Abstract
V.
IV.—The Metric System AS a system of weights and measures, constructed on strictly scientific principles, the metric system may justly claim pre-eminence over all others. It was established upon the fundamental basis of the metre, its primary unit of length bearing a determinate decimal ratio to one of the largest natural constants, that is to say, the tenmillionth part of the earth's meridian-quadrant. It includes a fixed relation between the units of weight and capacity, the kilogramme and the litre, and the unit of length, the metre, from which both are derived; and it comprehends a uniform decimal scale of multiples and parts of these units. It must, however, be admitted that the more recent progress of modern science has demonstrated that the actual standards of metric length, weight, and capacity do not exactly correspond with their scientific definition; and apart from the insuperable difficulties which have been found to exist in the precise determination of material standards from any natural constant, the unanimous opinion of several of the highest scientific authorities in this country has been deliberately expressed that there is no practical advantage in adopting a unit founded in nature over one of an arbitrary character. In truth, the great advantage of the metric system consists in the simplicity and uniformity of its decimal scale, and the great convenience of this scale for all purposes of account as agreeing with the decimal system of notation, and more especially when combined with a decimal coinage which formed part of the original scheme. These undoubted advantages have proved the chief recommendations to the adoption of the metric system, first by France, and afterwards by so many other countries, and generally in the scientific world. There is now every prospect of the metric system being generally adopted in all countries of the civilised world, thus greatly enhancing its value as a common international system of weights and measures, and constituting, as it were, a universal language for expressing all quantities weighed or measured.
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CHISHOLM, H. On the Science of Weighing and Measuring, and the Standards of Weight and Measure * . Nature 8, 386–389 (1873). https://doi.org/10.1038/008386a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/008386a0