American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1866-11-28

we must confess its simplicity aud sym
metry. Like every creation of science,
it is decording to rule. Master the rule
and-you master the system. On this ac.
count It may be acquired by the young
with comparative facility, and when once
acquired it may be used with dispatch;
Thus it becomes labor,saving and time
saving | cannot hesitate to mention its
merits the nomenclature which It has
adopted. A superficial criticism has obs
Jected TO the Greek and Latin prefxes
but this forgets that system intended
for universal adoption must discard all
local or national terms. The prefixes EN-.
ployed are equally ineligible in all coun-
tries. They are no more French than
English or German. They are in their
nature common or cosmopolitan. And in
all countries they are equally suggestive
in disclosing the denomination of the
measure. They combine the'peculiar ad =.
vantages ofa universal name and defni
tion. The name instantly suggests the
measure with exquisite precision. IF
these WORDS seem to be scholastic or pe>
dantic you must bear this for the sake of
their universality and defining power
Unquestionably it is difficult for gen.
Grafton to subsi itute new system for
that which it learned in childhood Even
in France the metric system was tardily
adopted Napoleon himself, ON one oc>
casion, said impatiently to an engineer
who answered his inquiry in meters
What are meters Tell me in totises. !"
1t was only in 1910 that the system was
definitely required in the transaction of
business. Since then it has boer the le>
gal system of France, Cloth lis sold by
the meter Roads are measured by the
kiometer. Meat is sold by the kilo-
gram, or as tits familiarly abridged, by
so many hiios.
1t is generally admitted that the names
are too long, although nobody has been
able to suggest substitutes, unless we re-
gard the various abridgments in than
light. But no abri1gment should be al
lowed to sacrifice that cosmopolitan char
acter which lelongs to the system. Thus
in England a nomenclature has been pro>
posed which would secure short names
would be different in each language, and
would be entirely different from the
French names. This is a mistake. The
names in all languages should be identi>
cal, or so nearly alike as to be recognized
at once. This may be accomplished by
an abbreviated nomenclature.
For instance, we may say met, ar, It,
and gram; and, in describing the demons
ination, We may say in the ascending
scale, dec, hec, xii and in the descending
scale dec, cen, and mil, Indicating res
pectively 10, 100, 1000, and lilo, 100,
and 1-1000. Compounding these words
we should have, for example, kiloet, Kill
III, hIgam, and cenmet, cenli, cengram.
These abb!eyiations might be substan.
TALLY the same in all languages. They
would preserve the characteristics of the
unabridged terms, so that the simple
mention of the measure, even. in this
abridged for IL, would disclose the pro-
portion which it bears to its fellow meas
uros. Previous measures have been rep
resented by monosyllables as grain,
dram, gross, ounce, pound. stone, tom
Where word is often repeated in the
hurry ofbusiness it is instinctively abridg-
ed. We shall not err if we profit by
this experience, and seek to reduce the
new nomenclature to its smallest proper
tions.
Twelve words are all that arc required
by this system. In learning these you
learn all. There are the five words des.
icnating the different units of length,
surface, solid capacity, liquid capacity,
and weight. Then there are the seven
prefxes, being four in the ascending
scale, expressing multiples or augmenta,
tions of the meter or other units, derived
from the Greek; and also three in the
descending scale, expressing subdivisions
or diminutions of the meter and other
units, derived from the Latin. These
twelve words contain the whole system
In closing this chapter of the unques
tionable advantages Of the metric sys-
ten, | must not forget that it is already
the received system IN the majority ol
countries. Thus it appeared at the Sta
,istical Cpngress assembled at Berlin
in 1868, that it was adopted partly OIL
entirely in Austria, Baden, Bavaria, Bel
gium, France, Hamburg, Hesse, Han
over, Meckleoburg, the Netherlands,
Parma, Portugal, SaxoDy, Spain, sardin-
in Switzerland Tuscany the Two Sic