412       Metric  System  of  Weights  and  Measures,  {^"ptembeffigo? 
ultimately  introduce,  not  alone  the  metric  system  of  weights  and 
measures,  but  also  a  decimal  system  of  coinage. 
That  this  will  be  a  difficult  problem,  is  readily  appreciated  when 
we  consider  the  ultra-conservative  spirit  of  the  English  people  and 
how  they  have  always  clung  to  old  ways  and  traditions,  and  per- 
sistently objected  to  any  innovations. 
To  illustrate  this  we  need  but  recall  the  fact  that  England  retained 
the  Roman  system  of  notation  for  centuries  after  other  countries 
had  adopted  the  now  universally  used  Arabic  numerals.  A  still 
more  recent  example  is  the  adoption  of  the  Gregorian  calendar,  in 
which  England  was  nearly  two  hundred  years  behind  the  south 
European  States. 
From  the  established  precedents  we  would  be  justified  in  assert- 
ing that  it  will  be  difficult  indeed  to  induce  the  rank  and  file  of 
Englishmen  to  dispense  with  their  pounds,  shillings  and  pence,  and 
to  count  in  decimals. 
The  British  Decimal  Association,  however,  in  one  of  their  recent 
publications  report  that  there  is  a  very  decided  growth  of  public 
opinion  in  favor  of  a  decimal  system  of  coinage  in  Great  Britain, 
and  the  compulsory  introduction  of  the  metric  system  of  weights 
and  measures  throughout  the  British  Empire. 
One  factor  that  has  been  instrumental  in  bringing  about  this 
change  of  ideas  in  England,  may  be  found  in  the  reports  of  British 
consular  agents,  who  several  years  ago  were  asked  to  secure  infor- 
mation on  several  vital  points  connected  with  the  introduction  and 
use  of  the  metric  system  in  the  different  European  countries.  All 
these  reports,  with  the  single  exception  of  those  from  Turkey,  were 
very  favorable,  both  as  to  the  ease  and  rapidity  with  which  trade 
conditions  had  adapted  themselves  to  the  new  system,  and  the 
advantages  that  the  new  system  had  in  facilitating  computation, 
thereby  saving  time.  These  reports  also  favored  the  proposed 
change  from  the  present  confused  and  complicated  English  system, 
to  metric  units,  as  being  in  the  line  of  progress,  and  a  decided  step 
in  the  proper  direction  for  regaining  much  of  England's  former 
influence,  prestige  and  trade. 
In  Canada  the  government  has  been  carefully  preparing  the  way, 
and  is  ready  to  introduce  the  metric  system  as  soon  as  the  United 
States  and  England  make  the  change.  The  course  that  has  been 
pursued  by  the  Canadian  Government  is  to  make  the  system  widely 
