The eminent scientists who designed that system were able to solve the most difficult problems in higher mathematics, but failed to comprehend what system of weights and measures was best suited for the carder, spinner, weaver and finisher of wool, cotton, linen and silk. The glamor of their fame failed to make the centimetre suitable for counting ‘picks.’ Their system had to stand or fall on its merits, and falling has proved that the highest of mathematical abilities is not inconsistent with a dense ignorance of the practical affairs of every-day life.
I strongly recommend Messrs. Halsey and Dale’s book to those who wish to know the opinion of American engineers and manufacturers on the metric system.
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THE CONFLICT OF THE IMPERIAL AND METRIC SYSTEMS
Two systems are face to face throughout the West—the Imperial system resting on long custom and on convenience, and the Metric system on an assumption of science and on revolt against the past. It has been shown that the system which pretends to be the only scientific one, and the easiest, is a failure even in France; but there, like the republic which gave it birth, it is, under the influence of patriotism or national pride, strong for attack abroad while in a state of anarchy at home, worrying manufacturers and evaded in trade whenever police-force fails to have jurisdiction or deems it prudent not to prosecute.
The one makes men fit the measures however inconvenient; the other makes measures to fit those who have to use them. The one attacks; the other apposes a passive resistance.
Let us take a general view of the system attacked.
The Imperial system of Weights and Measures rests on principles quite as rational and scientific as those of the Metric system, and it is much more practical.
All its series are derived from the English talent, a weight two-thirds of the Roman-Alexandrian talent which was derived from the royal cubit and foot of ancient Egypt.
The original system, of at least ten centuries ago, was as follows:
_Length._—The foot was the measure of the side of a cubic vessel containing 1000 Roman ounces of water.
The furlong became at a very early period a length of 40 rods = 220 yards.