APPENDIX. 



Metric System. The metric system, which is now universally 

 employed in all scientific measurements, and also in every-day life in 

 most European countries, is based upon the meter as the primary 

 object of length. One meter is equal to i o o 0*0 o o o P ar * f the dis- 

 tance measured on a meridian of the earth from the equator to the 

 pole and equals about 39.37 inches. The original meter is a platinum 

 bar kept in the public archives of France and from this original 

 standard other nations have procured copies. The metric system, 

 based upon the meter, is a decimal system, i. e., one in which all 

 values are fractions in tenths or multiples of ten. The meter is first 

 divided into 100 equal parts and T ^Q meter is called a centimeter; 

 each centimeter is subdivided into 10 parts and this length is called 

 a millimeter. For microscopic measurement the millimeter is again 

 subdivided into 1000 parts, and this unit is called 1 micromillimeter, 

 one micron, or I/*. The following are the most important sub- 

 divisions : 



EQUIVALENTS IN INCHES. 



1 micromillimeter = . 0000394 inch 



1 millimeter = . 0394 inch 



1 centimeter = 0.3937 inch 



1 meter = 39.37 inches 



The surface measures derived from the meter are: 



1 square centimeter 

 1 square meter 



100 square meters = 1 Are = 119.6 square yards 

 10,000 square meters = 1 Hectare = 2.471 acres 



The cubic measures are: 



1 cubic centimeter = . 27 fluidrachm 

 10 cubic centimeters = . 338 fluidounce 

 1000 cubic centimeters = 1 liter = 0.909 quart 



One cubic centimeter of distilled water at 4 C. in the metric system 

 has been taken as the unit of the system of weight. This mass of water, 

 equal to 1 cubic centimeter (1 c.c.), is called one gram, and from it 

 the following weights are derived : 



