1872.] The Decimal System. 305 
reasonable, but it should be done in the spirit of a brave 
man, who, being convinced of the desirability of some object, 
looks first to see what difficulties lie in the way of its 
attainment, in order that he may be prepared beforehand, 
and be the more ready to meet and overcome them. Instead 
of this, we as anation have been content to let the difficulties 
which look big and threatening prevent our adoption of a 
system which would be a great blessing to the land. We 
ought rather, having found the difficulties which oppose us, 
work heart and soul to remove them, and they would soon 
be found to be much less formidable than they appear. We 
all know that possession is said to be ‘“‘nine points of the 
law ;”’ and it is this and this only which has enabled the 
old system to hold out so long as it has done. 
Even the opponents of the decimal system admit that 
there is no more, and perhaps, in fact, much less, difficulty 
in its working than in that of the system now in vogue. 
What they object to is the change, and not the system itself. 
Are we, then, for the sake of some temporary tnconvemtence to 
decline a permanent advantage? Are we, in fact, to suffer a 
permanent inconvenience because we are afraid of incurring 
a temporary trouble? Should we not rather constantly aim 
at attaining the permanent advantage, and at the same time 
endeavour to find out how we can make the temporary in- 
convenience as small as possible? In doing otherwise we 
merely add one more to the already long list of illustrations 
of the old saying, that ‘‘ It is the lazy man who gives himself 
the most work.” 
Once understood, the new system would be easier than, 
and far preferable to, the old, and it is not 7m ttself difficult 
to understand. ‘The only difference lies in the fact that we 
are familiar with the old system, and consequently refer all 
questions of weights and measures to it; but once our 
conceptions of weights and measures formed in the new 
system, we should think in kilogrammes, metres, litres, 
&c., and it would no longer be necessary to translate into 
the weights and measures of the old system. It is exactly 
the same as with languages. We, being English, think 
French difficult, and vice versa. In learning a foreign 
language the beginner generally translates every phrase 
mentally into his own tongue, but after he has properly 
acquired the other language he no longer makes any mental 
translation but seizes the meaning direct. So much is this 
the case that frequently an individual, although knowing 
thoroughly well the meaning of some passage of foreign 
language, may yet be totally unable to render the same 
WOL. “I. (N-S.) ZR 
