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entails an annoying and useless complexity upon the labors 

 of the accountant, it were preferable to substitute one ana- 

 logous to that devised by the french scientific commission 

 in 1795, and subsequently adopted by the government of 

 that great nation. In this regularly constructed system, 

 which is moreover equally to be admired for the beauty of 

 the nomenclature applied to its subdivisions, all is referred 

 to a single standard unit of length. The metre is the ten- 

 millionth part of the arc of the meridian extending from 

 the equator to the pole ; and is divided into 10 decimetres, 

 100 centimetres, and 1000 millimetres. The weight of a 

 cubic centimetre of water at its maximum density consti- 

 tutes the gramme, the unit of weight; and a cubic decimetre 

 forms the unit of capacity, the litre. Compared with ours, 

 or the english system, the metre is equal to 39,37079 inches 

 nearly ; the gramme is equal to 15,4388 grains nearly ; and 

 the litre is equal to 1,760763 wine pints nearbv. In addi- 

 tion to these, there are also the are, or square decametre, 

 equal to 119,6046 square yards nearly, as unit of superficies ; 

 and the stere, or cubic metre, equal to 35,317 cubic feet 

 nearly, as unit of solidity. 



This system has the recommendation of commensurability 

 in all its parts, and all its denominations are regulated upon 

 the decimal scale of our common arithmetic, whereby it 

 offers the facility of ordinary numbers to the accountant ; 

 but in its present form, it frequently gives rise to inconve- 

 nience in the practice of actual measurement. The inter- 

 val between a denomination and its tenth part is oftentimes 

 too great, and there is an unavoidable want of halves and 

 quarters ; that is, instead of multiples and submultiples by 

 10 only, there is a daily want of multiples and submultiples 

 by 2. • But it is suggested that with a little further arrange- 

 ment, and in imitation of our conduct with regard to the 

 denominations of federal money, the advantages of both 

 these ratios of denomination might be combined through- 

 out the entire system of measures. For instance, let the 



