METRIC REFORM. 85 



Look at bank-bills. There is the $10 bill, the $20 bill, the $50 bill. 

 Technically, by the tables they should be bills for 1, 2, 5 eagles. Not 

 so, in fact. Never yet did bank in America promise to pay to bearer, 

 on demand, one eagle ! So with fractional currency. You see 10-cent 

 pieces, 50-cent pieces, but none for 1 dime or 5 dimes. Dollars and 

 cents suffice. 



" What of all this ? " you may ask. Much. It is the embodiment 

 of the ways of men : it is full of practice and suggestion to those who 

 have eyes. 



According to the tables, a certain sura is 253 eagles, 5 dollars, 4 

 dimes, 6 cents, 3 mills. Never was it so called. What says our curt 

 mankind ? 2,535 dollars, 46 T 3 cents. The mind scants denominations. 

 It seldom uses more than two, if it can help itself. 



On broad principles, indeed, it might be asked, " Why have denomi- 

 nations at all ? " 



Number, whole and decimal, icith one unit for each subject-matter, 

 is adequate to express any quantity whatever. No second denomina- 

 tion is essential in any table. Any weight, for example, can be ex- 

 pressed in pounds and decimals of a pound, without reference to other 

 units. The largest quantities can be so expressed, and the smallest. In 

 currency we express a national debt reaching to billions in the self- 

 same unit which is used for small daily transactions, say in dollars or in 

 francs. This shows the unlimited capacity of number for exact expres- 

 sion without any table of denominations at all. 



Indeed, in England and America it may safely be said that a single 

 denomination in each table would be better than the present method 

 with its irregularity and confusion, better for mental grasp of the quan- 

 tity expressed, and better for calculation. A clearer idea is obtained 

 by the expression 13,518.6 lbs. than by its equivalent in numerous de- 

 nominations, 6 tons, 13 cwt., 3 qrs., 17 lbs., 11 oz., 5.6 drachms. 



We would not be understood to limit a system to one denomina- 

 tion, or even to two. Yet two well-chosen units in each table, as com- 

 pared with the present English system, would be a decided improve- 

 ment. Suppose we had pounds and pound cents, yards and yard cents, 

 etc., corresponding with the dollars and cents of currency ; they would 

 furnish incomparably superior advantages to the existing methods. 



We will not, however, discuss the exact denominations needed for 

 each table, and the maximum and minimum for each ; nor the scale, 

 whether it should be strictly decimal (a denomination for every 10), or 

 one for every 100 (the cental scale) ; or eclectic, varying with the sub- 

 ject-matter. We will, however, remark that in nearly every table the 

 number of denominations can be reduced, not only safely, but advan- 

 tageously. 



Our object, however, for the present is to suggest principles, not to 

 elaborate details ; too many denominations perplex, instead of aiding, 

 the mind. 



