Our System of Weights and Measures 



163 



versa, involved considerable labor on my 

 part, and it seemed advisable therefore to 

 introduce the metric system into the 

 laboratory and have all measurements 

 made directly in metrical terms. The 

 only question in my mind was whether 

 ordinary workmen, carpenters and me- 

 chanics accustomed to the usual methods 

 of measurements, could or would employ 

 the metric system. 



The result may be of interest to the 

 committee as bearing upon the question 

 of the ability of the common people of 

 America to handle a new system of this 

 kind. No difficulty whatever was ex- 

 perienced in the use of the system, and 

 the total expense involved in the change 

 amounted to a few dollars for the pur- 

 chase of a set of metrical weights and 

 measures. The same balances formerly 

 employed were equally efficient in weigh- 

 ing by the metrical system, and even the 

 old weights were utilized as supplement- 

 ary weights, with their value in grams 

 distinctly marked upon them. No change 

 was required in the machinery and tools 

 employed, simply a change in the method 

 of measuring the output. 



For convenience of reference a chart 

 of the metrical system was hung up in the 

 workshop, but no effort was made to have 

 the men master the new names involved, 

 excepting so far as they were introduced 

 by actual use. The names of which the 

 men were most afraid, like dekagram, 

 hectogram, dekameter, and hectometer, 

 were really not required at all in actual 

 use. The only terms employed at first 

 were meter, centimeter, and gram ; but 

 the necessities of the laboratory soon in- 

 troduced millimeter, kilogram, and liter. 

 In this connection it is rather interesting 

 to note that the word "decimeter," al- 

 though understood, remained among the 

 unused terms, the men preferring the ex- 

 pression "10 centimeters," just as we 

 usually prefer to call a dime "10 cents" 

 rather than a dime. So, too, a cubic deci- 

 meter (or liter) was preferably called 

 "a cube of 10 centimeters." 



So long as I did not ask my men to 

 translate from one system into the other, 

 all was plain sailing. They would have 

 difficulty in translating from pounds and 

 ounces into grams or kilograms, or from 

 feet and inches into centimeters or 

 meters ; but in the actual measurement of 

 length with a metric measure in hand, and 

 in actual weighing with metrical weights, 

 no difficulty whatever has been experi- 

 enced. 



The use of the metric system in my 

 laboratory has greatly facilitated all cal- 

 culations and the men like it. 



WE ARE ONE OE THE LAST NATIONS TO 

 ADOPT THE METRIC SYSTEM 



The Chairman: It has been contended 

 by one or two people at least who have 

 set out to oppose the introduction of this 

 system that in France and in Germany, 

 where it has been used as long as any- 

 where, it is not really the system of 

 weights and measures of those countries. 

 You have been there? 



Mr Bell: I have been in France; and 

 so far as my observation has gone it 

 seems to be in universal use there. I 

 understand that it is also employed in 

 Germany. In fact we are one of the last 

 nations to take it up. I understand that 

 nearly all the civilized nations of the 

 world have already adopted the metric 

 system, with the exception of Great Brit- 

 ain, the United States, and the British 

 colonies. 



The Chairman: Of course we realize 

 that an argument can be made about the 

 confusion which exists in weights and 

 measures in this country in a great many 

 different lines. For instance, in the 

 United States Mint they have four stand- 

 ards of weights — apothecary's, avoirdu- 

 pois, troy, and the metric measures. 



Mr Bell: I do not think any system of 

 weights and measures has any chance of 

 becoming universal except the metric 

 system, and its growth during the short 

 time it has been in existence seems to in- 

 dicate that it has such a chance. 



