Taylor.] OD'Ji j-q^j 21, 



tables, the uniform reduction of a single scale, which would alone be re- 

 quired in the new order, would give a very great simplification and relief, 

 and would in every i^robability be found upon the whole to entail less 

 inconvenience than that which would remain, with even the perfect deci- 

 malization of our various measures. So that even under the disadvan- 

 tages of a decimal dispensation there can be little doubt it could easily be 

 shown that our new system would still, in view of all the circumstances, 

 be the "best possible " one for popular use, and would most completely 

 furnish the elements of a perfect uniformity. 



The system in use in this country has three units : The Yard, consist- 

 ing of 36 inches ; the Troy pound, consisting of 5760 grains, and the 

 Wine gallon, containing 231 cubic inches ; these units being entirely inde- 

 pendent of each other. Upon these units our various tables of weights 

 and measures have been constructed without regard to regularity or fit- 

 ness for the practical purposes to which they must be applied, or without 

 any approach whatever to uniformity or similarity in the various multiples 

 or divisions of the units. 



Any comprehensive and strictly philosophical system, as before stated, 

 can have but one unit, which must give law throughout. That unit will 

 most naturally be a linear measure, and whatever its derivation, where a 

 change is made, "the coincidences between the old and new ratios will 

 necessarily be rare. The best that can be done is to choose such a unit as 

 will produce the most of these. '' 



In consideration of the strong desire of very many persons to retain our 

 present units, or at least the unit of measure, it is believed that the adop- 

 tion, as our standard, of the English inc/i or multiple of it, the inch being 

 the thirty-sixth part of the standard yard, which is also our standard yard, 

 with an octonary distribution of the various tables of weights, measures 

 and coins, although less philosophical and scientific than the plan just pro- 

 posed, would be much more readily accomplished. This would leave un- 

 disturbed all linear measures of Great Britain and of the United States, 

 and would possess all the essential elements for a successful adoption by 

 both countries. 



A specified number of inches might be taken as the standard, and from 

 this all other measures, including those of surface, capacity and weight, 

 derived ; or if it should be considered preferable to retain the grain weight 

 instead of the linear unit, the side of a cube containmg a weight of water 

 equal to a specific number of grains, might be taken as the standard. 



The grain is a standard so widely used, and in medicine especially is 

 one of so great value as the exponent of so much knowledge and expe- 

 rience, that it should not be lightly set aside, and its surrender is a sacri- 

 fice which ought to be compensated by very undoubted advantages. So 

 far as medicine and pharmacy are concerned, it would seem to be the 

 most important unit to be preserved. Not only is it at present the recog- 

 nized measure of the physician and pharmacist throughout a great por- 

 tion of Europe, that in which chiefly is embodied the long acquired 



