PROCEEDINGS OF THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 4B9 



Money is not a perfectly unchangeable measure of value, but it is the ordi- 

 nary and legal one. It is very essential that we should have a common, 

 unvarying standai'd of weights, measures and comage. Though designa- 

 ted by the same name, there are no two countries that have the same 

 weights and measures. For instance, the German mile is nearly six 

 English miles. In France, a mile is 3,025 yards. The Scotch mile is 1,984 

 yards ; the Irish 2,038 yards, and the Swedish mile 11,700 yards. 



In weights there is also a prominent difference. A Russian pound differs 

 from a ZuUverein pound by about one ounce, and there is considerable agi- 

 tation in that quarter as to the method of dividing the pound, whether into 

 thirty-two loths or half ounces, or into thirty parts corresponding to the 

 thirty groschens in a thaler, or into 100, as iu some of the States on the 

 Continent. 



The English system of cwts., qrs., lbs., is clumsy, old-fashioned and 

 inconvenient. It is very singular that a people so practical as those of this 

 countrj'', adhered so long to the antiquated sj'^stem which had been found 

 so embarrassing, when, by reckoning at 100 lbs., instead of the cwt., or 

 112 lbs., the difficulty could be obviated. 



The lineal uuit has the same embarrassing features. Its division into 

 feet and inches, and then into the pole, furlong and mile, are not suited to 

 the present age. The yard is subject to changes from temperature, but it 

 is the legal standard by which all lineal distances are measured. The 

 pound is the unit of weights, the yard of lengths, and the dollar of value. 

 Now these all vary, and are therefore not perfect measures; and in very 

 scientific measurements, allowance is made for these variations. The 

 pound changes its true weight when it is carried to different elevations 

 and latitudes, and by changes in the temperature of the atmosphere which 

 surrounds it. 



In 1834 our half eagle contained 123.75 grains of pure gold, it now has 

 but 116.1. In 1850 our dollar contained 381| grains of pure silver, it has 

 now but 345.6. 



The French gramme should be employed as the unit by which all coins 

 shall be weighed. This measure does not depend on an arbitrary weight, 

 but is taken from the great earth herself, which furnishes an appropriate 

 metre for a general standard. The circumference of the earth supplies the 

 metre, and the weight of a certain cube of distilled water, at a density of 

 39 degrees, determines the gramme. 



The English and American pound, ounce or grain, is perfectly arbitrary, 

 and dependent on a standard kept by the government. The metre and 

 gramme is a measure which science and skill has determined, and is 

 adopted for the use of all mankind. 



The Chairman. — It is well known that in England they do not use the 

 decimal system, and there is consequently a great waste of time by their 

 mode of calculatioh. If we had the total of all the time lost in reckon- 

 ing pounds, shillings, pence and farthings, by each individual during the 

 year, it would be found to be immense. The advantages of the decimal 

 system, in use iu this country and iu France, are readily seen and appre- 

 ciated here. In the United States our coins have been changed three 

 times, and each time they have been debased. There can be no doubt of 



