20 A. LIVERSIDGE. 



which I have not referred to, we still have two legal pounds, the 

 (avoirdupois) lb. of 16 oz., or 7,000 grains, and the troy lb. of 12 

 oz. or 5,760 grains ; also, two legal ounces, the troy ounce of 

 480 grains, and the avoirdupois ounce of 437 '5 grains ; there are 

 also two drams of unequal weight. But the worst feature is that 

 there is no simple connection between the measures of length, 

 weight, and capacity. 



James Watt is said to have been the first to propose that a 

 universal system of decimal weights and measures should be 

 employed throughout the world. He suggested the foot as the 

 unit of length, and the cubic foot of water as the unit of weight, 

 both divided decimally ; the suggestion was discussed by English 

 and French representative men of science, but rejected by us; 

 the French adopted the decimal system in 1791, but with the 

 metre as the unit, and it became law in 1799. 



In the metric system the units of length, capacity, and weight 

 are all directly related to each other. The unit of length, termed 

 the metre, was intended to be a natural standard, and the one 

 ten-millionth part of a polar quadrant of the earth, or arc of 

 meridian, i.e., of an arc drawn from the equator to the north 

 pole, but subsequent measurements showed that the quadrant 

 contains 10,001,472*5 metres, hence the metre is as much an 

 arbitrary measure as the English yard. As the metre has turned 

 out to be something different from what was intended, the length 

 of the second's pendulum might after all have been taken as a 

 standard, or even the English yard or the French ell. The metre 

 is 39-37079 English inches, or rather more than three inches 

 longer than our yard. For square or superficial measures the 

 unit is the are, or 100 square metres. The other common measures 

 are centiare, or square metre, and the hectare, or 10,000 square 

 metres, equal to 2-47 acres. The unit for solid measure is the 

 cubic metre or stere. 



The cube of the tenth of a metre (decimetre) is the unit of 

 volume or capacity, known as the litre, and it contains 0*22 gallon 

 or 1.76 English pints, or 61-027 cubic inches. The unit of weight, 



