266 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
retention of the British foot would be hailed by nearly all 
artisans as a great convenience, as still preserving the inch and 
the yard. 
The scale would thus be conveniently decimalised from a 
foot unit — 
1 foot = 10 bronze penny inches. 
„ = 100 parts. 
The division of the foot into 100 decimal parts at once gives 
a name to the lowest denomination as “ parts,” and each part 
will be, of course, the y fr-gfc of an inch. 365 feet 96 J parts 
will be denoted by 365*965 feet. 
Decimal “parts” will answer every purpose of reference and 
calculation. Acreage, mileage, whether nautical or terranean, 
as well as the divisions of the circle, will probably be handed 
over to another generation, unless the country is determined to 
accept the French metre, devoid of all natural subdivisions 
into thirds, fourths, sixths, &c. &c. 
All the complicated cross multiplication of duodecimals will 
be at once extinguished by the use of the foot and its decimal 
parts. 
Ten feet might be called a rod, and a hundred feet some- 
thing else ; but it is doubtful whether such a measure would 
serve any useful purpose, except in calculation. It may be 
shrewdly suspected that any further upward change in the foot 
will inevitably lead us to adopt the French metre whole and 
undivided. 
APPENDIX. 
The tables in this appendix have been carefully calculated and 
verified by reversing the process. In that for equivalents of 
grammes, it will be seen that 11 grammes equal 170J English 
grains, within the 6-1, 000th of a grain. 
In the table of English and French equivalents of measures, 
I have calculated them to eight places of decimals, so as to be 
accurate for seven at least. 
It hardly seemed desirable to convert litres into pints in a 
tabular form, and, conversely, gallons or pints into litres. 
The relation of the karat to the pound avoirdupois being 
precisely similar to that of the gramme to the kilogramme, a 
table has been calculated to eight places of decimals for purposes 
of reference. 
