There are at least three tons; the 2,000 pound short ton; 2,240 pound long ton, and the 2,260 gross ore ton; and besides these the miner's ton, which varies from 2,500 to 3,000 pounds. It is needless to say that the above ambiguities result in much fraud and deception and loss through misunderstandings and intentional misrepresentations. THE OLD SYSTEM HAS TOO MANY FRACTIONAL RELATIONS. In translating troy to avoirdupois pounds we find the ratio 144/175, and the troy ounce equals 188/175 avoirdupois ounces. The avoirdupois ounce contains 4371⁄2 grains. A square acre has a side of 69.67 feet. The link, 7.92", was devised to measure the acre more conveniently, and yet the side of a square acre is 316.22 links. THE ENGLISH SYSTEM IS ENTIRELY DIFFERENT FROM OUR OWN. One of the most common mistakes is to suppose that the English system of weights and measures is our own. This is not true in a single instance. The legal ratio between the yard and the international meter has been fixed by act of Parliament and independently by Congress. These two legal values differ, and as the same international meter is used for both comparisons, it makes the legal value of the United States yard differ by at least 21⁄2 microns, this difference being 250 times the present limit of length measure. Likewise the United States legal avoirdupois pound differs from the English pound by 5 milligrams, a quantity 5,000 times greater than the present limit of accurate weight. The Imperial English bushel of Great Britain is 68 cubic inches larger than ours, and their gallon is 19 per cent larger than the United States gallon. These inequalities in the various kinds of units extend to all their subdivisions and multiples, and while these differences in the case of the pound and the yard are not important in common transactions, they are such that they must be recognized in all work of precision. But in the case of the gallon and bushel the differences are confusing and a great obstacle to trade. UNSATISFACTORY STANDARDS OF THE OLD SYSTEM. The United States has no satisfactory standards of the old system. The brass standard yard, obtained by this country from England, is not capable of furnishing precise measurement, inasmuch as the lines indicating the subdivisions are so broad and poorly made that the most accurate measurement is impossible. As a matter of fact, for many years the only yard recognized in this country by the Government has been derived from a copy of the International Meter, and a more accurate yard has been thus obtained than could be obtained from the old yard standard itself. THE METRIC SYSTEM. In view of the great diversity of systems of weights and measures in use throughout the world, the Constituent Assembly of France invited the governments of the world to join in establishing an international system of weights and measures. Ten nations joined in passing upon the details of the metric system, so that the metric system had a distinctly international character from its start, and it can be justly said that the metric system is the only system which has been adopted by any two countries. The aim was to secure the utmost simplicity, combined with precision of terminology and perfection of standards, and to provide for the international custody of such standards. THE SIMPLEST OF ALL SYSTEMS. In The twelve systems of weights and measures in this country are replaced in metric countries by one simple system. Sixty-four terms now in use are replaced by three simple names-the meter, gram, literwith the seven numerical prefixes, which constitute the entire essential vocabulary of the metric system. place of the more than 60 ratios, many of which are fractional, and about 20 of which are indivisible by two, the metric system contains but one ratio, viz., the decimal ratio of ten. In place of the nineteen ambiguous terms in common use in this country, we find that there is never a question as to the value of the meter, gram and liter, that is, these terms can never mean but one thing, as they always refer to the single ultimate standards preserved in the International Bureau of Weights and Measures at Paris. THE SIMPLICITY OF THE METRIC SYSTEM. The entire metric system could be stated in one sentence: State lengths in meters, weights in grams, volumes in liters, using decimal fractions only. If desired, use prefixes deci for tenths, centi for hundredths, milli for thousandths, deka for tens, hecto for hundreds, kilo for thousands, and myria for tenthousands. The above sentence takes the place of compound or denominate numbers in our arithmetic. It has been testified in this country by representatives of the United States Department of Education, and in England by similar representatives, that two-thirds of a full school year may be saved in the school life of every child. It is estimated that two-thirds of a year now so devoted may be replaced by one week if the metric system is adopted. There need be no special teaching at all, because being decimal, it is the same as the system of counting, and having but ten or twelve terms to remember, which we are already obliged to learn, there will be nothing new to be taught. For the ordinary purposes of domestic trade it will be sufficient to understand the value of the three principal units-the meter, about 40 inches; the kilo, about 2 pounds; and the liter, about a quart. ADVANTAGES OF THE METRIC SYSTEM. 1. THE DECIMAL BASE, counting by ten, as we already are doing in our system of numbers and our coinage. All commercial calculations will be on the same decimal base, economizing according to the best estimates, at least 50 per cent in all problems, and in some cases much more than this. Considering that there are many billion transactions involving weights and measures in this country annually, the time saving alone will be very large. 2. INTERRELATION OF UNITS: A cubic decimeter of cold water weighs one kilogram, and measures one liter. This relates in the simplest possible manner the tables of lengths, weights and volumes, and enables them to be interchanged without calculation. To illustrate: If the capacity of a tank is 3.04 cubic meters, the weight of that much water is 3.04 cubic tons. If the depth of water in a tank is 8 meters, the pressure on the bottom is 8 metric tons per square meter, or 8 kilograms per square decimeter, or 8 grams per square centimeter. If a vessel displaces 6,742 cubic meters, then the vessel weighs 6,742 metric tons. Each of these problems would involve considerable calculation under the old system. 3. SIMPLE NOMENCLATURE.-Three terms-the meter, gram and liter-replace the entire vocabulary (some 5,000 terms) of weights and measures in the world, and by the use of several numeral prefixes the terms are made more explicit, adding but slightly to the extra work required in learning. 4. PERFECTION OF STANDARDS.-Over twenty nations have joined in establishing the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, which has constructed for each of the countries represented two copies of each of the fundamental standards, the meter and kilogram, preserved in Paris. These standards are of the most perfect material, iridio-platinum alloy, the heaviest and hardest known, which will not rust or deteriorate. The material alone in each set of the standards is valued at more than $1,000, and many years of scientific research were spent in securing the requisite purity of materials, determining the most perfect form to be given to the standards, and the most perfect methods of ruling and measuring them. As a consequence the International Meter, and the copies of it represent greater perfection than had ever been attained in standards of measure. FREEDOM FROM AMBIGUITY. The meter, the liter and the kilogram are definite and unequivocal, and are rapidly becoming the world-wide standards. The many valued pound, gallon, ton, bushel and mile cause endless confusion, and the fact that the same names are used renders error, fraud and litigation inevitable. The meter, liter and gram are rapidly replacing the 5,000 terms and units which constitute the world's extensive vocabulary of weights and measures. As stated above, over 100 distinct values of the foot have been used as measures, whereas the meter has but one single value, and all measures in the world stated in meters refer to the length of the one International Meter, preserved at the International Bureau at Paris. There have been 53 distances called "miles," but the kilometer means but one single length in all countries and for all time. Likewise, 235 different weights have been denominated "pound," but the kilogram is the weight of a piece of metal whose mass is a definite and invariable quantity everywhere. The one fundamental feature which should characterize standards of weights and measures is that they should be absolutely unequivocal, and that each term should have but one meaning throughout the entire world and for all time. This freedom from ambiguity is not found in any other system of weights and measures, but is pre-eminently the characteristic of the metric system. Ambiguity is being replaced by certainty wherever the metric system has been adopted, as it has already been in more than forty countries in the world, and among progressive manufacturers, engineers and scientific men throughout the entire world. EASE OF LEARNING AND REMEMBERING. The essentials of the metric system can be learned in a few minutes. Any length, weight, or volume may be expressed by use of the three simple terms-meter, gram and liter-and as these are interrelated they can be derived one from the other. A committee of German school teachers have testified that school children could be taught the metric system very well within a single hour. In the time thus saved a thorough business course could be given to every school child in the country. Arithmetics would be reduced to two-thirds of their present size by the omission of the complicated work of denominate numbers. The testimony is unanimous that the strain on the memory will be greatly lessened, as the system is so quickly learned, easily applied and persistently remembered. THE METRIC SYSTEM IS INTERNATIONAL. An international system of weights is as important as an international system of longitude and time, and is the next step in the development of international intercourse. The metric system was from the beginning, in its origin and development, and in its final adoption essentially an international system, and it is the only one which can be truly called an "international system." The metric system of weights and measures is already the universal language of weights and measures In scientific work of all kinds, and for all other purposes it is the standard system of more than forty countries of the world. In those few countries in which it has not yet been fully adopted, the necessary legislation is pending which will extend its use around the entire world. International intercourse has been the keynote of the century, and as railroads facilitate the interchange of commodities, so the adoption of the international system of weights and measures will facilitate the interchange of scientific and engineering knowledge, and the manufacture of machinery and other products which should be of uniform standard and based upon an international system of interchangeable parts or upon directly comparable dimensions. FLEXIBILITY AND APPLICABILITY. The metric system, with its three fundamental units, furnishes easily convertible and suitable units for every conceivable magnitude used in science, industry or ordinary life. The choice of units covers a wider range and affords immediate intercomparisons between any sets of measurements. New units may be created in perfect consonance with the system by continued decimal subdivision. Its flexibility is further increased by the perfect interrelation of the units, the units of weight and capacity being derived from the unit of length. The metric units of length, weight and capacity used by all branches of trade, manufacturing and science may be intercompared without reduction, whereas in our old system the dimensions of wire are given in mils, of pipe in inches, plots in links, depths in fathoms, heights in feet. distances in miles-all units which cannot be compared without considerable calculation. All the metric units, however, may be Instantly compared. The milli-micron of the physicist may be directly compared with the kilometer of the geodesist. the centimeter of the machinist with the meter of the surveyor, the milligram of the analysť with the metric ton of the shipper and tradesman. EASE OF COMPUTATION. The As a labor-saving invention, the metric system is unrivalled as far as relates to computations. simplicity of its relations makes computation a matter of minutes instead of hours in many lines, and entirely avoids many of the problems inseparably connected with our present system. Our Consuls have for years recommended the adoption of the metric system in order to reduce the computations of trade to a minimum. The adoption of the metric system in scientific work long ago resulted in an incalculable saving of time in the elaborate computations which accompany all kinds of scientific research. With our decimal arithmetic and our decimal coinage, the decimal system of weights and measures alone is needed to place all commercial calculations on the decimal basis and place them within the reach of all familiar with the simplest arithmetic. FIXING THE METER. The fixed length of the meter was obtained from a most careful calculation of the distance from the equator to the North Pole along the meridian passing through the city of Paris. The length of the distance being determined, it was divided into 10,000,000 equal parts, and this subdivision constituted the meter. Hence a meter is one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the pole, or one forty-millionth of the short circumference of the earth. So accurate were the first measurements, that when subsequent calculations were made with improved instruments, it was found that the first and last measurements coincided so nearly that the difference was not appreciable. Since the shape of the earth changes so slightly, if at all, the measure is as lasting as the world. The liquid measure and the unit of weight are as constant, for a cubic centimeter of distilled water at 4 degrees, centigrade, normal barometric pressure, weighs the same the world over, and hence the gram is as fixed as the meter, or the liter, which is, as stated above, a cubic decimeter. SUMMARY. The adoption of the metric system by two-thirds of the world, and the added perfection which the metric system has recently attained, renders all the more emphatic the words of President John Quincy Adams, written nearly a century ago, when he said: "The single standard, proportional to the circumference of the earth; the singleness of the units for all the various modes of mensuration; the universal application to them of decimal arithmetic; the unbroken chain of connection between all weights, measures, moneys and coins; and the precise, significant, short and complete vocabulary of their denominations, altogether forming a system adapted equally to the use of all mankind, afford such a combination of the principle of uniformity for all the most important opera tions of the intercourse of human society; the establishment of such a system so obviously tends to that result, the improvement of the physical, moral and intellectual condition of man upon earth, that there can be neither doubt nor hesitancy in the opinion that the ultimate adoption and universal, though modified, application of that system is a consummation devoutly to be wished." With the adoption of the metric system, certainty will replace ambiguity and ignorance, precision will take the place of inaccuracy, dictionaries of weights and measures will be relegated to the cloister, uniformity and definiteness will emerge from the present chaotic diversity, and scientific and commercial calculations will be simplified, the transactions of every-day life will be made easier, international intercourse will be furthered, and the next grand step in human progress will be taken. This result will be reached when the United States joins the forty progressive nations which have accepted the gift of France to the world-a gift which with sublime faith they resolved should be “A tous les temps, a tous les peuples." TABLE FOR CONVERTING UNITED STATES WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. (Prepared by Henry S. Pritchett, of the U. S. Bureau of Statistics.) Since 1893 the Office of Standard Weights and Measures has been authorized to derive the yard from the meter, using for the purpose the relation legalized in 1866: namely, 1 yard: 3600 meter. 3937 The customary weights are likewise referred to the kilogramme. This action fixes the values, inasmuch as the reference standards are as perfect and unalterable as it is possible for human skill to make them at this period. The length of the nautical mile given above and adopted by the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey many years ago, is defined as that of a minute of are of a great circle of a sphere whose surface equals that of the earth (Clarke's Spheroid of 1866). The U. S. gallon contains 231 cubic inches, and the bushel 2150.42 cubic inches. The value of these tables are based upon the legal equivalents adopted by Congress in 1863. LINEAR. CAPACITY. Yards to meters. 25.4001 0.304801 50.8001 76.2002 152.4003 228.6005 0.609601 1 828804 2.133604 2.438405 7.315215 12.87478 Square to feet square decimeters Acres to hectares. 123456789 Miles to kilometers Troy ounces grammes. 01 Gallons to liters. There is an old table of nautical measure which gives 120 fathoms as equivalent to one cable, and 71⁄2 cables as equal to 1 nautical mile, but as this only makes a nautical mile equal to 5,400 feet, it can hardly be used in any computations of measure. 24 sheets 20 quires = 1 quire = 1 ream 1 bundle 2 reams 5 bundles = 1 bale 24 grains 20 pennyweights = 1 ounce METRIC TO CUSTOMARY. In California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico the following almost obsolete system of land measure is still used: square varas (square of 5,099 varas) 1 league and 1 labor = 4,605.5 acres. 26,000,000 1,000,000 varas) 25,000,000 varas) 8,333.333 varas) 6,250,000 varas 7,225,600 varas) 5,419,200 varas) 3,612,800 1,806,400 square varas (square of 1,909.8 varas) varas) 903,200 451,600 225,800 5,645,376 square varas (square of varas) 75.137 varas) = 4,840 square yards acre. To find the number of acres in any number of square veras, multiply the latter by 177 (or to be more exact, by 177%), and cut off six decimals. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES USED IN THE HOLY BIBLE AND THEIR EQUIVALENTS. CAPACITY OF CISTERNS AND WATER TANKS, 10 INCHES IN DEPTH. 23 feet in diameter holds 3,059 gallons. [10 feet in diameter holds 489 gallons. 13 feet in diameter holds 20 feet in diameter holds 1,958 gallons. 239 gallons.2 feet in diameter holds 19 gallons. 15 feet in diameter holds 1,101 gallons. 122 gallons. 12 feet in diameter holds 705 gallons. 99 gallons. 7 feet in diameter holds MEASUREMENTS FOR TIMBER AND LUMBER. The number of cubic feet in round timber can be found by adding the circumference of the small and large ends together and dividing by 2; multiply the square of cre-fourth of this (average circumference) by the length in feet; the result gives four-fifths of the real contents in cubic feet. One-fifth is customarily allowed for waste in sawing. For square timber multiply the width by the thickness in inches, and this product by the length in feet, and divide by 12, which will give the result in feet. To measure sawed boards one inch thick, multiply length in feet by breadth in inches and divide by 12, which gives the number of feet contained. For 1% and 11⁄2 inch thicknesses calculate the same as for one inch, but add one quarter, for each additional quarter inch in thickness, to the quotient. For 2-inch thickness divide 6 and for 3 inch, divide 4, instead of 12. WEIGHTS OF VARIOUS PRODUCE. Note. The above table contains the weights established by the United States Government. ber of States, but the above table is that used by the majority of States. 60 lbs, to bushel 55 lbs. to bushel 56 lbs. to bushel 55 lbs. to bushel 50 lbs. to bushel 55 lbs. to bushel 60 lbs. to bushel It varies in a num SPECIFIC GRAVITY (COMPARED WITH WATER, FIGURED AT 100%.) |