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

length of the chancelor's foot, he expos
ed not only the uncertainty of equity
but also the uncertainty Of such meas
ure.
Even in Greece, where art prevailed
in the most beautiful forms, the famous
stadium was none the less uncertain
1t was the distance that Hercules could
run without taking breath. which, dlvi-
ded b. 600, gave the Grecian foot.
Our own standards, derived from Eng
land, are of an equally fpnciful charac,
ter. The unit of lepgth is the barley,
corn, taken from the middle Of the ear
and we'll dried. Three of these in Q
straight line make an inch. The unit
of teeight is a grain Of wheat taken, like
the barleycoln, fnorn the middle of the
ear and we'll Cried. OF these, thrty-two
are equal to a heavyweight. Twenty
pc nnywcights make an ounce, and twelve
ounces make pound. The unit Of ca
pacitg is derived from tho weig of grains
of wheat. Eight pounds of these make
ono gallon Of wine measure.
Nor is the extreme vagueness and in
stability of these standards the only MAJ
ter of surprise There is no principle Of
science or convenience in the progression
of the different series. Thus we have
two pints to a quart, three scruplcs to a
dram four quarts to a gallon, five quar>
ters to an ell, five and a half yards to a
perch, six feet to fathow, eight fur
longs to a mile, twelve inches to foot,
sixteen ounces to a pound, twenty units
to a score.
Then, as if the only ruling principle
which governed the selection was discord
we have different measures bearing the
same name. such as the wine pint and
the dry pint the ounces Troy and the
ounces avoirdupois. Take these last two
measures as illustrating the prevailing
confusion. They both seem to come from
France. The Troy weight is supposed
to derive its name from the French town
of Trcyes, where a celebrated fair was
once held The term Gror2,pois is
French, and seems to have been part OF
A statute which declared how weights
should be determined But Troy and
avoirdupois arc different measures.
Those measures, having constant diff
crences, had accidental differences also,
in different parts Of England, and also in
different parts of our own country
Even where the names are alike the meas,
ures are often unlike. In England the
diversity was almost infinite, so that these
same measures differed in different couR-
ties. and sometimes in different towns OF
the county. Latterly in the United
States the standard has been regulated
bv law, but the confusion from the meas
ures still continues The question natu.
rally arises why such confusion has been
/ allowed to continue so long without cor,
rection. The answer is easy. Except in
rare instances the trilmphs of science
are slow and gradual. Traditional preJ
udiccs must be overcome Each nation
is attached to its own imperfect system,
as to its own language Even though
inferior to another system, it has the
great advantage of being already known
to the people that use it. To this con
slant impediment it is only proper to add
the intrinsic difficulty of establishing q
uniform system ef weights and measures
which shall satisfy the demands Of civ
ilzatien in scientific precision, in imme
diatc practical applicability, aud in nom
enclature.
Take, for instance, the application O
the decimal system, which seems at first
sight simple and complete. 1t is unquea
tionably an immense improvement on thu
cid confusion but even we encounter {
difficulty in the circumstance, long since
recognized by mathematicians, that oul
scale of decimal arithmetic is more the
child of chance than of philosophy.
know not if any better reason can be Civ
en- for its adoption than because man hai
everywhere reckoned by his ten fingers
On this account it has been often calleC
natural" But on considering whethe
the number ten possesses any 4utr ms
excellence, convenience, or fitness as I
ratio of progression, good authorities hav'
answered IN the negative. 1t is the du
plication of an odd number which car
furnish, neither square or cube, anc
which cannot be halved without depart
ing from the decimal scale. In this scal
we seem to see always those early day
"wild in woods the noble savage ran,
and 70 his arithmetic used his fingers o.
his toes. An octardt System, founded OIL
| IL .-o,,I1 bo,o boo. l..