TEE METRIC SYSTEM. 397 



The subdivisions and multiples of these standards were such as to 

 necessitate much confusion. The troy pound was divided into 12 

 ounces of 480 grains each, and the avoirdupois pound into 16 ounces 

 of 437.5 grains each. The troy pound is less than the avoirdupois 

 pound and the troy ounce greater than the avoirdupois ounce. A dis- 

 tinction has to be made additionally between dry ounces and fluid 

 ounces. Various bushels and tons of widely different values continue 

 in use. Although the original English standards were destroyed by 

 fire in 1834, they were subsequently reproduced with reasonable ac- 

 curacy. They are now the standards of the British empire with a total 

 population of nearly 400,000,000 people, among whom a multitude of 

 other unstandardized units of weight and measure are in current use. 



The American colonies naturally employed such coins, weights and 

 measures as were used in the mother country, and in no two of them 

 were the 'systems' alike. A decimal system of currency proposed by 

 Thomas Jefferson was introduced in 1792 and has continued in satis- 

 factory use ever since. In taking this rational step the American re- 

 public set an example which has subsequently been followed by a large 

 majority of the civilized nations of two hemispheres. Different mone- . 

 tary units are employed, such as the dollar, the franc and the florin, 

 but the great advantage of decimal multiplication and division is almost 

 universally recognized. The constitution authorizes congress to fix all 

 standards of weight and measure for the entire country, and Mr. Jef- 

 ferson urged the adoption of a decimal system for these as well as for 

 our coinage. But this plan was not followed, and now after the lapse 

 of a century American weights and measures are still in a state of 

 confusion; some of them reasonably definite, others unintelligible ex- 

 cept by the use of qualifying circumlocutions, and none of them con- 

 nected by very simple numerical relations. A copy of the English yard 

 was tentatively adopted in 1814 as the American linear standard. A 

 copy of the troy pound was in 1828 made the standard of weight for 

 the mint, and in 1830 the avoirdupois pound, deduced from the troy 

 pound, was legalized as the standard of weight for ordinary commercial 

 transactions. At the same time the wine gallon of 231 cubic inches 

 was adopted as the standard of capacity for liquids, and the Winchester 

 bushel of 2,150.42 cubic inches for solids. It will be observed, there- 

 fore, that the British gallon exceeds the American gallon by 20 per cent. 

 The British bushel contains 2,218.192 cubic inches, and thus exceeds 

 the American bushel by a little over 3 per cent. If we speak of a gal- 

 lon or bushel, the meaning is thus not clear without further specifica- 

 tion. But without reference to English units, or units that are obsolete 

 or infrequently employed, we have in general use in America two dif- 

 ferent pounds, two different ounces, two different quarts, two different 

 tons, two different miles, and a complex relation between linear, square 



