APPENDIX 

 THE METRIC SYSTEM 



Historical. -*- The Metric System is an outgrowth of 

 the French Revolution of 1789. At that time there was a 

 general disposition to break away from old customs; and 

 the Revolutionists contended that everything needed 

 remodeling. A commission was appointed to determine 

 an invariable standard for all measures of length, area, 

 solidity, capacity, and weight. After due deliberation, 

 an accurate survey was made of that portion of the ter- 

 restrial meridian passing through Paris, between Dunkirk, 

 France, and Barcelona, Spain; and from this, the distance 

 on that meridian from the equator to the pole was com- 

 puted. The quadrant thus obtained was divided into ten 

 million equal parts; one part was called a meter, and is the 

 base of the system. From it all measures are derived. 



France adopted The Metric System in 1795. It is now 

 used in nearly all civilized countries. It was authorized 

 by an act of Congress in the United States in 1866. 



The Metric System is a decimal system of weights and 

 measures. The meter is the primary unit upon which 

 the system is based, and is also the unit of length. It is 

 39.37 inches long. The standard meter, a bar of plat- 

 inum, is kept among the archives in Paris. Duplicates 

 of this bar have been furnished to the United States^ 



The names of the lower denominations in each measure 

 of the Metric System are formed by prefixing the Latin 



