Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1878-11-21
For the Herald.
The Metric System.
.Audf alterqra portem.

audi dlterana pGrteia.
NV attention has been drawn to an ar
ticle, by Prof. Allen. in the HERALD of
| the 10th inst, on the ''Metric System" of
weights and measures. With your per-
mission, / will make some observations
on the merits of this much vauRted sys-
| tenn. 1 am well aware to what 1 expose
myself in offering objections to a system
SO ardentl advocated by many prominent
educators yet, venture TO express some
thoughts that have long meditated; and
| | am nluch,mistaken, ifthere are not many
others, besides myself, who have said lit
tie aud thought more, in opposition to the
Introduction and practical application of
this French speculation. AT least, l have
read that so-eminent mathematician as
Charles Davies, L. l.. D., for many years
professor of mathematics in West Point
/ Military Institute, was earnestly opposed
to its introduction into our country. and
even wrote a book (Which, unfortunate
ly, have not SEEM, advocating his opin-
ions.
But what are my objections to this sys-
TEN? l answer: l. It is unnecessary
since nothing can be done with it, that
cannot be done equally we'll without it.
?. 1t is partial, not general; it concerns
measures of length, area, sOlidity, capac-
ity and weight, but leaves out of cOnsid-
Grafton the calculation of time, the divis-
ion of the year, the division of the cir
cumference of circle, and all angular
measure. 3. 1t is inconsistent with itself;
in several of its tables different units and
names are introduced; whereas, its great
claim for favorable consideration and
universal use, is its pretended simplicity,
generality. uniformity and symmetrical
ness. 4. 1t is incOnvenient in the highest
degree. This is the fatal indictment. This
Inconvenience results, in great degree,
from the very property which is claimed
to be its peculiar recommendation, viz t:
The reduction of each measure or weight
to single unit and its decimal multiples
and divisors.' The fundamental unit is
the meter, which is said to be about one
ten-millionth part of the quadrant of a
meridianal circle passing through the
city of Paris. AS thequadrant has never
yet been measured, and probably never
part of it may be justly considered a
somewhat uncertain quantity. OF course,
a certain distance was actually measured,
and thus by astronomy and trigonome-
try, the length of the quadrant was cal
culated. But, submit whether this gives
a more exact and unvarying standard of
measure than that determined by the
length of pendulum beating seconds at
particular place.
Take some examples of the? inconven-
: ience of this system so perfect and beau
tiful on paper. According to Ray, the
meter is equal to 1881 inches u. S., and
consequently mile equals 1908. 30634 me-
? ters, and a myriameter 10000 meters)
equals 6.2136 miles. Suppose the distance
from Jeffersonville to Washington G. H.
is II miles, or, when reduced to meters,
I77O2. .36974. Now which is the easier
number to conceive and remember-l1
miles or 1902. .36974 meters?
But some one may reply, that the dis
tance should be reduced to higher denom-
nations. Very we'll; then we shall have
J., instead of IL miles, myriameter, kilo-
meters, hectometers, and meters plus
3 decimeters, centimeters, 8 millimeters
and "A hundredths (pardon the English,
of millimeter. And all this verbiage
It arises in expressing eleven miles. But
n if hundreds and thousands of miles are
q expressed in meters the mind is as inca,
. pable of conceiving and appreciating the
distance as it is that of the earth from the
sun. or the distance to the fixed stars. ThC
fault is in the unit of measure; it is too
small for expressing great distances, ant
too large for the smaller distances. Ii
the table of areas, i'll order to avoid thi
difficulty of too small unit, in measur
ing land square decameter is taken TO
the unit instead of the square METER
:. But even this is much too small for meas
uring farms in this country. Reduce
farm of 897 acres to square decameter
q (called acres), and we have 3629S.6 acres
or, if reduced to higher denominations,
will be 1862 hectares, decares, ares AM
declares. Is this an improvement on on
) unit of measure and nomenclature?
: In cubic measure, we have for the uni
a cubic meter; and the table is symmet
: rical. But, when we come to the cognat
table of capacity, or contents, we hav
another unit, viz: the cubic decimeter
called the liter, and equal to 1.O567 qt. Q
S. wine measure. Butts it not highly in
convenient to take one quart as the uni
of measure for such quantities as barrels
hogsheads, cisterns? etc. Suppose els
- tern holds % hhds., how many liters doe
it hold? Ans. 643S. 81 liters, or, in highe
denominations, 6 kiloliters, hectoliters
decaliters, 8 liters, 9 deciliters and
centililer. I submit that, though hogs
head is not a very elegant name; yet,
hhds. is far more shortly expressed, an
more readily conceived, than the numel
Gus polysyIlabic denominations give
: above, or the numerous units of the Low
3 est denomination.
And now I come to the table of weight
which includes in itself examples of Sc,
eral defects. It's unit of measure is tt
large for convenience in weighing tt
smallest weights, and it is far too sma
for expressing the largest weights. Il
r deed, so sensible of this defect were tt
l. inventors of the weight, that they ha,
violated their plan of simplicity and ur
formity of units in the same table, al
have introduced two new units witho
apparent and nominal connection wi
the unit at first declared to be universe
mean the Quint0l and tonnean, whic
~1 apparently, have no relation to the grd
IN The gram equals 15.432 grains, and it
declared to be the unit of weight for g
substances Suppose we have load
hay weighing 2576 pounds avoirdupo
and reduce this to grains, the numl
will be I16s4s1.OS grams, or 116s XII