The Portland gazette. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1818-1824, 1822-03-05

Seifcs - me examinations =. our coins Mini
luton ny all experience known II M 'cs4
more easy 10 accomplish than tl,at -
aud measures. AT Tic close of 0nr v.rssnA
dependence, We found ourselves with 80, ~
lsh words, pouns, shilling, penny, ami CO..
10 SIGNIFY all our monies NJ account M
though English wonls, they were mr. IN. Das
things They were no where stcrl,p. e'sl
scarcely m any two states of the union wrrs MI
representatives of the same sums. In ,,,|s
bel Of confusion by the use of four wont.
our new system Of coinage we set them ,.;l
we took The Spanish piece of eight, which I',
always been the coin most current amnnc
aud To which we had CIV zen a name Of our -
dollar introducing the principle of decirr.I
divisions, we SAID tenth part of cur dollar sh-I
be called d'ae, hundrcdh part a cent. asa
thousandth part miLe. Like the French
took all these new denominations from the I,,r
language; but instead OF prehxing them as s,l
tables " the generic term dollar, we relpr.l
tsem TO mOnysyllabics, and made each Of o.
significant BY itself, without reference 10 M
init, Of which they were fractional parts. ~
French themselves, in the application tLe,.
system TO their COINS have followed our exam
pie and, assuming the franc fol their unit. Win
ITS tenth part dec,Dle, and lis hundredth o,,-
new monies Of account. our COINS and our mint
have been Established. The dollar. under n
new stamp, has preserved its name and circpl,.
ton. The cent has become toicrabIy familiar
zed 10 the tongue, wherever il has been made
by circulation familiar 10 the hand. Bur Nv
dune having been seldom, and the mills never
presenter 10 their material Images 10 the peoDle
nave remained 80 utterly unknown, that now
Wheh Tue recent coinage of dunes is alluded IA
ia our public journals, II their name is menti0n
ca, II ~ always with an eX planatory definition
TO inform the reader, that they are ten cenf
pieces; and some OF them winch have founJ
their way over the mountains, by the genermn
hospitality Of the country, have been received
Tor more than they were worth, and have passed
Tor an eighth, instead of tenth part OF dollar.
LVen now, al the end Of thirty wears. ask n
tradcsInan, or shopkeeper, IN any Of our cities
what l. dime or mile, aud the chances are
Tour III 1--we that he will not understand vour
question. But 60 10 New York and otter n
payment the Spanish CON, the unit of the Span
ISL piece u eight, and the shop or market-nlaa
VIII take IL Tor SaHtng Garry ii to Boston or
Richmond, aud Won shall be told il j. not shl
ling, but nine pence. Bring il to Philadelphia.
baltimore, or the City of W ashington, and you
shall ind Il recognized for an eleven-penny Bit:
and If you ask how that can be, YOU Shall eau,
that, the dollar being of ninety pence, the eighth
part Of Il = nearer to eleven than 10 any other
number: and pursuing still further the aritbme-
nc OF popular denominations, you will find that
nail eleven i've, or, al least that half the eel-
en-Pehny bit Is the h-penny bit, which ti-penny
OIL al kichmod shrlnks 10 four pence halfpennv.
aud al New York swells 10 six pence. And
thus we have English denominations most alb
sur1ly ana diversity applied to Spanish coins.
"hle our own lawfully established dime aud
mile remain, to the great mass ofthe people, Z
mong The hidden ny steries Of political ucuno-
my-state secrets
Human nature, in its broadcast features. is
every whore the same. This result OF our own
experience, upon small scale, and upon a SIN
gle object, viii easily account for the rcpugnance
q the French people to adopt the new noIncn-
clature OF their weights and measures. 1t il not
the length Of the words that constitutes the o.
Jecton against them, nor the difficulty ofpronuD-
clatlon Tor, h-penny bit IS as hard to speak and
as long word "a kilogTamme, and eleyCn-penuV
bit has certainly more letters and syIlables. ana
less euphony, than myria-metre. But il IS be-
cause, in tie ordinary operations Of the mind.
distinctness Of idea is, BY the laws OF nature,
linked with the chain of association between
sensible images and their habitua denominations.
more closely than with the exactness of logical
analysis
tI}-* The terms Of the newt iench nomenclature ae
metre measure of length of about 40 inches htre
ue measure 81 capacity, equal about l8 english
PMS grdHH the unit Of weights equivalent To abou
ID IL grains troy Then there is the are land meas
uTe' ana SteTe, the wood measure. These measures
are increased OF diminished in a decimal ratio Nv pre
hNins certain denominations decimetre centi-etys
winch mean tenth and an hundreth part Of metre
anu dtcd-mtTe, which stands for ten metres Eo1ae,s
Tor thousand metres, and kLo-grGasgle for thou
sand grammes.
These terms though established BY government ana
ust III the public offices Of the nation comb never
HiaAe their way lhto common the people still
gave Their old denominations 70 the new standards;
: they accept" Mr.. Adams SAYS the kilo-gr,n.
nae bot instead OF proAounclng its name. cboo. 70
call one hall q il pound"
The report of the .4priLiary Marinc Bible So
ctety, established in tins town. gives ! s,tisf,cto-
ny view OF the success which attended their ex-
ertEons during the past year. Il appears that
many sailors, for whose moral Improvement the
society was particularly formed, have not OILY
grady received tie scriptures from IL. bnt Lave
yolhed the society az members. and EXPRESSED
desire TO contribute their exertions 70 tie con-
mon cause II the society can incite zeal I'm
the breasts OF seamen,ior religious improvement.
ITS tendency must be of the most sautary and
gratifying nature; and that it does, We are aut
thorized, by this report, to believe.
for the last year the society consisted Of l19
members, who have paid their subscriptions. ten
oil whom were life-members, 90 annual sut>cr-
berS. and 13 who ininad f,r 49,, -. TIL 80