"This bill passed the House of Commons on the 29th of June, the House of Lords on the 21st of July, and became a law. The vote of the House of Commons approving a compulsory measure, and the subsequent enactment of a permissive law, must be regarded as evincing a deliberate intention to introduce the Metric System into England, and as giving up any purpose of creating a separate system founded upon the yard, the foot, or the inch; and as paving the way for the ultimate exclusive adoption of the metric scheme.

"The general consent of so many nations, highly enlightened, and deeply interested in the promotion of trade, and in popular progress, affords in itself an argument almost conclusive for, first, uniformity; second, decimalization; and, third, the metric plan."

The following Bills and Resolution accompanied the report, and were passed.

A BILL TO AUTHORIZE THE USE OF THE METRIC SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act, it shall be lawful throughout the United States of America to employ the weights and measures of the Metric System; and no contract, or dealing, or pleading in any court, shall be deemed invalid or liable to objection, because the weights or measures expressed or referred to therein are weights or measures of the Metric System.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the tables in the schedule hereto annexed shall be recognized in the construction of contracts, and in all legal proceedings, as establishing, in terms of the weights and measures now in use in the United States, the equivalents of the weights and measures expressed therein in terms of the Metric System; and

said tables may be lawfully used for computing, determining, and expressing in customary weights and measures the weights and measures of the Metric System.

A BILL TO AUTHORIZE THE USE IN POST-OFFICES OF WEIGHTS OF THE DENOMINATION OF GRAMS.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Postmaster-General be, and he is hereby authorized and directed to furnish to the post-offices exchanging mails with. foreign countries, and to such other offices as he shall think expedient, postal balances denominated in grams of the Metric System; and until otherwise provided by law, one-half ounce avoirdupois shall be deemed and taken for postal purposes as the equivalent of fifteen grams of the metric weights, and so adopted in progression; and the rates of postage shall be applied accordingly.

JOINT RESOLUTION TO ENABLE THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY ΤΟ FURNISH TO EACH STATE ONE SET OF THE STANDARD WEIGHTS AND MEASURES OF THE METRIC SYSTEM.

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby authorized and directed to furnish to each State, to be delivered to the governor thereof, one set of the standard weights and measures of the Metric System, for the use of the States respectively.

The Academy of Sciences, at its last annual meeting in the city of Washington, earnestly recommended the introduction of the Metric System into the systems of

Public Instruction; and in this recommendation many professors, and other men of science, have concurred.

These considerations, strengthened by the conviction that the system is nearer perfect than any other which can be reached, and that its adoption would greatly simplify and abridge all the applications of Numbers to the various operations of commerce and business, have induced me to give it the form adapted to practical instruction, and to incorporate it permanently into my course of Mathematics. I have accordingly made the Metric System a part of my University and Practical Arithmetics.

CHARLES DAVIES.

FISHKILL-ON-HUDSON, January, 1867.

METRIC SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND

MEASURES.

The primary base, in this system, for all denominations of weights and measures, is the one-ten-millionth part of the distance from the equator to the pole, measured on the earth's surface. It is called a METER, and is equal to 39.37 inches, very nearly.

The change from the base, in all the denominations, is according to the decimal scale of tens: that is, the units increase ten times, at each step, in the ascending scale, and decrease ten times, at each step, in the descending scale.

The names, in the ascending scale, are formed by prefixing to the base, Meter, the words, Deca (ten), Hecto (one hundred), Kilo (one thousand), Myria (ten thousand), from the Greek numerals; and in the descending scale, by prefixing Deci (tenth), Centi (hundredth), Milli (thousandth), from the Latin numerals.

Myriameter,

Hence, the name of a unit indicates whether it is greater or less than the standard; and, also, how many times. The table in thus read:

1 Kilometer 4 fur. 38 rd. 13 ft. 10 in.

1 Myriameter 6 mi. 1 fur. 28 rd. 6 ft. 4 in.

Besides a clear apprehension of the length of the base, 1 meter, it is well to consider the length of the largest unit, the