400 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



new German empire was the substitution of the metric system for the 

 many widely different local systems of metrology. The German people 

 are now accustomed to it, and there is no more danger of its abandon- 

 ment in Germany than in France. A list of forty-three countries could be 

 given, the governments of which have adopted the metric system. This 

 includes the greater part of continental Europe and of the American 

 continent south of the United States. It has been legalized, but not 

 made obligatory, in the United States and Great Britain. In Denmark 

 it has not yet been fully adopted, but is largely used in trade, in coinage 

 and in the railway system. In Austria, it has been established since 

 1876 ; in Norway and Sweden since 1889 ; in Turkey since 1891. In all 

 cases it is reported to have given great satisfaction to the commercial 

 classes, the chief obstacle being the ignorance and consequent opposi- 

 tion of the peasantry. From a carefully prepared list it is found that 

 the population of the countries that have adopted the metric system is 

 now a trifle less than 500,000,000. In 1863 it was about 140,000,000. 

 The number has been more than trebled in forty years. In Eussia a 

 decree looking to its general adoption has been prepared by the minister 

 of finance, approved by the administrative council, and is now awaiting 

 the signature of the Czar. Should this be given, the system receives 

 an addition of over 100,000,000 people to be put in training. 



In the United States the first general legislation on the subject of 

 weights and measures was an act of congress in 1866, by which the use 

 of the metric system was made lawful, but not obligatory. No recogni- 

 tion of the theoretic superiority of any system is ever sufficient to induce 

 the people to discard the system to which they are accustomed, however 

 cumbrous this may be. The law of 1866 might be defined as merely 

 legislative politeness. In 1875 an international conference was agreed 

 upon by the most important nations of the world with a view to the 

 promotion of some common system of metrology. The result was the 

 establishment of the international bureau of weights and measures at 

 Paris, maintained jointly by the participating governments. The first 

 object to be attained was the preparation of a new international stand- 

 ard meter and a new international standard kilogram, certified copies 

 of which were to be furnished to each government. The preparation 

 of these was the work of a number of years. The copies sent to the 

 United States were officially adopted by Congress, April 5, 1893, as the 

 American national standards. The yard is hence legally defined as a 

 definite fraction of a meter, and the pound as a definite fraction of a 

 kilogram. This was an important step, but was regarded by many as 

 of no practical importance, the use of the British standards being still 

 protected by law. 



The next step forward in this country was the adoption, July 12, 

 1894, of eight units for the measurement of electrical magnitudes. 



