4i8 



NATURE 



[June 2, 192 1 



reached was "that the British system of units 

 of weights and measures be retained in general 

 use in the United Kingdom." Interesting sug- 

 gestions were made as to the decimalisation of 

 our system and the abolition of several unneces- 

 sary units ; but even if this were accomplished 

 the result would still be that British manufac- 

 turers would have to continue to employ two 

 systems — one for home trade, the other for 

 trade with the increasing number of countries 

 overseas in which the metric system is commonly 

 used. 



Neither Lord Balfour's Committee nor that of 

 the Conjoint Board gave adequate attention to 

 the value of official encouragement as a via media 

 between legal permission and legal compulsion. 

 The Act of 1897 made the use of the metric system 

 permissive, and official adoption of the system now 

 would pave the way to legal .compulsion at a later 

 date. 



The many reports of our Consuls and repre- 

 sentatives abroad have shown in the most con- 

 vincing way that the practice of those British 

 manufacturers who use only British weights and 

 measures in their catalogues and price lists in- 

 tended for other countries has a prejudicial effect 

 on the extension of our foreign trade, particularly 

 in countries where the metric system is used ex- 

 clusively. In the textile trades British measures 

 are no doubt widely recognised ; but there is not 

 the slightest reason for hope that their usage can 

 be made international by common consent. The 

 only possible international system is the metric 

 system, and as a nation we cannot afford per- 

 manently to remain outside it. When the metric 

 carat was legalised for use in trade in 1914, its 

 adoption by dealers in diamonds and precious 

 stones was practically complete in a few weeks, 

 though they were previously opposed to the change. 

 The weights and measures now given in the British 

 Pharmacopoeia are all in the metric system, and 

 Imperial standards are entirely omitted. The 

 dual system formerly used was found to be a con- 

 stant source of trouble, and in 1914 it was aban- 

 doned in favour of the metric system alone. In 

 mining statistics the metric ton is now a common 

 standard, and in many engineering and ordnance 

 machines and structures metric measures are now 

 used almost as frequently as British. It cannot 

 be said that our system of weights and measures 

 is extending to other nations in the same way. 

 Nothing that we could do would make the system 

 international, so that what we have to do is to 

 NO. 2692, VOL. 107] 



choose between a system which has custom alone 

 to commend it, and must be limited in its use and 

 one which extends over the whole world and 

 becomes more important industrially and com- 

 mercially every year. 



The adoption of the metric system by the 

 United States and the United Kingdom is, indeed, 

 inevitable, and adherence to the Imperial system 

 is an obstacle to world commerce. We shall have 

 to abandon the system sooner or later, and it 

 would not be so difficult to adjust ourselves to 

 the new standards now as it is to adapt ourselves 

 to other conditions of reconstruction brought 

 about by the war. The Colonies have frequently 

 expressed their desire to adopt the system when- 

 ever the United Kingdom does so ; all our Euro- 

 pean Allies, and practically half the population 

 of the world, use it, and we cannot avoid doing 

 so eventually. The only two important countries 

 now outside the system are the United States and 

 the United Kingdom, and when either of these 

 enters it the other must follow. 



During the war we, and the United States 

 also, were forced to use metric measures in order 

 to secure effective co-ordination between us and 

 our Allies in military maps, range finding, firing 

 data, and ordnance generally, and in the uniform 

 standardisation of motors, aeroplane parts, and 

 other machines and accessories. The result is that 

 millions of men are now familiar with metric 

 units, and would experience little difficulty in. 

 adjusting themselves to the change which the 

 introduction of the metric system would involve. 

 Every pupil in every secondary school in this 

 country is made acquainted with the system, and in 

 scientific work its use is universal. "The present 

 chaos of English weights and measures," reported 

 Sir J. J. Thomson's Committee on the position of 

 natural science in the educational system of 

 Great Britain, "causes waste of time and con- 

 fusion of thought, and these are strong educa- 

 tional reasons for the adoption of the metric 

 system." 



The truth is that we have not a uniform system 

 of weights and measures, but a medley of units 

 and standards which differ in^^ifferent industries 

 and often vary in a single industry. In agri- 

 culture a bushel of wheat is defined in official 

 statistics as having a weight of 62 lb. ; by the 

 Corn Returns Act it weighs 60 lb., and by the 

 Grain Prices Order 63 lb. Bushels of barley and 

 oats show like variations in weight both officially 

 and according to frequent practice. To secure 



