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The Metrical System of Weights and Measures Author(S): Alex The Metrical System of Weights and Measures Author(s): Alex. Siemens Source: Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Vol. 66, No. 4 (Dec., 1903), pp. 688-719 Published by: Wiley for the Royal Statistical Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2339493 . Accessed: 24/06/2014 21:22 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Wiley and Royal Statistical Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 62.122.78.91 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 21:22:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 688 roDec. The MAETRICAL,SYSTEM of AVEIGIhTS and MEASURES. -ByALEX. SIEMENS. [Read beforetje Royal StatisticalSociety, 15th December,1903. MAJOR PATtICE GEORGE CRAIGIE, C.B., President,in the Chair.] IN the " Notes oil the MletricalSystem of Weights and Measures," which were discussed in the beginiiiligof this year at two meetings of the Institutioll of Electrical Enigineers,the origin of the metrical system is fully described, but it will not be superfluousjust to recapitulate the leadiiig features of its history. For a long time scientificmen ill various countrieshad recognisedthe desirabilityof carryingon their investigationisin accordance with international units of weights aild measures, subdivided in a uniformmanner, but no action is recorded until James Watt took up the subject in 1783; and there is verylittle doubt that the presentmetrical system is the outcome of his agitation. He definedin his letters the fundamentalconditions oTi which the metric system is based, and he had personal intercourse with the French men of science who were prominentlyactive in the Inter- iiatioiial Commissionwhich worked out the details of the system. Watt laid particularstress on the necessityof having a decimal subdivisiolnwhich, he said, " from the niatureof it must be intel- " ligible as long as decimal arithmeticis used;" and in another letterhe writes," for the utility" (viz., of decimal subdivisioll) " is " so evident that every thinking person must immediately be coii- " vinced of it." It would be very interestingto hear James Watt's opinioii of the clamour for a duodecimal system by which certain idealists endeavour to delay the adoption of the metricsystem. Without doubt arithmeticwith the basis twelve,instead of tenl, would have many advantages, but it is only necessary to mention the changes which such an alterationwould imply,to prove that it is quite out of the question to attemptit. In a duodecimal system the figure IO would signify a dozen units,hence it is necessary to introduce two new figures,one for ten uliits and one for eleven units. These new numbers,moreover, would require new names in every language, not only for the units themselves but also for their combinationswith the various poten- tials of twelve. This content downloaded from 62.122.78.91 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 21:22:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 1903.] SIEMENs-Thle MetricalSystegn of Weig7tsand Measures.689 On the otherhand therewould be the substantialgain of being able to say thatten divided by threeis four. Further,the advocatesof the duodecimalsystem entirely omit to considerthat the present imperial weights and measurescannot be said to be subdividedin any rationalmanner, as the following tableshows:- Britisl Meeas?uresof Lengtih. Area. tTuits. Proportioin. Uniits. Proportion. Statutemile ................. Acre . 8 4 Furlong ................. Roods . 40 40 Perch ................. Rods .. 23 30i Fathoms................ Square yards . 2 9 Yards ................ ,, feet. 3 144 Feet.12,, .......... incles . 12 Inches ................................ 3 IBarleycorns................... Capacitv. Weight. Units. Proportion. Units. Proportion. Barrel ......... ........ Ton . 4 20 Firkins ................. Cwt. 2 4 Pins... Quarters. 4i 2 Gallons ... Stones . 4 14 Quarts................. Lb. avoirdupois. 2 16 Pints ................. Ounces. 4 16 Gills ................. Drachms. 2711 Grainss.. 2 No one can seriouslymaintain that theseweights and measures are subdividedon the duodecimalsystem, and the factremains that the adoptionof a duodecimalsystem would necessitate,in addition to the upsettingof the multiplicationtables, as thorougha revision VOL. LXVI. PART IV. 3 B This content downloaded from 62.122.78.91 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 21:22:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 690 SIEMENS-The MetricalSystem of WVeightsand Measures. [Dec. of the imperialweights and measuresas the introductionof the metricsystem. Anotherset of objectorsto decimalsubdivision maintain that successivehalvings are much more convenient. For instance, Sir George Airy,then AstronomerRoyal, said in his evidence beforethe select committeeof 1862: "If I had a new nationto "create,with a newstyle of weightsand measures,I would give "themthe binaryscale throughout; that I considernearest perfec- "tion, with means to enableus to use decimalmultiples and sub- "multiples." The last part of the answer is somewhatobscure, but Sir GeorgeAiry said, in anotherpart of his evidenceabout the practiceof mankind: " For each particularsubject to which "measure,&c., is applied,some one measure,&c., is adoptedas the "standard. Then the multiplesof this measure,&c., are takenon "the decimalscale, and the subdivisionsare taken on the binary "scale." To decidethis controversyabout the most suitablesubdivision, some factswill be a betterguide than the pious opinionsof any man. In thetable ofBritish measures given above the last figure,viz., 271' grains= i drachm,has a bearingon thisquestion which may notat oncebe apparent. When the first attemptwas made, in 1824, to introduce uniformweights and measuresin the United Kirgdom,by "an " Act forascertaining and establishinguniformity for weights and " measures"(5 GeorgeIV, cap. 74), the troypound of 5,670 grains was still treatedas the standardweight of the realm,and by the sameAct thepound avoirdupois was cut downfrom 7,008 grains, as fixedin 1759,to 7,000 grains,with the apparent object of dividing the poundavoirdupois into i,ooo parts,each equal to 7 grains and called a septem. At least, it is a fact that sets of weightsexist based on thisdecimal subdivision. Whenthe Houses of Parliamentwere burnt down in 1838,the standardweights and measureswere lost,and a commissionwas appointedto considerthe stepsfor their restoration. Their reportwas presentedon the 21st December,1841, and stronglyrecommended the introductionof a decimalsubdivision of weightsand measures. Even Sir George Airy and Sir John Herschel,both bitter opponentsof the metrical system, concurred in thisrecommendatioi of a decimalsubdivision. Comingto our own times,the actionof the LiverpoolCotton Associationmay be citedin favourof decimal subdivision. This content downloaded from 62.122.78.91 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 21:22:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 1903.] SIEMENs-The MetricalSystem of WYeightsand Mleasures.691 Up to the 1st October,1902, all cottonwas sold by the " point," whichwas equal to one-sixty-fourthof a penny; in somecases they even used half points; but this binary subdivisionproved so troublesomethat since the above date theymake all theirquotations in one-hundredthsofa penny. To facilitatethe transition,little tables were printed and distributedto showthe equivalentsof the old " points" in decimals of a penny. Not onlyin the workshops,but also in the publicationsof the EngineeringStandards Committee,the inch is divided into thousandths,and notaccording to the binaryscale. A furtherproof of the convenienceof decimalsubdivision may be foundin the adoptionby the United States and most of the BritishColonies of the ton of 2,000 lbs., and a great numberof themhave a decimalcoinage. This tendencyto decimalizationwas treatedin a paperread by Mr. FrederickBrooks, of Boston,Mass., at a meetingof the New EnglandWaterworks Association held in Montrealin Septemberof thisyear. He was speaking" on thefolly of reckoningby gallons, "which differwidely in Canada and the United States,while all ccountrieshave identicallitres and cubicmetres," and expressesin the courseof his paperhis opinionon thispoint as follows: "In decimalization,Canada and the United States have left "England behind,having adopted dollars and cents and aban- donedthe Y? s. d. reckoniingwhich they formerly used, and which XEngland continuesto use. Moneydeserves prominent mention "because ofthe very close analogy that exists, extending into many ccdetails, between the changein monetaryreckoning and the change "in weightsand measures. " Our decimalizationhas included other things along with "money; forinstance, our discussionyesterday brought out the "fact thatCanada has adopteda ton of 2,000 lbs.,which in England "is calledthe ' Colonial'ton, so thatthe hundredweightin America "is ioo lbs.,not, as in England,I12 lbs. " We have reckonedlumber by the I,000 feetof boardmeasure, "instead of cubicfeet or cubic yardsor cords,&c.; and slatingor "shinglingby the ' square' of I00 square feet,disregarding square "yards; and so on.
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