The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-07-29
For sale by c: f. JOHNSTON, Main street.
7 ltWf q. n " tItI '. q y
TIE Metric system.

I Il
consider the following questions: ls the ~.
| PRODUCTION OF this system desirable ]! is u
practicab1ep Is it probables Iss w. ts.l:.t
R,,t before entering upon them, as some
Of your readers may not be familiar Win II,
II will be we'll consider first OF all, :" W nag
lis the metric system
| The base OF the system is the mere,
which was formed by making careful
| celebration OF the distance from the equator
| to the pole and taking the ten.mllllontn
mart of It as the metre, which is the unit OF
length.T The multipIes ana SUD DIVISIONS
are based on the scale OF ten, ike our Feae-
raj money. Greek numerals denote muiti-
pIes: and Latin numerals denote suo-dlY1l-,
sjol,s. hoTbus Dcka-metre, Hectoi metre, and q
Kilfo:rnetre mean respectfully ten, one nun
dred, and one Thousand metres; deel.metre,
centi-metre, and nilli-metre- mean one
tenth, one ,hundredth, and one tbousandth
| OF metre. The square and cubic measures
Eare simply the square and cube oftbe linear
measures, and are called by the same names,
"a square metre, cubic deci-metre. But lC'
Ehas been found convenient to give special
name to the square deka-metre, as thai is
1.-The unit OF land measurement. and call IL an
are. The cubic metfe, which is very
lcommon unit, is called the stere.
4 For measurement OF capacity.the unit IS
1.-The {itre, which is equivalent in, capacity TO
In vessel which is one decimetIe cube. e.,
measuring on the inside one decimetre IN,
leach direction. It's multiples and sub-dlyl-
Isions are denoted in the same way as those
LOT the metre. .,ts,s... ge 34
The unit OF weight is the kilogramme,
which was formed by weighing one lltre or
Idistilled water at the temperature OF great
est density. 2 As,tthere are ten centlmetres
-. fa,, rot
lmetre, it will readily be seen that there are
one thousand cubic centimetres ina cubic
jdecimetre, and one thousand cubic decline
tires in one cubic metre. AS gramme Is
the thousandth part OF kiiogramme, it IS
!; at. once seen attats one cubic centmeFe or
, water weighs one gramme, and that one
cubic metre weighs one thousand kllo-
grammes, which, for convenience, IS called
metric ton. This, then, is the metric sys-
Item. We can now consider whether 1t IS
desirable or not. / will only attempt to
mention a few of its advantages, as the
/ limited space requires that this article be
suggestive rather than exhaustive. u, T.
i az It is a decimal system. All Ameri-
cans know how much easier it is to make
| calculations in our money than in the Eng.
lish. because. ours is decimal system and
theirs is not. But il any one doubts let him
| notice this one example: II you have
4S567.3 1853 metres to express 1t In kiln-
| metres, all YOU have to do is to move the
decimal point three places tothe left, which
is the same as dividing by 1000, and the re-
| duction is accomplished. Now let the
doubling reader express 26789 1875 yards
1 in miles, and he will see the difference, even
1 il he does not have to hunt up an old arlth-
metic to refresh his memory with regard to
| the table. This advantage alone saves
year in the scbool.life Of a child, at the very
lowest estimate, besides the untold saving
| to men in every walk Of life. ~
(2.) It is an international system. The
| International character OF the nineteenth
century is zone Of its most striking
characteristics. At no time before was
| the human race so essentially one.
Steam and electricity have bound all
nations together in a way heretofore IN
known. In the bsSbarous ages OF antiquity
each city might have its own weights and
measures, for they traded only with them
selves. But to nations trading with the
whole world uniform system is absolutely
necessary. AS the most enlightened nations
of the world have already adopted 1t, or
taken steps thereto, it is evident that ne
| other system can become universal. i5ia"
(3.) Itsibase is unalterable. Besides being
fixed ON a fchangeless dimension 'of the
| EARTH; the metre has been SO multiplied and
so carefully guarded that it can never be
altered or destroyed. ;.Gsytf.,) ..Et.,t HIT
II "a Its nomenclature is expressive OF
value, and that, too, in words that are taken
| from dead lang Aages. so that they suit all.
modern nations equally well. a..a 3 -, - 4.
(5.a. All the parts of the system are; dove
tailed together. Length, area, volume, ca
pacity,: and weight are mutually related on
scientific principles. ii Us ..ariyIs ul,it 1 So
Knight mention advantages qd libitum.
I might speak OF the great advantage in the
length OF the unit "a little over three feet).
Our mechanics have found the foot so in
convenient that they always use the two
foot rule, though iucurring the trouble OF
measuring with one unit and counting in an
other. might enlarge on the inconveni-
| ence Of the numbers by which the parts OF
-FOUR system are related, such as 2100.42 cubic
inches to the bushel. But we must pass on,
only stopping to remark that surveyors have
found tile decimal division such an adyan-
tage that they have long used it, in spite OF
| the disadvantage entailed by hybrid sYs'
Item. s<5..,,;- ( rs !, .2...t....., 3. ".
Is it practicable? II it was practicable to
introduce our, system OF money; II II, was
Ipractic able to introduce the metric svssem ~
| in Holland, ~ France, and Germany ~
was practicable to introduce Arabic nunie-
rails, then is it practiclb to fntroduce LUG
metric system here, we who have grown
nnsingi Arabic notation are not likely TO
Remember that Our English ancestors were
fonr- hundred years behind the continent IN:
Eadontine ii. Ihey said 80 g IL would be
.r;diculons to introduce. these curious o0k-;
Eine Arabic characters into our beautiful:
tianauega..s anu ottr people could never un-
Ederstand them. Such characters may do.