XX 



1903. 



PAPER READ BY THE BISHOP. 



A meeting of the Royal Society of 

 Tasmania was held on Tuesday evening, 

 in the society's room, at the Museum. 

 His Excellency the Governor presided, 

 and there was a moderate attendance. 

 An apology was read from Sir Adye 

 Douglas, who was unable to attend. 



The Secretary (Mr. A. Morton) read 

 a circular letter from the Premier re- 

 lative to the proposed celebration of the 

 centenary of Tasmania. 



The Mayor (Alderman Bennison) ex- 

 plained that he had discussed the matr 

 t.er with the Premier, and the latter 

 stated that he had not yet received re- 

 plies from all of the public bodies to 

 whom the circular had been sent. 



It was decided that the letter should 

 be acknowledged, and that the Premier 

 be informed of the societj^'s willingness 

 to co-operate in the movement. 



Mr. T. Stephens presented to His Ex- 

 cellency, on behalf of the society, a 

 volume of the proceedings of the socie- 

 ty for the year 1902, which was the dia- 

 mond jubilee of the Royal Society of 

 Tasmania. The book contained a por- 

 trait of His Excellency. 



His Excellency thanked Mr. Steph- 

 ens and the members of tThe society for 

 the presentation. 



Dr. Naylor and Mr. K. L. Murray 

 were elected members of the society. 



THE DECIMAL SYSTEM, AS APPLIED 

 TO WEIGHTS, MEASURES, AND 

 MONEY. 



(By the Bishop of Tasmania.) 



My subject is one which would not be 

 considered likely to arouee enthusiasm. 

 And yet I hold that we should find oui'- 

 selves decidedly enthusiastic on its behalf 

 did we realise how practical and far reach- 

 ing are the advantages which it has in 

 view. My endeavour will be to show that 

 I have warrant for holding this opinion. 



It may be advisable to say a preliminary 

 word or two about the obvious superiority 

 of decimals, as such, in comparison with 

 their rivals, vulgar fractions. The basis 



of our accepted scale of notation is tJie 

 number ten. We derive it from the 

 Arabs. It is not the only basis, for, 

 apart from theoretical system of numera- 

 tion, we find in our English tables of 

 weights, measures, and coins, distinct ap- 

 plications of binary, duodecimal, and 

 vigesimal factors. But the decimal basdis 

 is paramount, and governs not only the 

 writing, but the language, of number. Re- 

 formero therefore unanimously turn to 

 this basis when they devise plans for sim- 

 plifying, methodising, unifying existing 

 systems. When we come to divide the 

 unit we may resort to fractions. So long 

 as we are expressing whole numbers, we 

 write them in a continuous line, giving a 

 definite place to the units, tens, hundreds, 

 and so forth. But when we write a frac- 

 tion we break the line, and we introduce 

 new methods for dealing with the numbers. 

 But it is quite unnecessary thus to break 

 the line. We have only to place what we 

 call "the decimal point," and we can pro- 

 ceed as before, assigning their due places 

 in the continued line to the divisions of the 

 unit by ten, a hundred, a thousand, and 

 so on. The operations for addition, sub- 

 traction, multiplication, and division thus 

 remain unaltered. No new and compli- 

 cated manipulations are called for, but 

 merely certain easily learnt rules for deal- 

 ing with the decimal point. Decimals, 

 therefore, and not fractions, are the natu- 

 ral sequel to the study of whole numbers. 

 They have the prior claim, both on logical 

 grounds and on the ground of comparative 

 simplicity. 



Turning from these theoretical con- 

 siderations, let us see how they find prac- 

 tical application in the matters before us. 

 Nearly all the commercial communities of 

 the old world have taken advantage of 

 the merits of the decimal system to sim- 

 plify their systems of weights, measures, 

 and money. In these systems the unit, 

 wherever it maj'- be, is divided into tenths, 

 hundredths, thousandths, or multiplied by 

 ten, a hundred, or a thousand, and the 

 resulting quantities are linked together 

 into a definite whole by a simple but in- 

 genious scheme of nomenclature. The 

 French, with their usual love of clearness 

 and order, have developed this decimal 

 system most rigorously, and have set a 

 standard which is fitted for universal 

 adoption. I give the three principal tables 

 which provide for all possible cases of 

 measuring and weighing, whatever the 

 material or the conditions may be, and 

 however small or great the scale of opera- 

 tions. 



Metric Tables of Measure and Weight. 



Length. 



Unit— The Metre: 39.37 inches. 



Decimetre, Centimetre, Millimetre, 



