Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1892-01-28
rrs METRIC SYSTEM.
Reasons Why IL Should Nes Bs Intro
duecd Into tho United States.

Reasons Why IL Should Nes Bs Intro
dueed Into tho United states.
The system Of measures having the
meter for its basis has been much be-
praised as theoretically and practically
well nigh perfect. But Mr.. Z. Noel, Of
England, challenges 1t, and also the use
of ten Us basis of notation. To begin
with, the meter Is an inconvenient unit.
II is too long to pace and too long for
architectural measurements. The foot
is a much more convenient unit.
The value Of the metric system IL
supposed, however. to lie In its decimal
ity, or use Of ten, and the consequent
ease Of calculation, and not in the par
tcular length Of the meter. But Mr..
Noel gives reasons for considering the
decimal the worst possible system Of no
tation. The reason for its use, he thinks,
is our having ten fingers, not its conven-
fence. Ten is unhandy for divisions.
The half Of 1t is five-an odd number
and its fourth is not q whole number.
In business and ordinary transactions
we want to halve and to quarter things;
also to divide into thirds. We rarely
wish to divide anything first Of all into
tenths. The series half. quarter. eighth
and sixteenth comes more naturally and
usefully to the mind than tenth. hun
dredth and thousandth. A system based
on twelve would DO better.
Then we sho'lld have halves, quarters,
thirds and sixths. In multiplying we
get along too fast il we have ten TO start
with. Ten times ten is big jump. In
measures of area and capacity we find
this inconvenient. We cannot apply tho
decimal system conveniently TO many
things in practice. We do not want ten
or n hundred, but twenty-four hours 1.
a day. a circle is better with it's 800
degs.. with 80 in each quadrant. The
pound Of sixteen ounces is vastly more
convenient than the kilogram an
pounds. which is 900 grams. Nobody
wants 20 little as u thousandth or even
the hundredth part Of kilogram OF
sugar We find ourselves instinctively
halving and quartering the kilogran
when we use il. The terms hectogram
and dekagram are not used in practice.
The binary system, which prevails In
India. admits of continual halving; eight,
sixteen or sixty-four being taken as the
basis.
The Romans used duodecimals, our
words ounce and inch being derived
from tho Latin for one-twelfth Of the a..
"There are, says Mr.. Noel, three main
systems of the subdivision--the decimal,
duodecimal and the binary-and Of these
the decimal is the worst" A proof Of
the Inconvenience Of the French system
is that the French do not themselves use
it fully. They do not uso tho decaAre,
or the milliare, while the square metx
they call the centiare-the Tooth part Of
q square of ten times itself. The hec-
tare is used, but not the kiloare or
myriare. The liter, the unit Of capacity,
is too small, being the cube Of the deci-
meter. The milliliter is, of course, too
small for use, while the kiloliter Is too
large, being over four hogsheads. Tho
hectoliter is merely name for 100 liters,
not cubic measure.
The dekaliter, deciliter and centiliter
are mere names, and are not In use.
Practically the liter is the only real
cubic measure in use. The unit of
weight is the gram, which is ridiculous
ly too small, being about one twenty
eighth of an ounce. Hence the use Of Q
thousand Of it, the "kilo," for a practi-
Cal unit. which is too large. Myria-
gram Is not used. Beyond that tie
Greek prefixes fail, and 0.oO0 grams is
called quintal. Summing up objec-
tions 20 tho metric system we find that,
being aystem of pure decimals, its sub
divisions are too small; that 1t affords
only one real measure in each series and
many Of its measures are nominal: that
its Standards are of inconvenient size;
that IT'S measures Of capacity are bad
and unnatural; and, finally, that the
scientific connection between its meas-
ures of capacity and weight is unsatis-
factory. ry.--Baltimore Snn.