726 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



fourths, and, sometimes in subdividing the inch, one-hundred-and- 

 twenty-eighths. To begin with, the existence of any such inherent 

 tendency is quite open to discussion, but, without going into that, 

 it is at least plain that it has never shown itself in the evolution 

 of systems of weight and measure. In evidence of this the fol- 

 lowing ta]j)les of English measures of length and weight may be 

 cited, and, that there may be no mistake, they are drawn from a 

 text-book on arithmetic written by one of the most distinguished 

 of England's nineteenth-century mathematicians : 



Lengtli. 



3 barleycorns are 1 inch. 



VI inches are 1 foot. 



3 feet are 1 yard. 



5j- yards are 1 pole. 



40 poles, or 220 yards, are. ... 1 furlong. 



8 furlongs, or 1,760 yards, are. 1 mile. 



Weight. 



27^-| grains are 1 dram. 



16 drams are 1 ounce. 



16 ounces are 1 pound. 



28 pounds are 1 quarter. 



4 quarters are 1 hundredweight. 



20 hundredweights are . 1 ton. 



These are far from being complete, for two or three additional 

 tables are necessary to fully exhibit the units and ratios for both 

 length and weight, and they are even more irregular in construc- 

 tion than those shown above. In all, as well as in the English 

 money units and denominations, there is no indication whatever 

 of this "natural tendency^' toward continual halving. It ^'5 a 

 common practice, possibly growing out of a tendency in some 

 degree natural, to continually bisect a single unit, and this is 

 likely to be the case under any system of weights and measures, 

 and to it there can be no sort of objection. It is important, how- 

 ever, to note that this is in no way related to the question of desir- 

 able or convenient ratios of units, and that it has practically no 

 weight whatever as a criticism of the metric system. 



But even if this were not true, it would weigh vastly more 

 against the systems in customary use in England and America 

 than against the metric system. What possible objection can 

 there be to speaking of a half or a quarter or an eighth of a mile 

 or rod or yard or inch, if one wishes to do so ? And no more can 

 there be to a half, quarter, eighth, or sixteenth of a kilometre, 

 kilogramme, metre, gramme, centimetre, millimetre, etc., nor, 

 again, to the use of such fractional parts as thirds, fifths, or sev- 

 enths, if they seem to be desirable. But to compare the two sys- 

 tems in this respect one should undertake such a problem as finding 

 the value of a third, quarter, fifth, or eighth of a mile or a ton in 

 rods, yards, feet, and inches, or hundredweight, pounds, ounces, 

 drams, and grains, and then do the same thing in the metric sys- 

 tem. The enormous superiority of the latter will at once be re- 

 vealed. 



On the other hand, it can not be denied that there is, and has 

 been for many years, a strong tendency toward the decimal sub- 



