EDITOR'S TABLE, 



411 



THE METRIC SYSTEM. 



To the Editor of the Times. 



Sir : Arguments and expressions of opin- 

 ion may be continued without end. Against 

 those of Lord Kelvey and Dr. Stoney 1 will 

 simply set some facts already stated, joined 

 with one other. 



1. Always mankind had the decimal sys- 

 tem at their finger ends and used it for count- 

 ing. In the course of civilization they de- 

 parted from it in their systems of weights, 

 measures, and values ; gradually adopting 

 instead sets of easy aliquot divisions, and es- 

 pecially duodecimal divisions. 



2. For half a century after the metric sys- 

 tem had been legally established the French 

 did not discover its convenience. The alleged 

 discovery of its convenience went along with 

 the discovery that they would be punished if 

 they did not use it. 



3. In the United States, where the decimal 

 division of money is used, it has been de- 

 parted from in the center of most active busi- 

 ness, the Stock Exchange, and a system of 

 easy aliquot divisiOus employed in its place. 



4. The additional fact not yet named is 

 sufficiently striking. The ancient wise men 

 of the East and the modern workingmen of 

 the West have agreed upon the importance of 

 great divisibility in numerical groups. The 

 Chaldean priests, to whom we owe so much, 

 doubtless swayed in part by their astronom- 

 ical arrangements, adopted the sexagesimal 

 system of numeration, which at the same 

 time facilitates in a special manner the divi- 

 sion into aliquot parts. For 60 may be di- 

 vided by ten different numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 

 10, 12, 15, 20, 30. From this significant fact 

 turn now to the fact presented in our ordinary 

 foot rule. Each of its 12 inches is halved and 

 rehalved, giving halves, quarters, and eighths. 

 And then if we consider the subdivided foot 

 as a whole, it gives us ten sots of aliquot 

 parts. Beyond its 12ths the divisions yield 

 i, i, i, I, i (11 inch), A (* inch), & (* inch), 

 A (I inch), and A ^i inch). And this ordi- 

 nary mode of dividing the foot rule results 

 from the experience of centuries; for build- 

 ore, carpenters, and mechanics, always buying 

 foot rules which best serve their needs, 

 have gradually established the most useful 

 set of divisions. Yet now, though the early 

 men of science and the modern men of prac- 

 tice are at one in recognizing the importance 

 of great divisibility, it is proposed to estab 

 lish a form of measure characterized by rela 

 tive indivisibility. 1 am, etc., 



Your Correspondent. 

 April soth. 



We must say that the arguments 

 adduced by Mr. Spencer appear to 

 us of much weight. On the whole, 

 it would seem more probable that an 

 approximately perfect system of 

 weights and measures should be 

 evolved in the course of age-long 

 practice, than that it spring fully 

 developed from the brain of any 

 savant or body of savants. "Weigh- 

 ing and measuring make up and 

 have always made up, in one form 

 or another, a considerable portion of 

 the business of every day; and men 

 naturally take to those modes of 

 measurement and calculation which 

 offer the greatest facilities for the 

 work to be done. Their minds have 

 naturally moved in the lines of least 

 resistance, and the methods sanc- 

 tioned by the history of the race ex- 

 press this mental tendency. It is 

 therefore greatly to be desired that 

 no change may be made either in 

 England or in this country looking 

 to a disuse of old established and pop- 

 ular methods without a very thor- 

 ough and earnest consideration of the 

 effects likely to be produced on the 

 life of the people. The savants can 

 follow what methods they find most 

 suitable for the very exact researches 

 and determinations which they are 

 called upon to make; but they should 

 be very careful how they call upon 

 the people to abandon methods and 

 instruments which for everyday pur- 

 poses answer all their needs, while 

 affording aids to their mental opera- 

 tions which it is extremely doubtful 

 whether the arbitrary system it is 

 sought to introduce can ever supply. 



AN ALLEGED CONSPIRACY OF 

 SILENCE. 



We publish elsewhere a letter by 

 Mr. L. G. Bostedo, Corresponding 

 Secretary of the Chicago Single-Tax 

 Club, commenting on a brief article 

 published in these columns last 

 month under the title of "Neces- 



