Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1858-10-19

anu Smhes 20 mink it's all for him,
Weights, Measures. Money,
Whatever may be thought of many other
projects OF reform and improvement preached
in the early days of the French Revolution,
the scheme suggested by the French savanna
for universal system of weights, measures.
and money, stands on strong and pecuIiar
grounds of its own. 1t is true that the parti.
sans OF things as they are have undertaken to
denounce and ridcule the idea of any such
universal standard, which they have repre-.
sented as no less Utopian than the idea Of a
universal language-a thing in their view as
undesirable as it is impracticabIe. The disci
pies of this school insist that there is certain
degree of the moral picturesque In local dis
tinctions and peculiarities of weighing and
measuring, as well as of speaking, and that to
give up these peculiarities would be so much
loss OF local tone and color. But whatever
reason there may be, whether founded in SEN
tlment or based on common sense, for wish
ing to perpetuate certain kinds of national
and local peculiarities, there is one circum-
stance which seems to afford an excellent
reason for not including weights, measures,
and money, in this category. Weighing,
measuring, and payment, are exclusively
mathematical operations, and mathematics is
branch of science absolutely universal in its
%
local color or picturesque adaptation to time
and place. There is Just as good reason for
introducing universal system of weighing
and measuring as there was for introducing
the universal employment of the Arabic nu-
merals or the algebraic symbols in common
use among all nations; and the arguments
set up against universal system of weights
and measures would be Just as strong for le.
nouncing the elegant simplicity and general
intelliglbility of the system now in use and
going back, each people to its own cumber-
some and indigenous scheme of notation.
The scheme proposed by the French savans
equal abandoning, as it did, all other sys-
tens hitherto in use, and proposing an en-
tirely new one, did all that could be done to
avoid any sacrifice of national pride, no
nation being called upon to renounce its
own system for that of another. AS measur-
ing and weighing are entirely mathematical
operations, they proposed to base the whole
procedure upon a standard of a universal
character, to be mathenstically determined.
They sought the unit of mensuration in the
globe itself. This unit, to which they gave
the name OF metre, or measure, was the ten
mlllionth part of the distance from the equa-
tor to the pole and from this unit Of linear
measurement they derived ali the other units
those OF surface measurements, of capacity,
OF weight, and OF money, applying to the
whole the convenience and facility of the
decimal subdivision.
Great Improvements and wide changes of
this sort cannot be expected to make a very
rapid advance. Yet this beautiful system has
not only maintained tself in France, where
SO many other revolutionary innovations have
been abandoned, but some fifteen other ma
tons, of greater or less commercial impor-
lance, some in Europe and others in America,
have been induced, one after the other.
to ADOPT it.
The late Universal Exhibition of Industry
at Paris led to the forming of un international
association tor the adoption of universal
system of weights and measures, divided into
several branches, one for each of the ptinci
pal nations represented at the Exhibition.
The English committee have taken hold Of
the matter with great zeal. They have pre-
pared and published very elaborate and ex-
haustlve report, drawn up by one of their
members, Mr.. James Yates, On the question
:" What is the first unit of length y This
report goes very strongly for adopting the
French metre. In addition to all the theoret-
ical and abstract arguments in its favor, time
has added this additional one that it has been
tested by experience, and is now actually in
use In considerable part of the world, re-
ducing to that extent the difficulties and in
conveniences of change. Beside the obiec-
ton above referred to, based on patriotic sem
timents and adherence to the actual, another
objection, of more scientific character, has
been taken to the French metre. 1t has been
alleged that the actual French metre does not
fulfill the boast of that cosmopolitan, scienti-
nc, and exact character which has been set
up for 1t. 1t is stated that, being based upon
the measure of an arc of the meridian be-
tween Dunkirk and Barcelona, it involves
two distinct errors of calculation, brought to
light by the more advanced state Of astronom-
ical knowledge, which deprives the standard
metre preserved at Paris of the character
of actually representing the ten millionth
part of the distance from the equator to the
pole. To this objection Mr.. Yates makes two
answers. In the first place, if the Paris stan
dard and metre is incorrect, no reason exists
why the error should not be corrected by the
common consent and cooperation Of all the
nations which should agree to base their sys
TEN OF mensuration upon the idea of single
unit divided from the size of the globe itself.
In the next place, the two alleged errors serve
practically, to very great extent, to annihi-
late each other, as one Of the errors of calcu-
lation operates to exaggerate the length of
the standard metre, the other TO diminish il.
SO that between them the Paris standard. af.
ter all, does not deyiate from the true theo-
teucal metre except oy quantity almost too
small for human appreciation.
From the position which Great Britain
holds in the world of commerce, il is indis.
pensable that she should take the lead in any
change that may be adopted. That she should
actually come into the French system Of men .
suration would not be at all more surprising
than are the actual political relations Of
france and England to those who look at
things with the eyes Of twenty Years. Nor
Trying as it may be to our Republican pride,
It is impossible to deny that, within the last
thirty years, beginning with the great Parlia-
rnentary Reform, which was nothing less
than peaceful revolution, Great Britain has
far outstripped us and all other nations in the
introduction Of changes based upon rational
views OF Improvement Slow as the English
are to move, when they do move, they are
apt to be sure.-Neao York Tribune.
KluRNETT,s CoCUANE FOR ear
EW SERVING THE HAIR and wak,,anr,,,. ~ -