34 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[February. 



waste a large portion of a life-time 

 to learn the whole series from the 

 meter down, remembering that, in 

 round numbers, the meter is a yard, 

 with three or four inches to spare, 

 the decimeter one-tenth of that 40 

 inches, or 4 inches, the centimeter 

 one-hundredth of that 40 inches, 

 or 4-lOths of an inch, and the milli- 

 meter one-thousandth of that 40 

 inches, or 4-lOOths or l-25th of an 

 inch. The real difficulty lies, I 

 believe, not in memorizing the 

 value of the few new units re- 

 quired, but in the awkward and 

 useless habit of stopping to trans- 

 late every item from the new unit 

 to an old one. Any one can add 

 a few new words to his vocabulary, 

 a few new units to his tables, with- 

 out harm. The telephone and the 

 phonograph have brought no dis- 

 aster along with their new double 

 Greek names. An educated per- 

 son can learn in an hour all the 

 new terms, values, and proportions 

 of the whole metric system, with 

 its interesting and suggestive rela- 

 tions ; and the time would be well 

 spent though he never used the 

 system again. But I also know by 

 experience that he can also use it 

 again easily. When you once learn 

 by a little practice to think in the 

 new units the same as in the old, 

 the apprehended difficulties vanish 

 unaccountably and can scarcely be 

 brought to mind again. 



"Aside from the selfish though 

 sufficient motive of our conven- 

 ience, I hope we shall practically 

 adopt the metric system, because 

 we can thus contribute a trifle of 

 influence towards its general intro- 

 duction. It seems plain enough 

 now that our country made a seri- 

 ous mistake in not adopting it at 

 first ; and T am satisfied that it is 

 still best for us to use it, notwith- 



standing the greatly increased diffi- 

 culties in our way. 



" The legal uses of the micro- 

 scope, offer a department so large 

 that it might almost be regarded 

 as a new science under the name 

 of microscopical jurisprudence ; 

 and a few suggestions in regard to 

 that subject will occupy the remain- 

 der of this address. Some of its 

 details, as for example the discrim- 

 ination of blood and other im- 

 portant varieties of stains, have 

 been treated, and conveniently, un- 

 der medical jurisprudence, though 

 they are not medical to any extent, 

 and though they belong properly 

 here. Others are entirely new and 

 are appropriately and I understand 

 in the opinion of the courts, just 

 as properly objects of judicial con- 

 sideration as are the so-called med- 

 ical portions. 



-X- w -X- * v!- -Jt -x- 



( To be continued.) 



o 



Tlie Simplest Forms of Life."^ 



BY B. EYFEKTH. 



Rlliz opods. — ( Continued. ) 



1. Gen. AmcBba, Ehr. Body al- 

 most always in flowing movement, 

 hence constantly changing its form. 

 The round, finger-shaped pseu- 

 dopodia extend only in one di- 

 rection at a time, Ijroaden at the 

 ends to resemble drops, and then 

 the rest of the flowing plasma 

 follows. Nutriment, especially 

 diatomacefe, is more or less comple- 

 tely enveloped by the flowing 

 plasma, and the indigestible 

 portions are released by the same 

 movement. 



Although the swarm-spores and 

 Plasmodia of the Myxomycetes are 



* Translated from the German, by the Edi- 



tor. 



