762 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



countries which have not so adopted it, and would introduce detrimen- 

 tal confusion, in particular in its commercial relations with Great Brit- 

 ain and other countries where the system of weights and measures is 

 the same as that of the United States, with which countries the bulk of 

 our foreign commerce is at present carried on. 



2. That should the obligatory use of the metrical system in govern- 

 mental transactions be enacted, two years' preliminary notice of the 

 change would suffice to bring the system into harmonious and uniform 

 use in this department and its dependencies abroad. 



3. That the Department of State does not seem to the Secretary of 

 State to be in a position to express an authoritative opinion as to the 

 obligatory adoption of the metrical system in all transactions between 

 individuals, inasmuch as its relations directly with the people of the 

 United States are not of a character to be either beneficially or injuri- 

 ously affected by the suggested change. He ventures to remark, how- 

 ever, that even in those countries, like France, where the system has 

 been obligatory beyond the memory of the present generation, the tra- 

 dition of the old system clings among the people and defies complete 

 eradication ; and that in other countries, like Spain, where the metrical 

 system is adopted in governmental transactions and legalized for those 

 of individuals, the innovation is practically disregarded by the people 

 and but partially conformed to by the Government, which is compelled 

 to recognize the validity of the old standards, in which the continuing 

 transactions of the nation, such as the registration of landed property, 

 the assessment of industrial taxation, etc., are still, and must be of ne- 

 cessity for many years, recorded. While recognizing that the proposed 

 measure is one mainly affecting the people, and therefore properly to be 

 legislated upon by the popular representatives, the Department of State, 

 being called upon for a specific opinion on the subject, is, on the whole, 

 indisposed to recommend the obligatory use of the metrical system in 

 all transactions between individuals. 



4. That should its obligatory use as between individuals be enacted, 

 a period of not less than five years should be allowed to elapse before 

 the act takes effect ; and that even then provision should be made for 

 the recognition of the legal validity of transactions according to the 

 present lawful systems of weights and measures. 



The Secretary of the Navy reports : " If it were desired to make the 

 metrical system of weights and measures obligatory in all government 

 transactions, the Navy Department perceives no objection to it except 

 in so far as it regards the soundings given on charts. If it were applied 

 to these, it would probably involve a total loss of all charts and chart- 

 plates now in use. The alteration of these would give them no increased 

 value : and as lone: as Eno-lish charts remain in fathoms and feet it 

 would be in fact prejudicial, and prevent that free use and interchange 

 of charts which seem essential to navigators. 



" So far as this department is concerned, no longer notice would be 



