president's address. 25 



metric measurements for such, it will be necessary for England 

 to do the same, or much of our trade must gradually pass into 

 the hands of others. 



It must be borne in mind that to make the change to the 

 metric system would involve a money loss of untold millions both 

 to England and to the United States of America, since nearly all 

 the present machinery would have to be altered ; to take a single 

 case only, instanced by a writer in a recent review, to adapt yard- 

 wide looms to produce metric widths would mean an immense 

 outlay of money, and a great loss of time ; but unless this change 

 be made a still greater loss will eventually ensue. In both 

 countries it is used to a certain extent by some manufacturers 

 and by instrument makers. I need hardly say that it is used by 

 chemists and physicists in all parts of the British Empire. It is 

 quite an easy thing for small, new, and non-manufacturing 

 countries to adopt the metric system ; it merely means a change 

 in the method of buying and selling, and it does not involve the 

 alteration or replacement, at a stupendous cost, of the manufac- 

 turer's plant and machinery. 



I have brought the matter before the Society, although some of 

 you are perfectly familiar with it, partly because it is one of 

 scientific importance, and partly because I think that we should 

 take an interest in the progress of the system, and also do what 

 we can to make its use compulsory in Federated Australia, where 

 I suppose its use is already permissive, as in Great Britain. A 

 strong reason for its compulsory introduction is, that if all our 

 arbitrary systems of weights and measures were replaced by it, 

 children would probably save a year or two of their school time, 

 which could be profitably spent upon other matters, e.g., upon 

 modern languages, elementary science and English composition, 

 with the object of teaching them to think, and to put their 

 thoughts into clear intelligible English. But the first step is to 

 make it a compulsory subject of instruction in all schools attaining 

 a certain standard ; until that is done it is useless to think of 

 making it the law of the land. 



