Metric system

“ The construction and evolution of the system of electrical units now in general use began in Europe where the metric system originated. Two of the basic units, the centimeter and the gram, are metric units; the second of time is universally employed in time measurements.
The meter, 3.2808 feet = 39.37 inches, is theoretically the one ten-millionth part of the earth’s quadrant ”

“ What gives the metric system pre-eminence is the simplicity and uniformity of its decimal scale, forming part and parcel as it does of the decimal system of notation, and lending itself to a decimal coinage as in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The metre is organically related to all measures of length, surface, capacity, solidity, and weight. A cubic centimetre of water, taken as it melts in a vacuum, at 4° C., the temperature of maximum density, is the gram from which other weights are derived ”

“ The adoption of its principles is with us as a people instinctive, and not easily to be eradicated.
As we have seen, Adams takes strong exception to the fundamental unit of the metric system, as inconvenient for every day use. Professor A. De Morgan, of London University College, in expressing somewhat similar thoughts, said: "I take an exception to the metre. It arose from a mere fanciful connection with the quarter of the meridian, which I think of no practical importance to any man alive. . . . The metre is, of course, too long to be the common measure. ”

“ The real merit of the metric system is found in its definiteness and simplicity, and not at all in any approximate relation between its fundamental unit and the earth's polar circumference, or any other terrestrial dimension, whatever may have been the intention of its originators. ”

“ The French themselves, as has been pointed out on more than one occasion, find the metric system too irksome, and they evade it. According to the metric system, one of its great merits is that you can state every required quantity by multiples or submultiples of ten—metre, 1 ”

“ Any calculation which can be made by the French metric system, we can make with equal ease by the British system, and hundreds of calculations can be made much more easily by the British system than by the metric system itself. ”

“ The professional men who advocate the metric system quite forsee this—that it will make work. In fact, in the journal of a scientific institute in Sydney, that was one of the most potent and convincing arguments in favour of its adoption. But why should we disturb a scientific, and, from a British point of view, an almost universal, area in favour of a clumsy, unscientific French measure. There is probably more land surfaces measured, deeded, bought, and sold in terms of the acre than of any other unit. ”

“ But, if you look on the other side of this tape-measure, there is a different standard of measure. This, on the reverse side, is the [83] metric system, used in France and many other countries. If you were to go into a store in France and wanted to purchase cloth, you would not ask for a yard, you would ask for a metre of cloth, which instead of thirty-six inches, which makes our yard, would be a little over thirty-nine inches; so the standard of measures and values varies in different countries. ”

“ Since this chapter was written the movement in favour of the metric carat has made rapid progress, and this unit will soon have been adopted as the legal standard all over the world, even in countries, such as the British Isles and the United States, where the metric system is not in use. The advantage of an international unit is too obvious to need arguing. ”

“ The legal theory of the metric system of weights and measures is— (A) the standard metre, with decimal fractions and multiples thereof; (B) the standard kilogramme, with decimal fractions and multiples thereof; (C) the litre (with decimal fractions and multiples) , declared to be a cube of 1/16 metre, and to contain a kilogramme of water at 4° C. in a vacuum. ”

“ The object of the Bureau is to make and provide prototypes of the metre and kilogramme, for the various subscribing countries.
In England action has frequently been taken both by individuals and by associations of commercial men for the purpose of endeavouring to make the metric system compulsory. ”

“ In our system a mechanic after making a complicated calculation with common fractions is as likely as not to get his result in sixths, or ninths, etc., of an inch, whereas his rule reads to eighths, or sixteenths, and he must reduce his sixths, or ninths, to eighths, or sixteenths, before he can measure off his result. In the metric system results always come out in units of the scale used. ”

“ Furthermore, binary divisions of the metric system have been found necessary by the people, and are widely coming into use, a remarkable illustration of the insufficiency of the legal standards for the uses of the people. ”

“ Hence I contend that adoption of the metric system, while it would entail a long period of trouble and confusion, would increase the obstacles to the adoption of a perfect system—perhaps even rendering them insuperable—and that, therefore, it will be far better to submit for a time to the evils which our present mixed system entails. ”

“ From the unit of linear measure of metre is derived the unit of the measure of capacity or Litre. This represents the cube of one-tenth part of a metre, or a cubic decimetre, and its multiples and sub-divisions with their corresponding equivalents in Imperial fluid measure are as follows:—
The unit of weight in the metric system is the Gramme. ”

“ In the metric system, roads are measured in kilometers and hectometers, short distances in meters or dekameters, small objects in centimeters or millimeters and microscopic objects in micrometers or microns. Taking the length of a good-sized bacterium as one micron, it is immediately evident to the mind that a million such bacteria would fit into a meter, and one thousand million into a kilometer. ”

“ On the other side, the advocates of metricalisation have been, and frequently still are, guilty of overstating their case. They have set up fanciful claims of superiority, which have no solid foundation. How shallow some of these pretensions are has been indicated. Much more could easily be said. The mass of material at hand makes it difficult to keep within reasonable dimensions. The claim to scientific accuracy of the metric system is absurd. ”

“ In order to take the measurements of a criminal in accordance with the Bertillon System it is of course necessary to have and use a metric measure; one can be purchased almost anywhere in the United States for fifty cents. So as to make the matter of measurement more clear, I might state that under our own system of measurement we measure by yards, feet and inches, half inches, quarter inches, etc. Under the metric system we measure by meters, centimeters and millimeters. It will readily be seen that with the metric system it is possible to measure accurately the thousandth part of an inch. ”

“ The metric system is not a convenient one for common use. Its measures are not of convenient length. The yard, half the stature of a man, is of convenient length to handle, to use, to apply. It, and the goods measured by it, can be halved, quartered, subdivided into eighths, sixteenths, thirty-seconds, sixty-fourths, etc.; or it can be with equal facility divided into tenths, hundredths, thousandths. Half a metre is no dimension ”

“ Balances, however, are so accurately constructed that for testing purposes such refined precautions are not really necessary.
It is immaterial in what notation the weighings are made, so long as the same is used throughout, but the metric system of weights, which is in universal use in scientific work, should preferably be employed. Jewellers, however, use carat weights, and a subdivision to the base 2 instead of decimals, the fractions being 1⁄2, 1⁄4, 1⁄8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64. ”

“ In commercial life a knowledge of the metric system has been for some years essential, and it is, therefore, fitting that its underlying principles should be taught in our schools concurrently with reduction, and practised systematically in the more advanced grades. ”

“ Every man can claim to deal according to the standards of length, of weights, and of capacity. Most certainly the introduction of the metric system would largely add to the use of illegal weights and measures, not only locally, but generally. ”

“ If an attempt were made deliberately to construct a medley of weight and measures as a burlesque, for sensible practical people to make sport of, it may be questioned whether such a farcical hypothetical medley would be more illogical, incoherent or cumbersome than our own. Yet it would seem that ours is not worse than the old French, or German, or Austrian, systems that preceded the metric system in those countries, respectively. ”