1799-] 
the government of Peterfburg confumed 
583,126 exmers of brandy, or malt f{pi- 
rits; and the adjoining government of 
Plefkow, in the year 1783, not more than 
127,c00 eimer ; although the number of 
inhabitants in the latter is hardly lefs than 
in the former, even though we fhould in- 
clude in the calculation, the ftrangers who 
arrive in the fhips. Still fmaller in pro- 
portion is the confumption of brandy in the 
government of Permi. ‘The difference 
between the confumption in the fecondary 
cities, and the open country, appears from 
the following ftatement. For 799,000 inha- 
bitants, only 164,831 ezmers are required. 
Of thefe 164,831 eimers, the city of 
Plefkow and its diftris&t confumes 40,000. 
If we allow for the city of Toropez and its 
diftri&, only 30,000 eimers, becaule it is 
not fo great a thoroughfare ; tlren there re- 
main for the other feven diftriéts only 
57,000 eimers ; which number feems the 
more probably the true one, as the quan- 
tity ufed in the diftrict of Petfchuri is 
exprefsly ftated to amount to only 6000 
eimers. 
A comparifon of the above ftatements 
with thofe in other countries would, in my 
opinion, clearly fhow, that excefs in drink- 
ing does not prevail in Ruffia to fuch an 
extent as is commonly imagined. If, in- 
deed, it were true that in Berlin, in 1797, 
only 4492 quarts of {pirits were fold, as 
_Biefter ftates in the Berlin Wochenblatt ; 
the difference between that city and Pe- 
terfburg would be fo enormous, that, all 
local circumftances confidered, fill Pe- 
terfburg muft certainly be confidered as 
an immenfe dram-fhop. But Biefter’s 
ftatement is evidently falfe; being taken 
from the Annals of the Pruffian Monarchy, 
which give the above quantity only as that 
fold in the thirteen licenfed public-houfes 
in Berlin. But how many other places are 
there not in that city, where {pirituous li- 
quors are fold ! 
Of many cities I do not poflefs accurate in- 
- formation in this refpect. But one, of which 
I do poflefs fuch information, feems to be 
peculiarly adapted for drawing the compa- 
rifon. ‘The city I allude to is Freyberg in 
Saxony, where there is no confiderable 
trade carried on, no particular clafs of 
men, whofe great earnings enable them to 
drink a great deal, and who really drink a 
great deal, as is the cafe in manufacturing 
towns, and where on the whole no hoto- 
rious exceté prevails. In Freyberg, ac- 
cording to the ftatement of the duties paid 
to the city, 12,600 Drefden kanns were 
diftilled in 1797, and befides 1819 kanns 
imported, If we take the amount of the 
Account of the French Metre. 
88x 
inhabitants of Freyberg and its environs to 
be 10,000, which is the higheft that can 
be admitted according to the actual cenfus; 
the proportion annually for each individual 
would amount to 1°44 kann; in the go- 
vernment of Plefkow, on the contrary, to 
2° 82 kanns. | 
This is undoubtedly ftill a very material 
difference. However, when treating of ex- 
cefs and drunkennefs, it muft not be for- 
gotten that in the Ruffian towns and cities 
almoft every adult, of both fexes, and 
many likewife in country places, daily 
take a glafs of fpirits before every meal ; 
and that this cuftom is followed by per- 
fons of both fexes belonging to the mid- 
dling claffes, who, among us, would on 
fuch occafions drink beer or wine inftead of 
brandy or any other fpirituous liquors. 
-If of 600,000 perfons we reckon 10,000 
who are thus in the habit of drinking f{pi- 
rits before meals; there will remain for 
the rett a quantity which is exaé+ly propor- 
tionate to that confumed in Freyberg. 
However, did the proportion prove not 
wholly exact, we ought to make fome al- 
lowance for the difference of climate, efpe- 
cially when a propenfity to drunkennefs 
is made a trait of the character of the 
Ruffians. 

For the Monthly Magazine. 
ACCOUNT OF THE NEW METRICAL 
SYSTEM OF FRANCE*, WITH ITS EX- 
ACT REDUCTION TO ENGLISH MEa- 
SURE, AND ITS ADAPTATION TO SE- 
VERAL PRACTICAL PURPOSES. 
HIS is a new. fet of meafures, beth 
for lengths, furfaces, capacities, and 
weights, which the French nation has been 
occupied about for many years. ‘The fub- 
{tance of the meafurements and operations 
that have been carried on for this end, is 
contained in feveral memoirs that have been 
lately prefented to the National Inftitute 
at feveral meetings; and a great number, 
it appears, of the moft learned men of 
different nations have been occupied in 
completing this grand bufinefs; fome in © 
performing the numerous and delicate ex- 
periments ; and others in making the“nes 
_ceflary calculations and deduétions ; and 
others in atranging the refults.and drawing 
up the reports. The refult of the whole is 
contained in a report made to the Inititute 
the s7th of June, 1799; the abridgment 
of which is as follows. 
The firft object was to fix ppon a 
ftandard of length ; from thence to deduce 
the meafures ot all the other kinds above-, 
mentioned. 
a 
* See Page 435, of No. 18, Vol. lit. 

