268 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



eighths. It is Beedless, however, to 

 repeat here what is so fully stated in 

 Mr. Spencer's article. He admits the 

 great convenience of the decimal 

 system for the expression of strictly 

 scientific values, as in giving the re- 

 sults of chemical analysis. In this 

 case no other system than one which 

 expresses results to the minutest frac- 

 tion would be of any avail. But he 

 objects, that this ready applicability 

 to scientific measurements, which 

 has led scientific men to advocate 

 its universal employment, is no ad- 

 vantage for purposes of trade, 

 where easy divisibility is of the first 

 importance. The question is whether 

 it is or is not desirable to introduce 

 standards of measurement which can 

 only be subdivided decimally, and 

 banish our j)resent standards, which 

 admit of more convenient subdivision 

 into well-known and definite aliquot 

 parts. 



We quite agree with the writer 

 that such a change as this should not 

 be hastily made, and we think he 

 has done well in marshaling the 

 difiiculties and disadvantages with 

 which it would be attended. The 

 standards of measurement which 

 every nation possesses are part of 

 its history, and their long survival 

 is at least prima, facie evidence of 

 their utility and convenience. If 

 we take the particular instance which 

 the woi'd "metric" itself suggests, it 

 seems to us we are better ofiP with 

 such familiar and convenient meas- 

 ures as the yard, the foot, the inch, 

 and the subdivisions of the latter 

 into halves, quarters, eighths, six- 

 teenths, etc., than we should be with 

 the metre divided into centimetres 

 and millimetres — that is, into hun- 

 dredths and thousandths. What 

 the subject wants, however, is dis- 

 cussion from every point of view. 

 The question is one in regard to 

 which no single interest should have 

 a decisive voice ; yet there is always 



danger, when a change is mooted, 

 that it will be carried through the 

 vigorous insistence of those who 

 want it, and to whom, perhaps, it 

 would be advantageous, and the lack 

 of contrary effort on the part of a 

 much larger number to whom it 

 would not be beneficial but who are 

 not suSiciently alive to their inter- 

 est in the matter. 



Mr. Spencer hints at a possible 

 change to be made in our system of 

 notation involving the use of two 

 additional digits and making twelve 

 instead of ten the basic multij)le of 

 progression. He does not expect it 

 can be introduced for generations to 

 come. That if introduced it would 

 have the specific advantages he men- 

 tions can not be doubted; but we 

 agree with him that the practical 

 difficulties in the way of the change 

 are enormous, and that we must be 

 content to regard it rather as a 

 shadowy possibility for the future 

 than as a scheme offering any prom- 

 ise of early fruition. 



THE PROVINCE OF SCIENCE. 



Dr. Eomanes's assertion* that "if 

 a little knowledge of physiology and 

 a little knowledge of psychology 

 dispose men to atheism, a deeper 

 knowledge of both and, still more, a 

 deeper thought upon their relations 

 to one another will lead men back 

 to some form of religion," is sure 

 of unquestioning welcome in certain 

 quarters ; but the earnest seeker after 

 truth will care little to hear that 

 George John Romanes or Francis 

 Bacon '"thought thus," although he 

 may care a great deal to learn what 

 led these writers to their belief. 



Tlie question which thoughtful 

 men will wish to ask Romanes is 

 whether his " religion " has any more 



♦ Mind and Motion and Monism. By the Inte 

 George John Romanes. Longmans, Grceu &, Co. 

 1805. 



