ON A SIMPLE DECIMAL SYSTEM FOR ENGLAND. 
263 
the Karat, bearing exactly the same proportion to the pound 
avoirdupois that the gramme hears to the kilogramme, viz. the 
1,000th part. The demi-ton, or half-ton, will then contain 
1,000 lbs. instead of 1,120, and under the decimal system of 
weights, the 12, 14,* and 16 pound stones must be abolished, 
and one uniform stone of 10 lbs. be introduced, to complete 
the scale. All heavy weights could be expressed in two 
terms, the lowest of which would be karats, except in the case 
of grains. 
TABLE OF DECIMAL WEIGHTS. 
1 demi-ton = 10 cwt. 
1 cwt. = 100 lbs. ( = 10 stones ?) 
1 lb. = 10 ounces. 
1 ounce = 10 drams. 
1 dram = 10 karats. 
1 karat = 7 grains. 
Example of the power of this notation : Take 5,555,096,986*5 
karats — 
They denote either 5,555,096,986|- karats, 
or 555,509,698 drams and 6|- karats, 
or 55,550,969 ounces and 86^ karats, 
or 5,555,096 lbs. and 986^- karats. 
Or, read in the order of numeration, these thousands of mil- 
lions of grains denote with precision and brevity 5,555 demi- 
tons 96 lbs. 9 ounces 8 drams 6 karats and a half (or 3 J grains). 
The most complicated weights can be employed at once 
without reduction , and any arithmetical operation at once be 
performed upon their amount. 
To bring this system into relation with the French kilo- 
gramme, the relative value of one pound avoirdupois, of 7,000 
grains to the gramme, must necessarily be employed — 
The kilogramme : pound as 1,000 grammes to 7,000 grains : : 1 gramme : 1 
karat. 
The new karat therefore bears the same proportion to the 
gramme as the pound does to the kilogramme — 
The gramme = 7)15-43234874 grains. 
or 2-20462124 karats. 
The kilogramme = 2*20462124 lbs. 
The karat is, in fact, the thousandth part of the pound, just 
as the gramme is T oVo °f the kilogramme. This sequence 
enables all weights, however various, in the new scale, to be 
decimally converted into kilogrammes by simple multiplication 
or division. 
