THE METEIC SYSTEM. 
61 
Cambist^ that no fewer than 150 different pounds v/ere in use 
in different parts of Europe before tbe introduction of tlie lialf- 
kilogTam_, wbicb seems destined to supersede tbeni all. The 
kilogi"am_, however_, has never varied ; indeed^ how could it 
vary, in any appreciable degree, without being speedily 
brought back to the metric standard ? 
Herein consists the luminous idea of the French savans, in 
rendering’ all the parts of the new system homogeneous — to 
wit, that they anticipated any subsequent variations in the all- 
important standards of capacity and weight, and prevented 
this by making these standards, dependent on each other, to 
depend on the metre, so that they could not vary as long as it 
remained intact ; and if any standard were lost, it could be 
recovered from the remaining. 
The second important decision of the French Academy of 
Science was, that the new system, in all its branches, should 
have but one divisor, and that 10, or a power of 10, according 
to the necessity of the scale. This, for practical purposes, is 
perhaps the most important part of the great reform, for 
besides the infinite simplification introduced thereby in all 
arithmetical operations connected with the metric scales, this 
solitary factor would itself, better than any specific, cure the 
mania of tampering with the various scales in order to suit 
local caprice and prejudice. The standards themselves could 
never have varied, as they once did in France, and now do in 
England, had there been but' one divisor (especially if that one 
were the radix of the system of numeration) ; for the evil of a 
multiplicity of divisors reacts on the standards themselves, 
and renders them uncertain. Let any one glance at our tables 
of weights and measures with their innumerable divisors, 
chiefiy of the worst kind, and he will there see evidence of this 
principle. Let him look at square measure, and at the inno- 
vations there introduced to simplify, if possible, but at all events 
to render this table less obnoxious; then let him pass on to cubic 
measure, and solid measure, with their addenda in appalling 
number. If we interrogate a hapless surveyor or architect, 
or those engaged in the iron trade, we learn the enormous 
difficulties they have to contend with in making their calcula- 
tions ; oftentimes each is obliged to supplement the tables, or 
shift for himself as he best may, having no Ariadne^s thread 
to extricate him from the labyrinth in "which he becomes in- 
volved. And if this be true of professional men, how are non- 
professional men situated? G-enerally speaking, they must 
receive upon trust those results which concern them, and which 
they cannot verify, the which is a great evil, and opens a wide 
door to every species of fraud and contestation. Our readers are 
probably aware of the vast improvement the metric system 
