The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-02-15

A New System Of Weights and Measures.
I We are glad to perceive that an effort is be-
ing made in various quarters to call the atten-
ton of Congress to the necessity of providing
some system of weights and measures more
convenient and uniform than that at present
in vogue. Several prominent gentlemen, well
kI own for their scientific accuracy and good
practical judgment, have taken the matter in
hand, and we hope they viii not let it drop
until they have secured at least the beginning
of reform. Certainly there is great need of
a change. Anything more clumsy, ll-devised
and irregular than our present system, or
rather no system, would be difficult to con-
ceive, and the only possible argument in favor
of its retention is the temporary inconven-
ience to be incurred in changing. a
The system which it is proposed to intro
duce is a modified form of that in use in
France. The unit of French lineal measure
is the metre, equal to 39,37 inches, or little
more than our English and American yard.
But instead of our irregular combinations and
divisions of rods, feet, inches, ETC., they have
the kilometre, which is one thousand metres,
the decimetre which is one tenth, ard the
centi'netre one hundredth Of a metre; and so
on, the divisions, subdivisions and combina-
tions being all arranged on system purely
decimal. Just so with the Htre which is the
measure of liquids, and the gramn,e which is
the unit of weight; the decimal system runs
through the whole; and its superiority in
point Of convenience over our awkward di-
vision of gallons, quarts and pints, pounds,
ounces and drams, is apparent on the most
cursory examination. =, s.r- b ii o.5rf ar,
The practical difficulties in the way of any
change in system so long established would,
in our case, be greatly diminished by the fact
that we already employ the decimal ratio in
our currency. Our money being counted by
tens, the reckoning and measuring of any
thing which is bought for money would be
immensely facilitated by the adoption of the
same ratio. Indeed, there are many indica-
tiOns that the natural common sense of our
people is leading them in the direction Of the
proposed REFORM For instance, some manu-
facturers of small articles hitherto reckoned
by the dozen and gross, now put up those ar
ticles in packages of tens and hundreds. The
improvement is too obvious for comment. yaa
We hope those who have taken this matter
in hand will keep it before Congress until
some reform is at least iniatiated. And we
wish that some one who has the interest
and good of the public at heart, would induce
our people to change another of their customs
which has nothing to recommend 1t but its
long continuance. We mean the custom OF
selling vegetables, fruit, eggs and SO forth by
count or measure instead of by weight as
they should be. Did the reader ever under
take to buy peck of fine peaches or early ap-
pies, when those fruits were rare and dear, and
watch the dealer as he piled them skilfully in
to the measure in such manner as to make
it really heaping full, when If it had been
slightly shaken it would have held a fourth
mores Or, after purchasing dozen of eggs
did he never ON taking them home have the
housekeeper complain that they were SO small
as not to be equal to more than half what the
cookbook required? There is nothing to be
said in either case. He his got his full mea-
sure, his full count; but somehow he feels that
he has been swindled. 1t is system of mea-
surement equalled only by that which Die
dric Knickerbocker informs us was formerly
in use among the Dutch traders on the Hud-
son, who bought furs of the Indians. They
threw the bundle of fnrs into one scale and
the purchaser put his hand or his foot into
the other scale and weighed. A Dutchman's
foot weighed two pounds, his hand one pound.
And it was observed that no bundle of furs
was ever known, under this simple and beau
tiful system, to weigh over two pounds! In
point of accuracy our present custom is very
much on a par with this. All articles of the
kind referred to should be sold by weight, then
the purchaser would get the quantity he paid
for, and no one be wronged or injured. Why
cannot some Of our dealers start reform in
this direction? Our word for it, it would not
take long to secure the general adoption of SO
manifest an improvement. ell l9i7 lld i.