Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-01-28
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THE METRIC SYSTEM.

duceJ Into the United states.
The SYSTEM Of measures having the
meter for its basis has been much be-
praised ~ theoretically and practically
well nigh perfect. But Mr.. e. Noel, Of
England. challenges it, and also the use
Of ten as basis Of notation. To begin
with. the meter Is an inconvenient unit
It 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 is
supposed, however. TO lie in it's decimal
ity. or use Of ten, and the consequent
ease Of calculation, and not In the par
ticular 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 ton fingers, not ite conven-
ience. Ten is unhandy for divisions.
The half of IL is five-an odd number
and It's fourth is not whole number.
In business and ordinary transactions
we want 10 halve and to quarter thingsi
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 aud
usefully to the mind than tenth, hun
dredth and thousandth. A system based
on twelve would be better.
Then we shonld have halves, quarters.
thirds and sixths. In multiplying we
get along too fast If 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 the
decimal system conveniently to many
things in practice. We do not want ten
OF hundred, but twenty-four hours in
day. A circle is better with its 800
degs., with 30 in each quadrant The
pound Of sixteen ounces is vastly more
convenient than the hlogram (2.2)
pounds. which is 1000 grams. Nobody
wants so little as thorsandth OF even
the hundredth part OF a kilogram of
sugar. We find ourselves instinctively
halving and quartering the kilograIn
when we use 1t. The terms hectogram
and delrcgram are not used in practice
The binary system, which prevails in
India, admits of continual halying: eight,
sixteen or sixty-four being taken as the
basis.
The Romans used duodecimals, our
words ounce and inch being derived
from the Latin for one-twelfth of the as.
There are," says Mr.. Noel, "three main
systems of the subdiyision--the decimal,
duodecimal and the binary--and of these
the decimal is the worst A proof of
the Inconvenience of the French system
IL that the French do not themselves use
1t fully. They do not use the decaare,
or tho milliare, while the square meter
they call the centiare--the Tooth part Of
a square OF ten times itself. The hec-
tare is used, but not the kiloare OF
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. The
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
thousand of 1t, the "dlo,' for u practi-
cal unit, which is too large. Myria-
gram is not used. Beyond that the
Greek prefixes fail, and 100000 grams is
called quintal. Summing up objec-
tions to the metric system we ind that,
being system Of pure deciInals, its.sub-
divisions are too small; that IL affords
only one real measure in each series and
many Of it's measures are nominal; that
It's 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-
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