May 23, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



831 



ject any attention whatever, the failure of 

 these efforts to bring about the adoption of a 

 better system of weights and measures has 

 been due to the willingness with which many 

 would rather endure a present evil than sub- 

 mit to a temporary inconvenience for the 

 benefit of the present and future generations. 



THE WEIGHTS AND MEASURES IN COMMON USE. 



A complete list of the weights and measures 

 in common use would be difficult to make and 

 would involve much space. The various 

 units have been inherited from a time when 

 exact measurements were unheard of, com- 

 putations were seldom made, and when each 

 locality and different interest had its own 

 system of measures. Modifications and ad- 

 justments have been made from time to time; 

 nevertheless it is still full of inconsistent 

 ratios, difficult to learn and still more difficult 

 to remember. The units are not related to 

 each other; many units of the same name 

 have entirely different values. It is unsuit- 

 able for computation, and is not decimal in 

 character. The advantages to be gained by 

 the adoption of the metric system as compared 

 with the one in present use are far greater 

 than the benefits derived from the adoption 

 of a decimal system of coinage in place of the 

 English monetary system. 



It is a popular fallacy that our weights and 

 measures are in accord with those of Great 

 Britain, but this is not true, as neither our 

 pound, yard, gallon, or bushel is identical 

 with the corresponding English unit. 



Very few people are familiar with the 

 weights and measures in common use in the 

 United States. One has but to recall the 

 tables of our three different systems of weights, 

 the apothecary, troy, and avoirdupois, to ilkis- 

 trate this fact. And while the yard may be 

 stated as our standard of length, we find in 

 practice various arbitrary multiples of the 

 yard and foot; for example, the fathom, the 

 surveyor's and engineer's chains and links, 

 the nautical and statute miles, hands, poles, 

 perches, and various others. In addition to 

 the ordinary cubic measure, we find three 

 systems of measuring capacity, dry measure, 

 liquid measure, and apothecary's fluid meas- 



ure. To these might be added a large number 

 of technical standards in use in the various 

 trades and industries in com m on use which 

 would be greatly simplified and unified upon 

 the adoption of the international system of 

 weights and measures. An examination of 

 the tables of our weights and measures dis- 

 closes the fact that there are sixty-four dif- 

 ferent ratios used, of which nineteen are not 

 divisible by 2, and that there are eighteen 

 terms used which have two or more meanings. 

 Certainly any effort to replace this conglom- 

 erate system with a simple, logical one, simi- 

 lar to our monetary system, is worthy of the 

 consideration of Congress. 



THE METRIC OR INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM. 



The metric system of weights and measures 

 was devised as an international system. The 

 fact that it was first adopted by France has 

 given rise to the custom of referring to it as 

 the French system. It is interesting to note, 

 however, that one of the first to propose a 

 decimal system of weights and measures was 

 James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine. 

 The adoption of a decimal system of coinage 

 by the United States was one of the strongest 

 influences leading to the adoption of the 

 metric system by France. The unit of length 

 in the metric system is- called the 'meter' and 

 was defined as the one ten-millionth part of 

 the distance from the equator to the pole of 

 the earth measured on a meridian. The first 

 of these units to be constructed was by the 

 French Government, and was based on the 

 best knovsm. measurement of the earth's sur- 

 face at that time. 



An international congress was held in Paris 

 in 1875 for the purpose of improving the 

 standards. Accordingly a number of meters 

 were constructed of the best material and by 

 the best methods known to science. One of 

 these was selected as the international stand- 

 ard of length and is very carefully preserved 

 at the international bureau of weights and 

 measures established and maintained by the 

 countries participating in the congress and 

 those which have joined the convention since. 

 These meters were very carefully compared 

 with the one selected as the international 



