of the cubic inch of 
 water in vacuo at 62 F. is given as 252.754, and the Appendix 
 is referred to as authority. The discrepancy between the two 
 statements is not explained , but the statement of the report 
 furnishes a reason if not a justification for the adoption in 
 the British statute of 1824 (5 GEORGE IV., c. 74), of the value 
 252 . 458 as that of the weight of a cubic inch of water in the air, 
 both water and air being at the temperature of 62 F., and the 
 barometer standing at thirty inches a value upon which Mr. 
 HASSLER has based his reductions to the temperature of maxi 
 mum density in his report of 1832 ; though, as is shown in the 
 NOTE foregoing, he set aside the value found by these reduc 
 tions in favor of that derived from his authentic brass kilo 
 gramme, in fixing the weights which determine the standard 
 measures of capacity of the United States. Mr. HASSLER S reduc 
 tions, here referred to, take no account of the different specific 
 gravities of the air at the two temperatures considered ; a cir 
 cumstance which to a certain slight extent vitiates the result, 
 whether the reduced weight be referred to air at 39 1 F., or to 
 air at G2 F. 
 
 The specific gravities of air employed by Captain KATER in 
 the calculation above reviewed are certainly too small. It is 
 worth while, therefore, to repeat the operations with new con 
 stants. The following values for the weight in grains of a cubic 
 inch of dry air at 60 F. of temperature, and under a barome- 
 
MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 171 
 
 trie pressure of thirty inches, are given by the several authori 
 ties named : 
 
 Biot and Arago 0.31074 
 
 Dumas and Boussingault . 31086 
 
 Kegnault 0.30938 
 
 Prout.. 0.31017 
 
 Mean . 3102675 
 
 If we reduce to 62, supposing the pressure constant, and 
 assuming the absolute zero to be at 461 below F., we shall 
 obtain the result 0.30908093 grs. ; and taking the cubic inch of 
 water in vacuo at the same temperature to be 252 . 722 as above, 
 we shall obtain a specific gravity of 0.0012230076, or Q^-TT^- 
 
 ol i uOO* 
 
 "We may presume the weighings of the experimenters whose 
 determinations are here cited, to have been made without allow 
 ance for the displacement of air by the counterpoise weights. 
 The displacement of the air-vessel employed in the experiments 
 would be the same, of course, before and after exhaustion.* The 
 allowance for the counterpoises, if made, will slightly reduce 
 the observed weight ; and will reduce, of course, the resulting 
 specific gravity. This allowance is made here accordingly, that 
 nothing may be omitted which tends to diminish the difference 
 between the specific gravities deduced from these weights and 
 those employed by KATER. The counterpoises are supposed to 
 be of brass, having the specific gravity of those used in the 
 British experiments, viz., 8.5. The weight, after the correction 
 thus indicated, becomes . 309036458 grs. ; and the resulting 
 specific gravity is 0.0012228315 = 8ll \ 14: - 
 
 This is on supposition that the air is dry. In KAXKINE S 
 Manual of the Steam Engine, there are given tables of the pres 
 sure and weight per cubic foot of watery vapor from 32 F. 
 
 * In order to eliminate entirely the effect of displacement, in experiments on the weight of 
 air and gases, the expedient was employed by REGNACLT and PROUT, of suspending to the oppo 
 site scale of the balance, a second vessel exactly similar in form and equal in weight to that 
 containing the gas to be weighed. 
 
172 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 upward. It is reasonable to assume the average depression of 
 the dew point to be not less than six degrees. If, therefore, to 
 the weight of a cubic inch of dry air as already found, we add 
 the weight of a cubic inch of watery vapor, supposed saturated at 
 a temperature six degrees below, and if from the same we sub 
 tract a fraction of its total weight indicated by the ratio of the 
 tension of the vapor to the total tension, the result should be the 
 ordinary weight of a cubic inch of air at the standard tempera 
 ture and pressure. These operations having been performed, 
 we find at length the weight at 62 F., proper for our pur 
 poses, to be 0.307386258 grains; giving a specific gravity of 
 0.001216302 == 99 A similar computation gives the weight 
 
 of a cubic inch of air at 67 F. and 30 inches of pressure as 
 0.304150644 grs., with a specific gravity to water at 62 F., of 
 
 0.001203498 = ^ 
 
 In the calculations given below, these values are employed ; 
 and the densities of water at different temperatures, instead of 
 being taken from GILPIN, are derived from the more recent 
 determinations of KOPP. The constants for the expansion and 
 contraction of brass remain as stated by KATER. The tempera 
 ture of the maximum density of water as given by HASSLER 
 (39.83 F. = 4.35 C.) is doubtless too high. It is given by 
 CHISHOLM, on the authority of PLAYFAIR and JOULE, (Second 
 Eeport of the Royal Standards Commission, 1869, Appendix VI.) 
 at 3. 945 C. = 39.101 F. ; and inasmuch as the variation of 
 density is almost insensible near that point, we may assume it 
 for the purposes of this calculation at 4 C =39. 2 F. 
 
 The following then are the coefficients of volume of water at 
 the several temperatures named, as taken directly or deduced 
 by interpolation from the tables of KOPP. 
 
 At 32 F.= 0.0 C 1.000000 At 60.5 F.= 15.83 C. 1.000820 
 " 39.2 " = 4.0 " 0.999877 " 62.0 " = 16.67 " 1.000953 
 "60.2 "=15.662" 1.000795 " 66.0 " =18.89 " 1.001350 
 
MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 173 
 
 For the dilatation and contraction of brass, if we take the 
 density at 62 F. as unity, we shall have the following coeffi 
 cients. 
 For 60.2 F 1.00005670 For 62 F 1.00000000 
 
 " 60.5 " 1.00004725 " 66 " 0.99987400 
 
 Putting now 
 
 "W = the apparent weight of the water displaced. 
 
 W = the weight after correction for displacement. 
 
 "\V" = the corrected and reduced weight, being the weight at 
 62 F. in vacua. 
 
 S = specific gravity of dry air at 62 F. to water at 62 F. 
 
 c = correction of S for humidity. It is the weight per cubic 
 inch of saturated aqueous vapor at 6 F. below the 
 temperature of observation, less the proportion of 
 the total weight per cubic inch of vapor and dry air, 
 expressed by the ratio of tension of vapor to joint 
 tension of vapor and air, divided by the weight per 
 cubic inch of water at 62 F. in vacuo. 
 
 s = specific gravity at 62 F. of body weighed to water at 
 62 F. 
 
 T = British standard temperature (62 F.), referred to the 
 absolute zero (-461 F). 
 
 T = temperature of the air at the weighing, referred to same. 
 
 p standard barometric pressure. 
 
 P = barometric pressure at the weighing. 
 
 Y = coefficient of volume of water at 62 F., from table. 
 
 Y = " " at temperature of experi 
 
 ment. 
 
 D = density of brass at 62 F. 
 
 D = " " at temperature of experiment. 
 
 C = correction for displacement. 
 
17-1 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 The correction for displacement, to be added to W, will be 
 found by the formula, 
 
 C = W ,( S . *- + c\ . 4- . i . SDY - PV . 
 
 \ T / V P 8I>V 
 
 This correction having been added to "W, the sum "W will 
 represent the weight in vacua of the volume of water actually 
 displaced by the solid, with the density belonging to the water 
 at the temperature of the experiment. This volume is then to 
 be reduced to the volume at 62 F. ,by means of the coefficients 
 of density of brass given above; and the density, to the density 
 at 62, by means of those of volume for water, in accordance 
 with the following formula, 
 
 IT-IT. 4, *; 
 
 Performing the operations and putting C A , C B , C c , "W A , "W B , W c , 
 to represent the several corrections, and the several weights as 
 corrected, we find, 
 
 C A =32.5513. C =19.7157. C c =30.5180. 
 And 
 
 W A 31, 414. 3413. WB =19,026.5157. W c =28, 714. 0280. 
 
 These, further reduced by the second formula, give 
 W, =31, 41 1.0808. W 2 =19, 024. 8829. W 3 =28, 71 1.7140. 
 
 "Whence, dividing by the measured bulks of the solids im 
 mersed, there are obtained the three values for the weight of the 
 cubic inch of water in vacuo at 62 F., and 30 inches of baro 
 metric pressure, 252.9130 grs., 252.8566 grs., and 252.9959 grs. ; 
 giving a mean of 252.9220 grs. This weight being expressed in 
 the grains of Sir GEORGE SHUCKURGH, must be reduced to the par 
 liamentary standard, by multiplying by the coefficient 0.9993432 
 which gives as a final result, 252.75965 grs. standard. 
 
 There is reason, therefore, to think that the reductions made 
 by Captain KATER from the experiments of Sir GEORGE SHUCK- 
 
 * This last factor E is put into this form only because it is what the rigid theoretic 
 
 S D V 
 
 truth requires. Practically the specific gravity, s, may be regarded as invariable; and in place of 
 this factor, may be written I 
 
MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 175 
 
 BURGH, after the remeasurement of the solid bodies employed in 
 those experiments had been carefully made by himself, give a 
 result sensibly though slightly too small, the difference amount 
 ing to 0.038 grs. nearly. 
 
 If, from the weight just found, we deduct the proper correction 
 for displacement in weighing in the air, at the British standard 
 temperature and pressure, with brass weights of the specific 
 gravity of 8.5, we shall obtain for the cubic inch of water under 
 these conditions, the value 252.48843 grs. instead of 252.456, the 
 result found by KATER. 
 
 Reducing the weight in vacuo found above to the temperature 
 of maximum density, by means of the coefficients of volume 
 from the table of KOPP, we find for the cubic inch of water 
 under these conditions, the weight 253.0286. KATER S value 
 252.722, reduced by means of the coefficient of Prof. MILLER 
 employed in the report of 1869 of the Standards Commission of 
 Great Britain, gives 253.00452 grs. The corresponding value, 
 as deduced from the kilogramme, according to MILLER, we have 
 seen to be only 252.87718 grs.* The difference is 0.12734 grs.; 
 which, multiplied by 61.02705152, the number of cubic inches in 
 a cubic decimetre, gives 7.77118 grs., the amount by which the 
 platinum prototype kilogramme of the Archives would appear, 
 from this determination, to be too light. If the comparison be 
 made with the value found in the foregoing computation, viz. : 
 
 * As there are three determinations of the weight of the kilogramme in British standard 
 grains, all entitled to respect, viz. : (taken in the order of publication) those of HASSLER (1832), 
 KCPFFER (1841), and MILLER (1844); and also three determinations of the metre in British stand 
 ard inches, and therefore of the cubic decimetre, or litre, in British standard cubic inches, 
 similarly deserving of consideration, viz. : (taken likewise in the order of publication) those of 
 KATER (1821), HASSLER (1832), and CLARKE (1866), it follows that, by combining these data by 
 pairs, we may obtain nine values, slightly differing from each other, for the weight in vacuo of 
 the cubic inch of water at maximum density, as derived from the kilogramme. It may be inter 
 esting to have all these under the eye in a single group. The data are as follows : 
 
 HASSLER. KUPFFER. MILLER. 
 
 Kilogramme (grains)... 15,433.1669 15432.36186 15432.34874 
 
 KATER. HASSLER. CLARKE. 
 
 Metre (inches) 39. 37079 39. 3810327 39. 370432 
 
 Litre (cu. in.) 61.02705152 61.07469428 61.02499296 
 
 Taking, now, the initial letters of the names of these authorities to indicate .the several 
 
176 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 253.028G grs., the discrepancy becomes as great as 9.24072 
 grains.* 
 
 Returning to the weight of the cubic inch of water in vacuo 
 at maximum density, as found by our own reductions above, we 
 shall obtain the weight in air at the corresponding temperature, 
 by correcting, as in previous computations, for displacement. 
 From the weight of the cubic inch of dry air at 62 F. and at 
 the normal pressure, we deduce the weight at 39.l F. under 
 the same pressure, by the ordinary methods ; which weight we 
 find to be 0.323187315 grs. Correcting then, as in the previous 
 cases, for humidity, we obtain the reduced weight 0.321240544 
 grs. And multiplying this by the constant 0.882353, which ex 
 presses the displacement by the water (taken as unity) less the 
 displacement by the brass weights, we arrive finally at the cor 
 rection 0.2834476 grs., which is to be subtracted from the weight 
 in vacuo as found above, viz., 252.0286 grs. ; leaving finally 
 
 values of the kilogramme and of the litre, and using the large capitals for the first, and the small 
 capitals for the second, we have these combinations : 
 
 WEIGHT, WEIGHT, WEIGHT, 
 
 Cu. in. water, Cu. in. water, Cu. in. water, 
 
 in vacuo. in vacuo. in vacuo. 
 
 H-f-K^ 252. 89059 K -t- K = 252.87736 M -f- K = 252.87718 
 
 H + u = 252. 69330 (a) K -f- H = 252. 68033 M -A. 11 = 252. 67992 
 
 H -5- o = 252.89912 K -s- c = 252.88593 M -s- c = 252.88593 
 
 (a) This falls short of the value given by Mr. HASSLER himself (252. 6934) by one ten thousandth 
 of a grain. The difference arises from the fact that, in his value of the litre, the fifth decimal 
 figure is 6 instead of 9, as, from his value of the metre, it should be. 
 
 The largest of these values is obtained from HASSLER S kilogramme and CLARKE S metre ; the 
 smallest from MILLER S kilogramme and HASSLER S metre. The mean of the whole is 252.81885 
 grains ; which is less than the result of the computation in the text by 0.20975 grs. The mean 
 of the litres is 61.04224625 cubic inches ; and if the difference just found be multiplied by this, 
 the kilogramme of the Archives will appear to be below the theoretic weight as determined by 
 the British experiments, to the extent of 12. 80361 grains. Rejecting the values dependent on the 
 metre of Mr. HASSLER, we shall h/sve a mean of 252. 88451 grains, for the cubic inch of water, 
 and a mean litre of 61.02602224 cubic inches. This mean weight falls below the computation in 
 the text by 0.14409 grs. ; indicating that the prototype kilogramme is 8.79324 grains light. But 
 if the comparison be made with the weight deduced from the report of the Standards Commis 
 sion, as given above, viz., 253.00452, the apparent deficiency per cubic inch is only 0.12001 grs., 
 and the inferred deficiency of weight of the prototype kilogramme is reduced to 7.32373 grains. 
 
 * In the Report above referred to, of the Standards Commission, to the British Parliament, 
 made in 1869, the Warden of the Standards, H. W. CHISHOLM, Esq., singularly enough inverts 
 this statement, and says that the standard kilogramme is "in excess of its theoretical weight," 
 According to his computation, the difference is 7.76247 grains. 
 
MEASURES OF CAPACITY. 177 
 
 252.7452 grains as the weight of the cubic inch of water in air 
 at 39.l F., and under thirty inches of barometric pressure. 
 This value is identical with that of VAN DER TOORN, given by 
 HASSLER, in his report of 1832, as " the English determination," 
 excepting only the slight difference of a unit in the fourth 
 decimal place. The coincidence is remarkable, in view of the 
 widely different processes by which the two have been reached. 
 Dividing the weight of the cubic inch of humid air at 39.l 
 F., as found above, by the weight of the cubic inch of water at 
 maximum density, we shall have, as the specific gravity of air 
 under these circumstances, 0.001269582= ?8? b( . It is this 
 specific gravity which ought to be employed in the corrections 
 for barometric fluctuations daring the adjustment of measures 
 of capacity, in case the weight of the standard cubic inch of 
 water according to which their capacities are computed, has 
 been determined on supposition that the air as well as the water 
 is at the temperature of maximum density of water ; and that 
 the adjustments are made in an atmosphere of the same tem 
 perature. On this supposition, the weight 252.7452 grains, just 
 found, is the proper standard weight of the cubic inch of water ; 
 but if this standard weight is supposed to be taken with water 
 at the maximum density and air at G2 F., its value ought to be 
 stated at 252.7574 grains. The difference, as is pointed out in 
 the preceding note, will affect the weight of the gallon to the 
 extent of nearly three grains. 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 NOTE ON BEITISH LEGISLATION IN KEGAED TO 
 THE METKIC SYSTEM. 
 
 (REFERRED TO ON PAGE 49.) 
 
 The history of British legislation in regard to the Metric 
 System of Weights and Measures having been but imperfectly 
 given in the text of the foregoing address, it has been thought 
 proper to append the following succinct account of it, extracted 
 from a paper by H. W. CHISHOLM, Esq., Warden of the Standards 
 of Great Britain, which was published in connection with the 
 " Second Report of the Standards Commission," in 1869. 
 
 Mr. CHISHOLM says : 
 
 " The last evidence which I shall bring before the Commission 
 of the progress of public opinion in this country as to the intro 
 duction of the Metric System, is that of the proceedings in Par 
 liament. And first, as to the Weights and Measures Committee 
 of 1862. That Committee was composed of members who formed 
 opinions entirely favorable to the introduction of the Metric 
 System, and the terms in which their recommendations are 
 framed in their report deserve particular notice. 
 
 " They arrived at a unanimous conclusion that the best 
 course is cautiously but steadily to introduce the Metric Sys 
 tem into this country, and they recommended 
 
 " 1. That the use of the Metric System be rendered legal. No 
 compulsory measures should be resorted to until they are sanc 
 tioned by the general conviction of the public. 
 
 " 2. That a Department of Weights and Measures be estab 
 lished in connection with the Board of Trade. It would thus be- 
 
180 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 come subordinate to the Government and responsible to Parlia 
 ment. To it should be intrusted the conservation and verifica 
 tion of the standards, the superintendence of inspectors, and the 
 general duties incident to such a department. It should also 
 take such measures as may from time to time promote the use 
 and extend the knowledge of the Metric System in the Depart 
 ments of Government and among the people. 
 
 " 3. The Government should sanction the use of the Metric 
 System (together with our present one) in the levying of the 
 customs duties, thus familiarizing it among our merchants and 
 manufacturers, and giving facilities to foreign traders in their 
 dealings with this country. Its use, combined with that of our 
 own system in government contracts, has also been suggested. 
 
 " 4. The Metric System should form one of the subjects of 
 examination in the competitive examination of the Civil Service. 
 
 " 5. The gramme should be used as a weight for foreign let 
 ters and books at the Post Office. 
 
 " 6. The Committee of Council on Education should require 
 the Metric System to be taught (as might easily be done by 
 means of tables and diagrams) in all schools receiving grants of 
 public money. 
 
 " 7. In the public statistics of the country, quantities should 
 be expressed in terms of the Metric System, in juxtaposition with 
 those of our own, as suggested by the International Statistical 
 Congress. 
 
 " 8. In private bills before Parliament the use of the Metric 
 System should be allowed. 
 
 " 9. The only weights and measures in use should be the 
 Metric and Imperial, until the Metric System has been generally 
 adopted. 
 ********* 
 
 " As a consequence of the report of the committee of 1862, a 
 bill to introduce the Metric System was introduced in the fol 
 lowing session, founded on their recommendations ; but it also 
 
BRITISH LEGISLATION ON METRIC SYSTEM. 181 
 
 contained the provision that it should be made compulsory at 
 the expiration of a period to be fixed by the bill. A period of 
 three years was inserted in the draft of the bill, although it was 
 stated by its promoters that a longer period might be fixed, as 
 might be judged expedient or necessary. The compulsory pro 
 vision was objected to by the Government ; but, on a division, 
 the second reading was carried by 110 against 75 on July 1st, 
 
 1863. The lateness of the session prevented the bill being then 
 proceeded with; but it was re-introduced in 1864 as a permis 
 sive bill only. The second reading on 10th March was not 
 opposed by the Government, and was carried on a division by 
 90 against 38. In committee on 4th May, the Government 
 objected to the provisions for legalizing Metric standards and 
 weights and measures, there being no arrangements for pro 
 viding them, and proposed themselves to substitute a new bill, 
 rendering the Metric System permissive in this country so far 
 as related to contracts. This proposal was acceded to, and the 
 bill finally passed as the Metric Act of 1864, though not until 
 after a division upon the second reading in the House of Lords 
 on 21st July, of 34 against 23. 
 
 " In 1868, another bill was brought in, to repeal the act of 
 
 1864, and introduce the Metric System compulsorily, after a 
 period to be fixed in the bill, which period was left to be inserted 
 by the Government. Upon the second reading of the bill, on 
 13th May, 1868, it was not opposed by the Government, on the 
 understanding that they did not object to its principle, but that 
 further information was required before the question could be 
 properly dealt with, and was then being obtained by the Stand 
 ards Commission, and that the bill should not be proceeded with 
 until the report of the commission had been received. This un 
 derstanding was assented to by the promoters of the bill, and 
 the bill was read a second time after a division of 217 against 65. 
 
 " The time has now arrived when all the evidence that appears 
 to be required to form their judgment has been placed before 
 
182 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 the Standards Commission, and when the whole question has 
 become ripe for their opinion to be given upon it. Upon full 
 consideration of all the circumstances, and after the adoption of 
 the Metric System by so many other countries, and the influen 
 tial and increasing support it has met with here, I am myself 
 led to the irresistible conviction that the full introduction and 
 legalization of the Metric System in the United Kingdom can no 
 longer be delayed. Considering the extent and importance of 
 our commercial and scientific intercourse with so many nations 
 who have adopted the Metric System of weights and measures, 
 and that it has now become really a widely extended inter 
 national system, it appears to me that this country can no longer 
 isolate herself from other countries in her system of weights and 
 measures, and refuse to adopt that common method of comput 
 ing the quantities of all merchandise and other articles passing 
 between them, which so many other nations have already ac 
 cepted." 
 
 The views here expressed by Mr. CHISHOLM were approved by 
 the commission,* who, in the report above referred to, submitted 
 the following among their recommendations to Parliament: 
 
 " (1.) Considering the information which has been laid before 
 the Commission 
 
 " Of the great increase during late years of international com 
 munication, especially in relation to trade and commerce; 
 
 "Of the general adoption of the Metric System of weights and 
 measures in many countries, both in Europe and other parts of 
 the world, and more recently in the North German Confedera 
 tion and in the United States of America; 
 
 " Of the progress of public opinion in this country in favor of 
 the Metric System as a uniform international system of weights 
 and measures; 
 
 * The commission was composed as follows ; GEORGE BIDDELL AIRY (Astronomer Royal), 
 Chairman ; Loni COLCHESTER ; Mr. STEPHEX CAVE ; Mr. JOHN GEORGE SHAW LEFEVRE ; General 
 EDWARD SABIXE ; Sir THOMAS GRAHAM (Master of the Mint); Mr. W. H. MILLER (of the Bank of 
 England), and Mr. H. W. CUISUOLM (Warden of the Standards). 
 
BRITISH LEGISLATION ON METRIC SYSTEM. 183 
 
 " And of the increasing use of the Metric System in scientific 
 researches, and in the practice of accurate chemistry and engi 
 neering construction; 
 
 " We are of opinion that the time has now arrived when the 
 law should provide, and facilities be afforded by the Govern 
 ment, for the introduction and use of Metric weights and meas 
 ures in the United Kingdom. 
 ********* 
 
 * * ******* 
 
 "(2.) Considering the advantage of adopting in an inter 
 national system not only of uniform weights and measures, but 
 also uniform names ; and that although there may be well 
 founded objections to the inconvenient length and occasional 
 similarity, both to the eye and ear, of the French nomenclature, 
 yet it is probable that these names will become familiar by 
 custom, and obtain popular abbreviations ; 
 
 " We think that the French nomenclature, as well as decimal 
 scale of the Metric System, should be introduced in this country. 
 
 " (3) Considering 
 
 "That there is no immediate cause, requiring a general 
 change in the existing system of legal weights and measures of 
 the country for the purposes of internal trade ; 
 
 " That the statutable values of the fundamental imperial units 
 are adopted in use without the slightest variation throughout 
 the whole of the British Isles ; 
 
 " That the primary Imperial Standards are as perfect as can 
 be made by modern skill and science, and that the whole series 
 of official standards are now most accurately verified in relation 
 to the primary standards. 
 ********* 
 
 ********* 
 
 " We are of opinion that the general introduction of the Metric 
 System should be permissive only, and not made compulsory by 
 law after any period to be now specified, so far as relates to the 
 
184 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 use of Metric weights and measures for weighing and measuring 
 goods for sale or conveyance. * * * 
 
 " (5) We are of opinion that it is expedient that customs 
 duties should be allowed to be levied by Metric weight and 
 measure, as well as by Imperial weight and measure ; that the 
 use of the Metric System concurrently with the Imperial System, 
 should be adopted by other public departments, especially the 
 Post Office, and in the publication of the principal results of the 
 Statistics of the Board of Trade, as well as for the admeasure 
 ment and registration of the tonnage of shipping ; 
 
 " (6) And that mural standards of the Metric System, as well 
 as of the Imperial System, be exhibited in public places. 
 
 " (7) Considering 
 
 " That the Metric System, as adopted in other countries, in 
 cludes the relation of coinage to weights and measures, particu 
 larly in its uniform decimal scale ; 
 
 " And that the advantages of the introduction of the Metric 
 System into this country, as an international system of weights 
 and measures, would be much increased by establishing a cor 
 responding international system of coinage, in regard to a unit 
 and to a decimal scale ; 
 
 "We are of opinion that, even if the difficulties of establishing 
 an international unit of coinage cannot be at present overcome, 
 yet the decimalization of our system of coinage, which is in the 
 power of the Government, would be very useful to the public. 3 
 
 These very judicious recommendations of the Standards Com 
 mission are believed to have met with the general approval of 
 the thinking people of Great Britain. As yet however the na 
 tional legislature has not taken the decisive step which is evi 
 dently inevitable at no distant day, of adopting the Metric Sys 
 tem of Weights and Measures as the only system to be legally 
 used in the United Kingdom. During the recent session of 
 Parliament (1871), a bill was introduced having this object in 
 view, which, being opposed by the ministry, was lost on a very 
 
BRITISH LEGISLATION ON METRIC SYSTEM. 185 
 
 close division. The following extracts from a report of the 
 debate on the subject in the House of Commons, are derived 
 from the London Guardian, of August 2, 1871: 
 
 " On Wednesday [July 26], Mr. J. B. SMITH moved the second 
 reading of his bill for the compulsory introduction of the metric 
 or decimal system. The honorable member, after dwelling on 
 the curious jumble of weights and measures which were still in 
 vogue amongst us, said that the act of 1864 was so badly drawn 
 by the Board of Trade that in the opinion of the law officers the 
 Metric System was legal, and yet that if metric weights and meas 
 ures were found on a man s premises he was liable to prosecution. 
 The Metric System was in compulsory use amongst 200,000,000 
 people, and in permissive use amongst 200,000,000 more. In 
 fact, sixty-six per cent, of our exports went to countries using 
 that system ; and its introduction amongst us would save infinite 
 trouble, first, in education, and afterwards in the operations of 
 commerce. Moreover, Sir ROWLAND HILL had further stated that 
 we were losing six per cent, on our postage with France, and 
 seventeen per cent, on our postage with Prussia, in consequence 
 of a want of identity in weights and measures. 
 
 " The bill was supported by forty-three Associated Chambers 
 of Commerce and Agriculture, by Farmers Clubs, Workingmen s 
 Associations, and many scientific bodies. It was supported by 
 the representatives of the largest constituencies in the kingdom 
 Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, LeedSj Birmingham, North 
 Staffordshire, South Leicestershire, and South Norfolk. It was 
 opposed by the member for Cambridge University, on the 
 ground that the French unit was not a proper unit ; by the 
 Astronomer Royal and Sir J. HERSCHEL. For the Metric Sys 
 tem however they had the authority of three gentlemen who 
 possessed the most extensive scientific knowledge, combined with 
 the greatest business knowledge of this or any other age Sir 
 WILLIAM ARMSTRONG, Sir JOSEPH WHITWORTH, and Sir WILLIAM 
 FAIRBAIRN. 
 
186 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 " In a word,, he asked for what the English barons had de 
 manded 700 years ago namely, that there should be one weight 
 und one measure throughout the land, but he asked that that 
 weight and that measure should be identical with those of other 
 nations, so that, like a common language, there should be but 
 one weight and one measure throughout the world." 
 
 The passage of the bill was resisted on the usual grounds, and 
 on some that are unusual. For instance 
 
 " Mr. BEEESFORD HOPE, in moving the rejection of the bill, said 
 that, while he was in favor of uniformity, he desired to have 
 English weights and measures, and not French ones. The 
 changes proposed by Mr. SMITH would overthrow all our long- 
 established habits and customs nay our very proverbs ; for no 
 one would be able hereafter to talk about giving an inch and 
 taking an ell (a laugh) : 
 
 This latter argument of Mr. BERESFORD HOPE is rather more 
 witty than weighty, but it is less true than either : for though 
 the ell (which after all is a French measure) has ceased to be 
 used in England for a century or two, the proverb seems to be 
 still as lively as ever. As for stigmatizing the Metric System as 
 French, it was never quite just to do so, and it is at present 
 altogether absurd ; since this system has become the system of 
 more than half the civilized world. 
 
 " The rejection of the bill was seconded by Mr. STEVENSON, and 
 was supported by Mr. SCOURFIELD, by Alderman LAWRENCE, who 
 pointed out that the adoption of the litre would diminish the 
 poor man s pint of beer without any proportionate diminution 
 of price, [a surprisingly knowing alderman this must have been] 
 and by Mr. FOTHERGILL. Mr. HENLEY pointed out the incon 
 venience of having to go to a foreign capital for standards which 
 might at any moment be melted down in a general conflagration 
 of the city. If agriculturists wanted a uniform measure, why on 
 earth did they not adopt the Imperial bushel ?" 
 
 The honorable gentleman proceeded, ""When the Government 
 
BRITISH LEGISLATION ON METRIC SYSTEM. 187 
 
 could say there was a reasonable certainty that all other nations 
 would adopt the same uniform system, it would be time enough 
 to ask our people to bear such a tax, and to make a change 
 which would create great internal confusion. [Let us suppose 
 " all other nations" to wait in like manner for " all others" what 
 would probably be the rate of progress ?] They knew what had 
 happened in France; how Frenchmen first began to cut off their 
 king s head [it is commonly supposed they finished], declared 
 there was no God, set up a social evil as an object of worship, 
 and cast aside all the ancient provinces and limits of the land. 
 There was also an enormous change of property, almost to the 
 extent of being universal ; and when that was done, they set 
 about measuring the world, and enforced that unit which people 
 were so fond of throughout France, where they had a vast num 
 ber of different measures in every province. He would be glad 
 to hear how long it took, with all the despotism they had in 
 France, before the old system of weights and measures was 
 fairly got rid of. That was a matter upon which the govern 
 ment ought to give them some information." [Here is a gentle 
 man who evidently ought to read the reports of his own " Stand 
 ards Commission."] 
 
 " The bill was supported by Sir C. ADDERLEY, by Mr. BAINES, by 
 Mr. CLARE READ (who said he had bought and sold in Oxford 
 shire, Norfolk, and Pembrokeshire by different weights for 
 different articles ; and in Shropshire, where they actually had 
 different weights for different market days), by Mr. PELL, by 
 Col. STKES, and by Mr. ILLINGWORTH. Mr. CHICHESTER FORTESCUE. 
 the President of the Board of Trade, said that this was the first 
 time the issue had been really raised in Parliament ; for the pur 
 port of the measure of 1864 was much misunderstood. It was 
 true that it bore the title of an act to legalize the use of metric 
 weights and measures ; but all it did was to render contracts 
 under the metric system legal, which they were not before ; but 
 it by no means legalized the use of those weights and measures 
 in this country. * * * In his opinion the general feeling of 
 
188 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 this country was not at present such as would justify the com 
 pulsory introduction of the metric system. Under all the cir 
 cumstances it would be better to postpone the consideration of 
 the matter, and leave it to the government to introduce a com 
 plete system next session." [Here was a quasi promise on the 
 part of the ministry to favor the introduction of the system at a 
 later day, and possibly with less abruptness. Perhaps it would 
 have been better to accept the overture, but the friends of the 
 bill thought otherwise.] 
 
 " Mr. EASTWICK advised Mr. SMITH to accept this offer: but the 
 honorable member insisted on a division, and was beaten by 
 eighty-two to seventy-seven." 
 
 In connection with the foregoing account of the home legis 
 lation of Great Britain, the following statement, derived from 
 a little volume recently published, (June, 1871), by Professor 
 LEONE LEVI, of London, Honorary Secretary of the Metric Com 
 mittee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 
 will be found interesting as it respects the simultaneous move 
 ment of public opinion, and its effect upon metrological reform, 
 in British India: 
 
 " The necessity," says Prof. LEVI, " of providing for uniformity 
 of weights and measures in India, engaged the attention of the 
 Indian Government frequently since 1837. On the 13th of May, 
 1863, the Government of Madras suggested the importance of 
 steps being taken to reform the various systems of weights and 
 measures, and on the 20th June, 1864, a resolution was passed 
 by the Government of India, recommending the appointment of 
 local committees in each Presidency, to deliberate and report on 
 the whole matter. At Madras and Bombay, in the north-western 
 provinces, and the Punjaub, the committees reported in favor of 
 a scheme based upon the Imperial system. But the Bengal 
 Government proposed the gradual but finally complete adoption 
 of the Metric System, which recommendation received the sup 
 port of the Bengal Government. On the 1st October, 1867, 
 Colonel STIIACHEY, President of the Central Committee, published 
 
BRITISH LEGISLATION ON METRIC SYSTEM. 189 
 
 a memorandum in support of the proposal of the Bengal Com 
 mittee, and included in it a draft of a bill on the subject. The 
 majority of his colleagues were, however, opposed to his meas 
 ure, and Colonel STRACHEY retired from the Committee, which 
 afterwards reported against the adoption of the Metric System, 
 and recommended the scheme based on the Imperial. At about 
 this time a deputation of the Metric Committee of the British 
 Association and the Council of the International Decimal 
 Association, waited on Sir STAFFORD NORTHCOTE, urging the 
 superior claims of the Metric System for India, which was com 
 municated by him to the Indian Government. And on the 5th 
 September, 1868, a decisive Minute was made by the Commander- 
 in-Chief, Sir \V. K. MANSFIELD, in favor of the Metric System 
 with regard to weights. Sir JOHN LAURENCE approved of the 
 Minute, and so did the Hon. Sir R. TEMPLE. The matter was 
 then referred by the Governor-General in Council to the Duke 
 of Argyle, Secretary for India, who consulted the Board of Trade 
 on the subject. The approbation of the Board having been duly 
 obtained, an act was passed in 1870 to regulate the weights and 
 measures in British India. The act constituted the primary 
 standard of weight, the Ser, of the same weight as the kilo 
 gramme, and the primary standard of length, the metre ; and it 
 empowered the Governor-General in Council to cause such new 
 weights and measures to be used by any government office or 
 municipal body or railway company; and to require that, after 
 a date to be fixed, all or any of the weights and measures of 
 capacity aforesaid shall in every district be the basis of the deal 
 ings and contracts of all persons engaged in any specified busi 
 ness or trade. It also provided that after the date fixed in any 
 such notification, all dealings, or contracts made by the officers, 
 bodies, companies, or persons so mentioned, for any work done 
 or goods sold by weight or measure, shall, in the absence of a 
 special agreement to the contrary, be deemed to be had or made, 
 according to the weights and measures directed in such notifi 
 cation to be used. 
 
APPENDIX D. 
 
 NOTE ON THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE METEIC 
 SYSTEM HAS BEEN ALBEADY ADOPTED. 
 
 (REFERRED TO ON PAGE 51.) 
 
 The statements of the foregoing address as to the populations 
 among whom the metric system has been wholly or partially 
 legalized, though made upon less full information than has since 
 been collected, have been generally allowed to stand as they were 
 originally written. The object of this note is to present a more 
 complete view of the facts, (so far as ascertained up to December, 
 1871,) than could be introduced into tfre body of the address, 
 without too largely changing its form. In the following tables 
 are embraced, by classes, all the nations whose legislation is 
 known to have favored this system ; distinction being made 
 between those which have adopted the system in full ; those 
 which have established simple relations of commensurability 
 between it and their own; those which, still retaining their own 
 unit bases, have adopted metric ratios for the derivative de 
 nominations ; and, finally, those which have made the use of the 
 system optional but not compulsory. 
 
 I. Peoples adopting the Metric System in full. 
 
 STATE. 
 
 YEAR. 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 France 
 
 1866 
 
 38 067 064 
 
 French Colonies . 
 
 1866 
 
 2 921 000 
 
 Holland 
 
 1868 
 
 3 638 467 
 
 Dutch Colonies 
 
 1868 
 
 22 453 000 
 
 Belgium 
 
 1866 
 
 4 83Q OQ-l 
 
 Spain . . 
 
 1868 
 
 16.842.000 
 
192 
 
 METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 TABLE I. Continued. 
 
 STATE. 
 
 YEAR. 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 Spanish Colonies ... 
 
 1868 
 
 2,030,000 
 
 Portusral . 
 
 1863 
 
 4,349,000 
 
 Italy . 
 
 1868 
 
 25 527 000 
 
 North German Confederation 
 
 1867 
 
 29 910 517 
 
 Greece 
 
 1864 
 
 1,348 522 
 
 Roumania 
 
 1867 
 
 4,605,000 
 
 British India 
 
 1866 
 
 150 767 851 
 
 Mexico 
 
 1865 
 
 8 218 080 
 
 New Granada 
 
 
 2 800 000 
 
 Ecuador 
 
 1858 
 
 1 040 000 
 
 Peru 
 
 
 3 374,000 
 
 Brazil ... 
 
 1867 
 
 9 858 000 
 
 Urucfuav . . 
 
 
 387 000 
 
 Argentine Confederation 
 
 1869 
 
 1,736 000 
 
 Chili 
 
 1868 
 
 1 908 000 
 
 Total.. 
 
 
 336,419,595 
 
 II. Peoples adopting Metric Values. 
 
 STATE . 
 
 YEAR. 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 AVurtemberg ... . . , 
 
 1867 
 
 1,778,396 
 
 Bavaria 
 
 1867 
 
 4,824,000 
 
 Baden 
 
 1867 
 
 1,438,000 
 
 Hesse .... .. . 
 
 1852 
 
 854,319 
 
 Switzerland 
 
 1860 
 
 2,510,494 
 
 Denmark 
 
 1850 
 
 2,413,000 
 
 
 1867 
 
 34,861 000 
 
 Turkey. . 
 
 
 35 360 000 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 
 84,039,209 
 
 
 
 
 III. Countries in which the Metric System is permissive. 
 
 STATE. 
 
 YEAR. 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 Great Britain 
 
 1871 
 
 31,817,108 
 
 
 1870 
 
 38,555,983 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 
 70,373,091 
 
 
 
 
METRIC POPULATION. 193 
 
 IV. In Sweden (population (1867) 4,195,681) and Norway 
 (1867) 1,701,478, total 5,897,159) the decimal division has 
 been adopted without as yet the metric values. 
 
 As the peoples in the second class above may be regarded as 
 committed to the ultimate adoption of the metric system in full, 
 we may count, as already enlisted on this side of the question, a 
 total of about 420,000,000. 
 
 CORRECTION. The statement, on page one hundred and seventy, that the 
 Third Report (made in 1821) of the British Standards Commission of 1818, 
 gives, as the weight in vacua of the cubic inch of water at 62 F., 252.724 
 grains, while the Appendix to the Report referred to as authority, gives 
 252.722, is erroneous as it respects the first of these numbers. The Report 
 (British Parliamentary Papers, 1821, Vol. IV.), gives 252.72 ; differing from 
 the Appendix only in the omission of the third decimal figure. 
 
 The error was made in consequence of depending on an extract from the 
 Report (which purports to be literal) given by Dr. YOUNG in his article on 
 "Weights and Measures, in the Encyclopedia Britannica ; in which the weight 
 in question is stated at 252.724 grs., although the Appendix, which is quoted 
 entire in the same article, gives as above 252.722 grs. 
 
 The bill, founded on this and the preceding reports, which was introduced 
 into Parliament in 1822, but not passed, adopted the number of the Report 
 above, viz., 252.72 grs. The bill introduced in the following year, which was 
 finally, with some slight modification, passed June 17, 1824, but not carried 
 into operation until January 1, 1826, assumed the weight in question to be 
 252.724 grs. the same number which Dr. YOUNG has erroneously introduced 
 into the extract from the Report quoted by him. The act fixed the capacity 
 of the imperial gallon by requiring that this measure should contain seventy 
 thousand grains of distilled water of the temperature of 62 F., weighed by 
 brass weights under the barometric pressure of thirty inches, and stating at 
 the same time the capacity thus determined to be 277.274 cubic inches. From 
 these data we infer the weight of the single cubic inch of water in the air, 
 under the prescribed conditions of temperature and pressure, to have been sup 
 posed to amount to 252.458 grains ; since 252.458 X 277.274 = 70,000.039492, 
 exceeding the prescribed weight of the gallon of water by less than four one- 
 hundredths of a grain. 
 
 In the bill of 1822, the capacity of the gallon was fixed at 277.276 cubic 
 inches ; corresponding to the weight of the cubic inch of water in air (under 
 the conditions specified) as given in the Appendix to the Report, viz., 252.456 
 grs. Thus 277.276 X 252.456 = 69,999.989856 grains; which is less than 
 70,000 by the insignificant fraction 0.010144. Before the final passage in 1824, 
 
194: METRIC SYSTEM APPENDIX. 
 
 of the bill of 1823, the weight in vacuo was thrown out, and the weight in the 
 air substituted ; and it was then explicitly declared to have been " ascertained 
 by the Commissioners appointed by his Majesty, &c., that a cubic inch of dis 
 tilled water, weighed in air by brass weights, at the temperature of sixty-two 
 degrees of FAHRENHEIT S thermometer, the barometer being at thirty inches, 
 is equal to two hundred and fifty-two grains, and four hundred and fifty-eight 
 thousandth parts of a grain, of which as aforesaid the imperial standard Troy 
 pound contains five thousand seven hundred and sixty." 
 
 Dr. YOUNG makes this explanatory remark : " The slight discordance of 
 the numbers of the successive years depends merely upon the adoption of a 
 standard Troy pound better authenticated than the two pound weight par 
 ticularly employed by Sir GEORGE SHUCKBURGII, which [former] was finally 
 preferred, both as representing a unit, and as being more simple in its form 
 than the two pound weight." 
 
 Notwithstanding this, the British authorities, both governmental and scien 
 tific, constantly cite the original value assigned by KATEII for the weight in 
 vaciw at 62 F. of the cubic inch of water (viz. 252.722 grains) ; while they 
 nevertheless adopt the corrected weight of the act of Parliament of 1824, for 
 the weight of air (viz. 252.458 grs., deduced from the corrected weight in vacuo 
 above given, viz. 252.724 grs.), thousrh the two are inconsistent with each 
 other. Thus, in the Sixth Appendix to the Second Report (made in 1869) of 
 the British Standards Commission of 1868, Mr. H. "W. CriiSHOLM, Warden of 
 the Standards, says that " the legal weight in a vacuum of a cubic inch of 
 water at 62 F., authoritatively and scientifically determined by SHUCKBURGH 
 and KATER, is 252.722 grains." But he gives also, at the same time, the legal 
 weight of the cubic inch of water in the air, under the conditions specified in 
 the statute, precisely as given in the statute itself, as of course he was bound 
 to do ; though this is not the value given by SHUCKBURGII and KATER, nor 
 is it deducible from their value for the vacuum, given by Mr. CHISIIOLM as 
 the proper one, immediately before. 
 
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