The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1880-04-02
For the Register.
THE METRICsYsEM.
why don't we use it? IAN explanatio

our country retains and which it mus
outgrow is our system, or rather lack
of system, of weights and measures,
IL is difficult to learn and to remember
throughout, so much SO that it is doubt
full if any business man outside of the
teachers profession can repeat correct.
ly all the tables of weights and meas
urcs which they were obliged to learn
at school. We have three difficult aud
inconsistent tables of weights for differ
ent purposes, hardly two of whose de-
nominations are alike in value; two
systems of linear measure; two OF
liquid measure, and so on. There is
no uniformity, no system whatever in
the succession of the number of units OF
any denomination required to make the
unit of the next higher denomination
in single one of these tables. To
learn them takes years of the pupils
time at school, which time is for the
most part wasted, because with few OK
ceptions they arc learned only to be
forgotten rs soon as he leaves the
school for the work of life. Ten years
out of school, and how many men and
women are there who can go through
the barbarous gargou of grains, penny
weights, scruplcs, drains, hundred
weights, short tons and long tons, OF
rods, chains, furlongs, miles, with
their accompaniment of fathoms, cubits,
leagues, of barley coins, nails, and ellis
English, Flemish, Irish, Choctaw an
what not; of square rods, roods, acres
and SO uare miles; of milk measure and
wine measure, and dry measure, with
their ridiculous variations in the value
of the gallon and the barrel and the
hogshcad; and of the never ending,
ncver-to-be learned variations in the
weight of the bushcl of all grains, roots
aud fruits IN the different states, and so
on 10 the end of the chapter. And be.
sides the tables, there are the long and
puzzing operations in the rules of Gre
duction Ascending" and Reduction
Descending, with the accompanying
cheerful examples" of which this is a
fair specimen: ia tons, 1G hundred
weights, quarters, II pounds, II oun
ces, 9 drains, aud grains avoirdupois
of lead}are worth 10 pounds, 6 shillings.
3 pence and farthings, what are 246
pounds, 9 ounces II pcnnywcights, %
grains Troy weight wor h? Compare
the time and toll spent over all these
tables and these operations with that
required on the easy and natural
"Unitcd States money" which requires
no time and no effort on the part of any
pupil to learn and understand.
Ii is easy to comprehend why We
have this barbarous system of weights
and measures, if VIC remember that it
has descended with us from barbarous
and ignorant ancestors; but why in the
progress of enlightenment we should
retain such system when one so sim
pie, so natural, so easy to learn and so
impossible to forget stands ready to
take its place in one Of the mysteries OF
conservatism which reason and common
sense cannot explain nor justify.
The metric system of weights and
measures has been adopted by twenty
eight different nations. In eleven coun-
tries il is in exclusive use, and in sever
al there arc penalties for using any 9TH
er measures. 1t is the system used by
far the greater part of the civilized
world. Tho vast convenience to com-
merce of an international system has
caused it to make its way more or less
rapidly, and before many years are
past it will be the only system nsed in
commerce.. Its use was legalized in
this country by Congress in 1866, and
though its progress is slow on account
of the conservatism and prejudice OF
our people which keeps them in wilinl
ignorance of many things which would
be good for them TO know, it is yet
making headway, and will do so much
faster rs its merits becomcknown.
Tho system is simplicity itself. Its
scale is the decimal only, like our scale
of numcration, and of United States
money. There is only one table OF
measures for length, one tor weight
one for square mea sure, one for cubic
measure, one for liquid and solid meas
ute. Only three words are used to ex'
press all these measures. Only sever
words are used to express the denOmi
| lttlOuS vi chCti vi tnCSC
The measure of length.i is the meter
aud its denominations.
Tine measure of capacity is the litel
and its denominations.
The measure of weight is the gran
and its denominations.
The denominations of these measures
proceed by tho decimal system. TIL,
words used TO express these denomina
tions are tho Latin and Greek numcral
which mean ten, enc hundred and on
thousand. These words are used a
preffxes to the above named words, an,
their forms and Specifications or as fol
lows:
| Latin. Greek.
cent ss, "'.'"n :" hau'ire,lth. %c iieiao hundred
Mill " thousandth. kilo thousand.
II larger denomination than on
thousand is wanted the word Myris
meaning ten thousand, is employed.
These are all the words necessary /
learn for ordinary measuring.
i 1t will bc observed that the Lati
words, deci, cent? and milf are use
exclusively to denote fractional parts
while the Greek words deka, hekt
and kilo are used to denote multiples
The tables of the metric system fol
low naturally from the above expls
nations. For measuring length the 10
bic is as follows beginning with tn
Millimeter which is the thousandth par
of meter:
10 rillimeters make l centimeter.
10 centimeters I" decimeter.
II 10 decimeters meter.
d 10 meters dekameter.
10 dekameters +" hektometer.
10 hektometers " kilometer.
r 10 kilometers " ! myriametcr.
In like manner the table of measure
of capacity, beginning with the millili
ter, or thousandth part OF liter:
10 milliliters make centiliter.
| 10 ceniililers " ,leciliters.
10 deciliters liter.
10 liters ' dekaliter.
10 dekaliters A" hektoliter.
10 hektoliters kifoliter.