1072.) The Decimal System. 293 
voice is to be considered as a musical instrument—an organ 
constructed by the hand of the Great Master of all harmony. 
It has its bellows, its pipes, its mouth-piece ; and when we 
know the ‘stops,’ it will discourse most eloquent music. 
It has its gamuts, or scales of ascent or descent; it has its 
keys or pitch, its tones, its semi-tones, its bass, its tenor, its 
alto, its melody, its cadence. It can speak as gently as the 
lute—‘ like the soft south upon a bed of violets’—or as 
shrilly as the trumpet ; it can tune ‘ the silver sweet note of 
love,’ and the iron throat of war. ... The art that wins 
this music is elocution.” 
Il; A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE DECIMAL 
SYSTEM. 
not only in England but also in most, if not in all, 
countries. The fact that all nations count by tens 
would seem to point to some one and the same cause in- 
fluencing all nations alike. This cause is probably found 
in the fact that man has ten fingers. It 1s very common to 
indicate any number by holding up the same number of 
fingers. This is observed in our own country, and many a 
man in a strange land, with the language of which he was 
not familiar, has noticed the same method of explaining 
what number has been mentioned. 
Now man having only ten fingers, when any larger number 
is to be denoted by this method all the fingers are held up, 
the hand is then closed, then all the fingers are again held 
up, and so on until the requisite number of tens has thus 
been indicated, when as many fingers are displayed as may 
be required to denote the units. 
Thus the simple fact that man has ten fingers seems to 
have settled what is really a question of some importance, 
viz., the scale of notation to be employed by the whole human 
race. It seems questionable whether the decimal system Is 
really the best; indeed, many who are considered the highest 
authorities on the subject seem to incline in favour of the 
duodecimal scale, or counting by twelves. One argument 
in favour of this scale over the decimal is that the radix 12 
is exaétly measured by the numbers 2, 3, 4, and 6, besides 
ee decimal system of notation is the system in vogue 
