sea, in vacuo, at the temperature of melting ice, observations to ascertain the number of vibrations in a day of a pendulum equal to the ten millionth part of the arc of the meridian. 5. To ascertain, by new experiments, carefully made, the weight in vacuo, of a given mass of distilled water at the freezing point. 6. To form a scale and tables of equalization between the new measures and weights proposed, and those which had been in common use before.' pp. 50, 51. The three first of these operations were committed to Mechain and Delambre; the experiments upon the pendulum to Borda, Mechain, and Cassini; those on the weight of water to Lefevre Gineau and Fabbroni; and the scale and tables to a large committee on weights and measures.' The reports of the proceedings of Delambre and Mechain, as well of their field surveys as of their astronomical observations, and all their calculations, were submitted to the inspection, scrutiny, and revision, of a committee of the mathematical and physical class of the national institute, that phoenix of science, which had arisen from the ashes of the academy of sciences. The observations to ascertain the length of the pendulum, and the experiments for determining the specific gravity of distilled water at its maximum of density, were submitted to the same ordeal. Two reports upon the whole result were made to the class, one by Trallés of the Helvetic Confederation, the other by Van Swinden of the Netherlands, two of the foreign associates, who had been invited to co-operate in the labor, and to participate in the honor of the undertaking. These two reports, combined by Van Swinden into one, were then reported from the class to the general meeting of the institute, and by that body, with all suitable solemnity, to the two branches of the national assembly of France, on the 22d of June, 1799, together with a definitive metre of platina, made by Lenoir, and a kilogramme of the same metal, made by Fortin. They were introduced by an appropriate address at the bar of the two houses, by the presiding member of the national institute, La Place; to which answers were returned by the respective presidents of the two legislative chambers. On the same day, the standard metre and kilogramme were deposited in the hands of the keeper of the public archives; and a record of the fact was made and signed by him, and by all the members of the institute, foreign associates, and artists, whose joint labors had contributed to the consummation of this more than national undertaking.' pp. 58, 59. This system, so admirable in theory, has now been in operation, or rather had the sanction of a public law, more than twenty years, and notwithstanding it was the work of the nation, its pride and boast, notwithstanding the genius of the times was so favorable to change, and notwithstanding it has had all the support that the most powerful government could give it, it has still been resisted, and if we are correctly informed, is very far from being actually adopted by the great body of the people. Among the difficulties with which it has had to contend, one of the greatest has arisen from its nomenclature. We have already mentioned that twelve names were found sufficient for all the purposes of weight and measure. And yet, to use the expressive language of the report, The French nation have refused to learn, or to repeat these twelve words. They have been willing to take a total and radical change of things; but they insist upon calling them by old names. They take the metre; but they must call one-third part of it a foot. They accept the kilogramme; but, instead of pronouncing its name, they choose to call one half of it a pound. Not that the third of a metre is a foot, or the half of a kilogramme is a pound; but because they are not very different from them, and because, in expressions of popular origin, distinctness of idea in the use of language is more closely connected with habitual usage than with precision of expression. This observation may be illustrated by our own experience, in a change effected by ourselves in the denominations of our coins, a revolution by all experience known to be infinitely more easy to accomplish than that of weights and measures. At the close of our war for independence, we found ourselves with four English words, pound, shilling, penny, and farthing, to signify all our monies of account. But, though English words, they were not English things. They were no where sterling: and scarcely in any two states of the Union were they representatives of the same sums. It was a Babel of confusion by the use of four words. In our new system of coinage we set them aside. We took the Spanish piece of eight, which had always been the coin most current among us, and to which we had given a name of our own— a dollar. Introducing the principle of decimal divisions, we said a tenth part of our dollar shall be called a dime, a hundredth part a cent, and a thousandth part a mille. Like the French, we took all these new denominations from the Latin language; but instead of prefixing them as syllables to the generic term dollar, we reduced them to monosyllables, and made each of them significant by itself, without reference to the unit, of which they were fractional parts. The French themselves, in the application of their system to their coins, have followed our example; and, assuming the franc for their unit, call its tenth part a decime, and its hundredth a centime. It is now nearly thirty years since our new monies of account, our coins, and our mint, have been established. The dollar, under its new stamp, has preserved its name and circulation. The cent has become tolerably familiarized to the tongue, wherever it has been made by circulation familiar to the hand. But the dime having been seldom, and the mille never presented in their. material images to the people, have remained so utterly unknown, that now, when the recent coinage of dimes is alluded to in our public journals, if their name is mentioned, it is always with an explanatory definition to inform the reader, that they are ten cent pieces; and some of them which have found their way over the mountains, by the generous hospitality of the country, have been received for more than they were worth, and have passed for an eighth, instead of a tenth part of a dollar. Even now, at the end of thirty years, ask a tradesman, or shopkeeper, in any of our cities, what is a dime or a mille, and the chances are four in five that he will not understand your question. But go to New York and offer in payment the Spanish coin, the unit of the Spanish piece of eight, and the shop or market-man will take it for a shilling. Carry it to Boston or Richmond, and you shall be told it is not a shilling, but nine pence. Bring it to Philadelphia, Baltimore, or the City of Washington, and you shall find it recognized for an eleven-penny bit; and if you ask how that can be, you shall learn that, the dollar being of ninety pence, the eighth part of it is nearer to eleven than to any other number: and pursuing still further the arithmetic of popular denominations, you will find that half eleven is five, or, at least, that half the eleven-penny bit is the fi-penny bit, which fi-penny bit at Richmond shrinks to four pence half-penny, and at New York swells to six pence. And thus we have English denominations most absurdly and diversely applied to Spanish coins; while our own lawfully established dime and mille remain, to the great mass of the people, among the hidden mysteries of political economy-state secrets. Human nature, in its broadest features, is every where the same. This result of our own experience, upon a small scale, and upon a single object, will easily account for the repugnance of the French people to adopt the new nomenclature of their weights and measures. It is not the length of the words that constitutes the objection against them, nor the difficulty of pronunciation; for, fi-penny bit is as hard to speak and as long a word as kilogramme, and eleven-penny bit has certainly more letters and syllables, and less euphony, than myria-metre. But it is because, in the ordinary operations of the mind, distinctness of idea is, by the laws of nature, linked with the chain of associa tion between sensible images and their habitual denominations, more closely than with the exactness of logical analysis.' pp. 55-57. Various expedients have been resorted to by the French government at different times to accommodate the new system to the unyielding habits and usages of the people. These amount, as will appear by the following extract, to an abandonment of almost every thing but the several units of measure and weight. An imperial decree of 12th February 1812, presents the subject under a new aspect, by ordaining, 1. That the units of weights and measures should remain unchanged, as established by the law of 10th December 1799. 2. That the minister of the interior should cause to be made instruments for weight and mensuration, presenting the fractions or multiples of the said units the most commonly used in commerce, and accommodated to the wants of the people. 3. That these instruments should bear on their respective faces the comparison of the divisions and denominations established by law, with those which had been formerly used. 4. That after a term of ten years a report should be made to the emperor of the result of experience upon the improvements, of which the system of weights and measures might be susceptible. 5. That in the mean time the legal system should continue to be taught in all the schools, and be exclusively used in all the public offices, and in all markets, halls, and commercial transactions. ་ For the execution and explanation of this decree, an ordinance was, on the 28th of March, 1812, issued by the minister of the interior, of the following purport: Art. 1. Permission was granted to employ for the purpose of commerce 1. A long measure equal to two metres, to be called a toise, and to be divided into six feet: 2. A measure equal to one third of the metre, to be called a foot, to be divided into twelve thumbs, and the thumb into twelve lines. Each of these measures shall bear on one side the corresponding divisions of the metre, that is to say: the toise, two metres, divided into decimetres, and the first decimetre into millimetres; and the foot, three decimetres and one third, divided into centimetres and millimetres, in all 3334 millimetres. 'Art. 2. All cloths may be measured by a stick equal in length to twelve decimetres, to be called an ell, (aune,) which shall be divided into halves, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths, as well as into thirds, sixths, and twelfths. It shall bear on one of its sides the corresponding divisions of the metre, in centimetres only; that is to say, one hundred and twenty centimetres, numbered from ten to ten. 'Art. 4. Corn and other dry measure articles may be measured, in sales at retail, by a vessel equal to one-eighth of the hectolitre, which shall be called a boisseau, and shall have its double, its half, and its quarter. Art. 5. For retail sales of corn, seeds, meal, and roots, green or dry, the litre may be divided into halves, quarters, and eighths. Art. 7. For retail sales of wine, brandy, and other liquors, measures of one-quarter, one-eighth, and one-sixteenth of the litre may be used; each of which measures shall be called by a name signifying its proportion to the litre. Art. 8. For retail sales of all articles which are sold by weight, the shopmen may employ the following usual weights: The pound, (livre,) equal to half a kilogramme, or 500 grammes, which shall be divided into sixteen ounces. 'The ounce, (once,) or sixteenth part of the pound, which shall be divided into eight gros. The gros, or eighth part of the ounce, which shall be divided into halves, quarters, and eighths. They shall bear, with their appropriate names, the indication of their weight in grammes, namely: The pound Eighth, or quarter Ounce Half ounce Quarter ounce, 2 gros 500 grammes 250 125 62.5 31.3 15.6 7.8 Gros 3.9 'And such is at this day the system of weights and measures, or, rather, such are the systems existing in France in their present condition; for, it cannot escape observation, that this decree and explanatory ordinance engraft upon the legal system an entirely new system, founded upon different, and, in many important respects, opposite principles. So that the result hitherto of the most stupendous and systematic effort ever made by a nation to introduce uniformity in their weights and measures, has been a conflict between four distinct systems: 1. That which existed before the Revolution. 2. The temporary system established by the law of 1st Aug ust 1793. 3. The definitive system established by the law of 10th December 1799. And, 4. The usual system permitted by the decree of 12th February 1812. |