| Show THE METRIC SYSTEM A Highly Instructive and Interesting Lecture by b Dr James E Talmage The fhe large lecture hall haJJ of ot the physical laboratory of the University of Utah was packed to its full capacity la last t FrIday night with students and citizens assembled to hear President Talmage's exposition of ot the metric system The lecture was waa originally designed for the students of the theU U University niver ity and grew out of at the follow follow- following following ing resolution adopted by the faculty last week Resolved that it be the sense lense of this faculty that the Constitution of ot the State of Utah should require that the the the- metric metrio system of weights and measures be taught in all al aJ the public schools 01 the he State and that the said laid system be made the legal system in all aU public The interest manifested in the sub sub- subject t outside the University caused the time to be changed from the after after- afternoon afternoon afternoon noon to the evening in order to give citizens who desired to do so an opportunity opportunity opportunity to attend The character of ot the audience was a surprise to those e most sanguine in behalf of ot the new system A considerable number of leading leRding merchants merchant and citizens were among the spectators and showed all aU the symptoms symptoms toms oms of full tuU converts to the reform The subject in the hands of a less able speaker might have been a dry one but it proved to be anything but that in the present case The lecturer was Introduced by Dr J T Kings Kings- Kingsbury Kings bury bury who in a brief brie way forecast KingS KingS-I toe sUbject of the evening by call call- calling calling calling ing attention to a few of its ita mot moot important features One high highly I ly 11 important points made by Dr Kingsbury was the statement that i in America no DO fully equipped college n could v be entered lo for study without a knowledge of ot the metric system He that that system was the basis of all their physical and chem chem- chemical ical apparatus no apparatus no other kind was wal now manufactured The lecturer was wae surrounded by ap- ap apparatus ap apparatus and various other appliances appliance illustrative of ot his subject and behind him OB on black boards board and charts charta were exhibited tables showing the contrast between tween the be new DeW system and the ol old ones DO now in use T The e speaker was wal followed fol- fol fol followed lowed with the utmost attention throughout and showed the ty and advantages of the metric eye tern tern tem sufficiently clear olear for lor the compre- compre comprehension compre hension of the dullest mind in Dr Talmage said We have aU all much to do with the weights and ano measures of material things Magni Magni- Magnitude Magnitude tude ode is one ODe of ot the general or universal properties of mater every piece of 01 matter possesses extension in the three length breadth and thick thick thick-nese nest and aud the existence of at this prop prop- property pro property erty which in the simplest of at expressions stone may be named as that t of ot size lize ou constitutes the means of ot defining defini ter ma the term that proved so difficult to the thet early arlY philosophers To 10 determine and describe this property of matter some somo standard of ot measure measure- measurement ment is absolutely indispensable In very early times certain portions of the th human buman body were accepted as CO conven- conven convenient liven liven- standards and hence we derive our terms foots loot foot cubit from tram elbow to middle finger tip length fingers breadth hands bands breadth 92 Span apan etc It is il is 19 plain that if it a unit be adopted multiple and traction fraction fractional al units may be determined from ft It is said that a certain certain certain tain philosopher once undertook on a wager to determine the number of grains of sand which placed end to end would extend a amile amile mile mUe He found that a certain number ot of sand grains covered tit tt e a space of one olle millet mUlet seed so 10 many millet seeds one bean io so many beans in a span so many spans in a stride and so 10 many strides in a mile Arbitrary standards have bave been very generally used in spite of 01 the very great uncertainty and dis dis- dissatisfaction satisfaction die satisfaction accompanying their use ule The importance of 01 establishing efficient standards for or the determination determination determination tion of size and weight is very cl clearly set forth in the House Houle of on coinage weights and measures of at the Forty sixth Con Con- Congress grels grees gress is no subject in which the g general business Interests of at aU all countries as weHa well as progress In science in all its departments are more deeply involved than in this hence it is a subject which has hal occupied the attention of 01 the most abstruse thinkers and the best Jaw givers in aU all ages and in all aU lands and climes The establishment of ot the system of ot and measures not merely to the ical science but enters as well into the higher science of metaphysics and the generalization of at history Even semi civilized peoples recognize the need of 01 some lome standard of measurement and the higher the civilization the themore themore themore more general is the use uee of the adopted standard The world calls caUl today for tor foran toran foran an International standard a unit of 01 measurement common corn noon to all nations having mutual relations of commerce and other dealings Prof Proto Barnard writes uN No a cause caule since lince the earliest or- or organization or organization of civilized society ha has con contributed more large largely to embarras bus bus- bus busi business ness DOW transactions among men especially especially especially ally by Interfering with the facility ot of commercial exchanges between differ dUler different ent out countries or between different provinces province cities or even individual citizens of the same country than the endless diversity of ot instrumentalities employed for tor the purpose of ot determining determining ing the quantities of exchangeable commodities Lotus Let us UI consider coo eider some lame of the sources of our present units In the year 1120 King Henry decreed that the British ell all or yard should be the length of ot his own royal arup arm A standard rod pur pur- purporting purporting purporting porting to be of the exact length of ot the king kings king's arm was wu deposited in the e ex- ex exchequer exchequer chequer It U was broken bowe however and aDd I was WAI so 10 clumsily repaired that its Ita so- so ac ao accuracy curacy could not be trusted In 1266 during Juring the reign of 01 Henry III of ofF j F grains of 01 wheat became the thet tasis asis of measurement and in 1824 1524 here issued from Edward II the solemn decree that barley corns should wheat grains and the royal word went forth that three barley barleycorns barleycorns barleycorns corns round and dry shall shaU make an aninch aninch inch mch and twelve inches a foot toot In 1760 a copy of ot the ancient yard was prepared for toe English government and was know known n as Birds yard stick this was destroyed in the great London fire of 1834 1884 At last the British autho autho- autho sties adopted a standard from the most mOlt reliable copies of Bird Birds Bird's stick and of this copy of at a copy another copy was made for tor the use of ot the United States coast survey This yard Is however now known to be inch longer than the British imperial yard yarda a type of which is il now kept in London tower It is copies of this scale which are furnished with set sets of weights to the state governors by our common government Long ago age the French adopted the length of the foot toot of ot Louis XI XIV V as the standard length but this proving as ft perishable as the arm of the English king the people of ot France set about deviling a more satisfactory standard as al will wUl be afterwards de described Their first proposition was to make the le length of a pendulum vibrating seconds at sea sealevel sealevel level in latitude 46 N a standard of measurement and in the determination determination determination tion of ot this unit the French asked their British neighbors to o co-o operate co-operate erate but the latter refused The perplexities incident to the lack of a simple and rational sY system tem of weights and measures were expert expert- experienced a aud and deplored by the early fath lath fathers ers of our nation The fhe Articles Article or 01 Confederation provided and the Con Can Constitution of our country afterward confirmed confirmed con- con confirmed firmed the provision that Congress should hold supreme power in prescribing ing systems of weights measures and anet the units unite of coinage Washington in bi his bis first message to Congress early attention to the subject of providing a uniform system of ot weights and aDd measures and andIn andin andin In a later communication he be repeated the recommendation using these word A uniformity in the weights and measures of ot the country is to among the im important objects submitted to you 1011 by the Constitution COlls and if it can caD be bey y derived from tram a standard at once invariable in- in invariable in invariable variable and universal must must be no less ley honorable to the public pUblio councils than thano o to the public Successors to the presidential chair earnestly urged that an attempt be made to establish a desirable standard and in July 1790 Jefferson secretary of simplified state proposed to Congress a simpli simpli- fied fled system founded on a decimal rela rela- relation relation relation tion The basis was to be the seconds second's a pendulum at sea level 4 45 46 o north north and aDd a of this i 1 was to be the legal foot each toot foot contains 10 inches each inch inoh 10 lines Unes each line 10 points 10 feet teet were to make a decad 10 decade a rood 10 roods a furlong 10 furlongs a mile mUe The cubic cubio foot yeas vas was to constitute a bushel which with multiples multiple and fractions tractions decimally determined was to furnish the he he secondary units for tor liquid and dry measure and aDd the weight of ot a definite volume of water was waa to constitute the unit anU of j weight This Thia report wa was never favor favor- favorably favo ably acted upon as a the proposition ot i f France Prance to e establish tabU h an aD system then was wu growing in favor In any aDY efficient system precision preci ion ot c terms must be secured scoured that is la each earl term should possess a definite si canoe cance This desirable condition ia is not Dc t realized in our present nomenclature Thus the term quart conveys no ex- ex explicit ex explicit meaning for a beer measure quart consists of cubic while a quart in dry measure is 67 cubic Inches and a United States State i liquid quart holds bolds but cubic cube inches So in regard to the gallon iWine a awine wine measure gallon consists of ot 13 3 31 L cubic inches dry measure gallon 2688 cubic inches and a beer gallon 27 cubic inches The complicated nature of ot our usual usua tables of ot measurements may be seen in ii the great t number nu mbar of ot different factors to tobe ti tibe be used in reducing measurement ot otone o one denomination to those of an another another an- an other Thus we see from our long measure An Inch contains 12 line lines A link Unk s inches A foot foot- foot lines Jines or 12 inches or o links n a A yard lines Unel 36 inches 4 links or 3 feet teet A fathom lines linee 72 inches 6 I feet or 2 yards A rod pole or perch perch- perch inches o or 16 feet or 51 5 yards or 2 fathoms A chain chain inches links 66 61 feet 22 yards 11 II 4 rods rodl A furlong inches 1000 links feet yards fathoms or 4 rode rods rodl A mile mUe inches links feet teet 1760 yards fathoms rods 80 chains or 8 furlong lur Jong The multiplicity of ot factors necessary In ordinary computations in compound numbers were shown in the case cage 01 o measures of ot weight troy trod and apothecary apothecary's capacity etc by bi elaborate tables exhibited before thi audience In the common units of at weight w we wi have bave to deal with three separate tables each o Q implicated In itself and bearing no DO simple relation to the other systems I refer reter to the the the apothecaries weights These have but one oue unit in io the common common the grain graiD T Thus an contains 27 H grains and anu an aD apothecaries apothecaries- 60 grains The troy noy pound contains grains while an pou pound d consists of at grains Such complications are rendered the themore themore more annoying by the provincial sig significations given to terms of at measure measurement ment in trade Thus in Great Britain large cod if it booked hooked are sold by the score trawled cod so 10 much apiece and pickled cod by the barrel I Rave have do desire to exaggerate the eccentric basis buls of barter common among our Atlantic Trans friends so cull the tol- tol following fol following lowing facts tacta of at British trade from a comparatively recent article by an ED English writer writer-Mr writer Mr Cousins of at Leeds At Grimsby an important fish lh market a style of weights and measures very different from that ia is use at BUling Billingsgate gate ia is adopted Thus while the latter place of ot unsavory un unsavory un- un savory repute fish may be disposed ed of by the be pound the stone tone the hundred pair the basket the Grimsby dealing dealings in fish h are con con- conducted conducted ducted largely by the the box and aDd the f last It 18 is said laid that at Grimsby a i customer recently called for lor a stone of oysters and was informed that there then oysters were not sold Bold by weight but by measure Ah Ab replied the In- In Intended intended tended purchaser er let Jet let me have a i yard In Ireland butter is II sold b by bythe the cask and the firkin in England by the pound pound 16 ounces or the rol ro roll 24 ounces ounces by the tb stone and the hun bun hundredweight which last Jast is not a hun bun hundred dred pounds but The writer just quoted asks alks is a load an and answer A answers A load of ot straw tra w is 1296 pounds Bounds a load loaa of old hay ie le 2016 pounds and a load of 01 new hay 2160 pounds but my tables do not tell me at what age bay becomes old 80 So i a firkin of at butter is ia 56 66 pounds a firkin ot of o soap 64 pounds and a firkin of ot raisins pounds A hogshead of at beer is 54 gallons of wine 63 gallons A pipe o of wine may be 93 gallons or 92 or or or gallons depending upon the locality of at the vintage A stone weight of a man is 14 pounds pound of a dead ox 8 a stone o of cheese 1816 is 16 pound pounds of ot glass 5 pounds of hemp 32 pounds pound a stone of ot flax at Belfast Is 16 pounds but at Down Down- Downpatrick Downpatrick Downpatrick patrick 24 pounds pound while a hundredweight hundred hundredweight weight of at pork is 8 pounds heavier at a Belta Belfast t than it is at Cork Jork Mr Cousins adds A lOA A barrel of ot beet beef is pounds pound butter pounds flour pounds soft sott soap pounds beer 3 86 36 gallons tar gallons whilst a barrel of ot herrings is herrings Perhaps we console ourselves that we are far tar less eccentric in these thele mat maL maLters tern than are our British h relatives but there is much reason to believe that by bythe the time our civilization is as old as ae England's should our present tendency tendency tendency cy undergo no change we will be fully tully as al blameworthy as a are they whom we now laugh at There is II a woeful lack of ot uniformity among the states of ot our Union thus in most of ot the states a bushel of at rye 56 pounds while in California it is 54 pounds pound andin and andin andIn in Louisiana 32 82 pounds pounds A bushel of |
