September 12, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



241 



2, 8, 4, (6, 12, 18, 24, 30) ; 8, tlie cycle 8, 6, 

 4, 2, 0. Compare with, these the cycles in the 

 Tel-system: 2(2, 4, 6, 8, t, 0), 3(3, 6, 9, 0), 

 4(4, 8, 0), 6(6, 0), 8(8, 4, 0), 9(9, 6, 3, 0), 

 and the surpassing simplicity of this system 

 is again apparent. A child will learn this 

 multiplication table with much less effort than 



Compare these two multiplication tables. In 

 the ten-table the end digits are: 0, 4 times; 1, 2 

 times; 2, 5 times; 3, 1 time; 4, 6 times; 5, 4 times; 

 6, 6 times; 7, 1 time; 8, 5 times; 9, 2 times. In 

 the tel-table the end-figures in the corresponding 

 products are: 0, 8 times; 1, 2 times; 3, 3 times; 

 4, 6 times; 6, 6 times; 8, 4 times; 9, 4 times; t, 

 2 and e each 1 time ; 5 and 7, not at all, though each 

 oceura once of course, in the products of e. No- 

 tice the much greater simplicity, due to their ab- 

 sence and to the presence of 0, 8 times. Notice 

 also the simplicity in the squares, and the double 

 central symmetry in 1, 4, 9, 4, 1, 0, 1, 4, 9, 4, 1, 

 and compare with the 1, 4, 9, 6, 5, 6, 9, 4, 1 of the 

 ten-table, also an anagram but with only single 

 symmetry, and with 5 different digits against only 

 4 in the tel-system, which is thus notably simpler. 



the ten-table, and will find the range of its 

 power and the scope of his attainment just 

 44 per cent, greater (since 100 in the tel- 

 system = 144 in the ten-system) . 



The year is divided into twelve months, 

 and no other division is likely within any for- 

 seeable time. Accordingly, in time-reckoning 

 the advantages of the tel-system are obvious. 

 In this notation the number of days in the 

 year is 265. To each month we should by all 

 means assign the same number of days, thirty 

 (30) as now or twentel-six (26) in the tel- 

 system: that is, 260 month-days in all; the 

 remaining 5 should be extra-mensual, legal 

 holidays, easily and instructively distributable 

 over the year, with a sixth such in leap years. 

 Monthly and annual accounts and rates would 

 be turned into each other by merely moving 

 the point one place to right or left. If one 

 received $100 a month, one would receive 

 $1,000 a year; if the interest rate was 6 (per 

 dipo) per year, it would be .6 per month. 

 Similarly the day is already divided into 

 (twice) twelve hours, that is, 20 in the tel- 

 system. The circle (or round angle) is now 

 divided into 360 degrees (or 250 in the tel- 

 system) ; this Babylonian division is unfortu- 

 nate but may be easily conformed to the divi- 

 sions of the clock-face into twelve parts, each 

 of these divided into twelve (stretches of 5 

 minutes or of 2 1/2 degrees), each of these 

 into twelve again, and so on. With our estab- 

 lished time-divisions the ten-system can never 

 be harmonized. 



The better unit of coinage is the American 

 quarter, the English shilling (GeiTnan mark). 

 The dollar is too large, a fact in some meas- 

 ure responsible for the sinful and ruinous 

 extravagance of American life. The shilling 

 is already divided into twelve jjence, a division 

 that admits of no improvement; it remains 

 only to be consistent and to coin the twelve- 

 shilling piece (a convenient coin, which might 

 be named twilling or tel-quar) ; with its frac- 

 tions and multiples, which Anglo-American 

 commerce would spread all over the earth. 

 So, too, the foot is already divided into twelve 

 inches. To convert inches and feet into each 

 other, it would be necessary only to move the 

 point. 



The meter has no superiority over the yard; 



