64 
POPULAE SCIENCE REVIEW. 
the scene with unfettered limbs : we must make him ours — 
our auxiliary, and shake off the old trammels, if we expect to 
continue victors in the race. Our men of science, in compact 
body, our superior chemists and engineers, have given their 
voice in favour of the new system, and are even obliged to 
use it, nolens volens, in order to ensure the requisite accuracy 
in their calculations ; they therefore desire to be fi’eed from 
the old encumbrances. The associated Chambers of Com- 
merce have unanimously petitioned Parliament on the same 
subject. We subjoin one or two clauses of this petition : — 
That even the weights and measures authorized by law in the United 
Kingdom are found to he most inconvenient for the various puq)oses of trade 
and social intercourse, on account of their cumbrous division, the great waste 
of time they entail in calculations, the liability to eiTor they produce, and 
the want of homogeneity in all their parts. 
That the metric system being established on a scientific basis, and having 
been found exceedingly well adapted for all practical and scientific purposes, 
and admitted into many countries of Europe and America with unexcep- 
tionable advantages, has the best recommendation for its adoption in the United 
Kingdom, and, in the opinion of your petitioners, is likely to produce a 
decided boon to the whole community. 
That havmg regard to the increased intercourse with the Continent of 
Europe likely to ensue in consequence of the Treaty of Commerce recently 
concluded with France, from the reduction of postage, and from the abolition 
of passports, it is all important that the weights and measures employed hi 
international transactions should be assimilated as much as possible in all 
countries. That, in the opinion of your petitioners, this is a most favourable 
opportunity for commencing the change ; the public mind hi this country 
being now sufficiently prepared for it, &c. 
Many other arguments might be urged in favour of the 
proposed change (among them not the least is, the sohd 
advantages that education, both commercial and scientific, 
would derive), which onr want of space forbids us to notice. 
Finally, however, a Bill has passed in the last session of 
Parliament, entitled, An Act to render permissive the Use of 
the Metric System of Weights and Measures, 29 July, 1864.-’'’ It 
is to be hoped that the subject will not be set at rest by this 
Act (or we shall have made a transition from bad to worse), 
and that in the meantime all will avail themselves readily, 
whenever the occasion presents itself, of the new concession. 
We ought likewise to assimilate onr terms and symbols as 
much as possible to those employed on the Continent, so that 
the same word, or the same symbol, may express the same 
meaning here as there. Otherwise we shall still remain iso- 
lated, not only physically, but morally, as heretofore. 
Et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos. 
