252 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN. 



1856. merchant who wants all his ledger for 2,000 years past. The 

 French tried it and failed ; it is the only part of the metrical 

 system which is not in nse at this day, except indeed the tenth 

 day of rest, which, being an attack on religion, disappeared with 

 the return of Christianity. Scientific calculators in general use 

 decimals, and they want the world at large to have the advan- 

 tage which they feel every day of their lives. (P. 7.) 



These appeals to the authority of Yaughan and the 

 French Emperor were answered by some of the other 

 members of the Association. The Astronomer KoyaPs 

 reply is much to the point: 1 



Napoleon's infantry, cavalry, guns, rations for troops, re- 

 quisitions in francs for their support, were all expressed on a 

 decimal scale ; and he never failed in * distinctness of conception,' 

 'facility of recollection,' 'readiness and ease in mental calculations,' 

 or in ' making fractional parts,' in dividing an army, from these 

 circumstances. So far as I see, the same applies to smaller 

 numbers. 



Sir J. HerschePs answer to Lord Overstone's questions 

 filled thirty-seven pages. Those of the Astronomer Royal, 

 the Dean of Ely, Professor Miller, Mr. Miller (Cashier of 

 the Bank of England), and Mr. J. B. Franklin, being 

 much shorter than the other two, were collected in one 

 pamphlet of fifty-five pages. The preliminary Report of 

 the Commission of 1855 was published about the same 

 time (1857). It contains, besides the answers given by 

 advocates of various schemes to Lord Overstone's questions, 

 a great deal of evidence obtained from well-informed 

 witnesses, of the operation of the decimal system in other 

 countries. It is a very large blue-book. The Govern- 

 ment was now in full possession of all the information 

 that could be gained upon the question. 



Much discussion was naturally excited at this time, 



1 It will be apparent that the work of other friends to the decimal 

 cause is not made so prominent in this memoir as that of Mr. De 

 Morgan. Space would not allow of my mentioning it at any length, 

 even if my husband's share were not that with which I am concerned. 

 But I believe that his share was the largest. 



