ested nations. The comparison of all these standards with one another and with the original metre and kilogram was made at the International Bureau, which had been established near Paris on neutral territory ceded to the International Committee by the French government. This work was completed in 1889, and, after selecting a certain metre and a certain kilogram as the international prototypes, the others were distributed by lot to the different countries. The international metre and kilogram have values identical with the original metre and kilogram, are preserved in a special underground vault at the International Bureau and are accessible only to the International Committee. The United States secured two metres and two kilograms, which are now preserved at the Bureau of Standards at Washington and serve as the fundamental standards of length and mass of the United States. At the present time the International Bureau of Weights and Measures is supported jointly by the following countries: The United States, Great Britain, Germany, Russia, France, Austria-Hungary, BelCountries in Inter- gium, Argentine Confederation, Spain, Italy, Mexico, national Union. Peru, Portugal, Rumania, Servia, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Venezuela, Japan and Denmark. The advantages claimed for the metric system are: (1) The decimal relation between the units. (2) The extremely simple relation of the units of length, area, volume and weight to one another. (3) The uniform and self-defining names of units. The fundamental unit of the metric system is the metre-the unit of length. From this the units of capacity (litre) and of weight (gram) were derived. All other units are the decimal subdivisions or multiples of these. These three Synopsis of units are simply related; e. g., for all practical purposes one cubic the System. decimetre equals one litre, and one litre of water weighs one kilogram. The metric tables are formed by combining the words "metre," "gram" and 'litre" with the six numerical prefixes, as in the following tables: Where miles are used in England and the United States for measuring distances the kilometre (1,000 metres) is used in metric countries. The kilometre is about 5 furlongs. There are about 1,600 metres in a statute mile, 20 metres in a chain and 5 metres in a rod. The metre is used for drygoods, merchandise, engineering construction, building and other purposes where the yard and foot are used. The metre is about a tenth longer than the yard. The centimetre and millimetre are used instead of the inch and its fractions in machine construction and similar work. The centimetre, as its name shows, is the hundredth of a metre. It is used in cabinet work, in expressing sizes of papers, books and many cases where the inch is used. The centimetre is about two-fifths of an inch and the millimetre about one-twenty-fifth of an inch. The millimetre is divided for finer work into tenths, hundredths and thousandths. If a number of distances in millimetres, metres and kilometres are to be added Embezzlements in the United States in 1910 amounted to $10,731,965, against $10.652.060 in 1909. reduction is unnecessary. They are added as dollars, dimes and cents are now added. For example, "1,050.25 metres" is not read "1 kilometre, 5 dekametres, 2 decimetres and 5 centimetres," but "one thousand and fifty metres, twenty-five centimetres, Just as "$1,050 25" is read "one thousand and fifty dollars, twenty-five cents." The table of areas is formed by squaring the length measures, as in our common system. For land measure 10 metres square is called an "are" (meaning "area"). The side of one are is about 33 feet. The hectare is 100 metres square and, Area. as its name indicates, is 100 ares, or about 2% acres. An acre is about 0.4 hectare. A standard United States quarter section contains almost exactly 64 hectares. A square kilometre contains 100 hectares. For smaller measures of surface the square metre is used. The square metre is about 20 per cent larger than the square yard. For still smaller surfaces the square centimetre is used. A square inch contains about 6% square centimetres. The cubic measures are the cubes of the linear units. The cubic metre (sometimes called the stère, meaning "solid") is the unit of volume. A cubic metre of water weighs a metric ton and is equal to 1 kilolitre. The cubic metre Volume. is used in place of the cubic yard and is about 80 per cent larger. This is used for "cuts and fills" in grading land, measuring timber, expressing contents of tanks and reservoirs, flow of rivers, dimensions of stone, tonnage of ships and other places where the cubic yard and foot are used. The thousandth part of the cubic metre (1 cubic decimetre) is called the litre. (See table of capacity units.) For very small volumes the cubic centimetre (cc or cm3) is used. This volume of water weighs a gram, which is the unit of weight or mass. There are about 16 cubic centimetres in a cubic inch. The cubic centimetre is the unit of volume used by chemists, as well as in pharmacy, medicine, surgery and other technical work. One thousand cubic centimetres make 1 litre. *One litre equals 1.05668 liquid quarts or 0.9081 dry quart. The hectolitre (100 litres) serves the same purposes as the United States bushel (2,150.42 cubic inches), and is equal to about 8 bushels, or a barrel. A peck is about 9 litres. The litre is used for measurements commonly given in the gallon, the liquid and dry quarts, a litre being 5 per cent larger than our liquid quart and 10 per cent smaller than the dry quart. A litre of water weighs exactly a kilogram, 1. e., 1,000 grams. A thousand litres of water weigh 1 metric ton. †One kilogram equals 2.204622 avoirdupois pounds. Measurements commonly expressed in gross tons or short tons are stated in metric tons (1,000 kilograms). The metric ton comes between our long and short tons and serves the purpose of both. The kilogram and "half kilo" serve for everyday trade, the latter being 10 per cent larger than the pound. The kilogram is approximately 2.2 pounds. The gram and its multiples and divisions are used for the same purposes as ounces, pennyweights, drams, scruples and grains. For foreign postage 30 grams is the legal equivalent of the avoirdupois ounce. The metric system was legalized in the United States by an act of Congress approved July 28, 1866, which read as follows: Legalized in the "From and after the passage of this act it shall be lawful throughout the United States of America to employ the weights and measures of the metric system, and no contract or dealing or pleading in any court shall be deemed invalid or liable to objection because the weights or measures expressed or referred to therein are weights or measures of the metric system. "The tables in the schedule hereto annexed shall be recognized in the construction of contracts and in all legal proceedings as establishing in terms of the weights and measures now in use in the United States the equivalents of the weights and measures expressed therein in terms of the metric system; and said tables may be lawfully used for computing, determining and expressing in customary weights and measures the weights and measures of the metric system." The tables annexed were: Mexico had on June 30, 1910, telegraph lines aggregating 47,000 miles and cable lines aggregating 530 miles. COMPARISON OF METRIC AND CUSTOMARY UNITS FROM 1 TO 10. The average number of wage earners employed in the liquor industry of the United States in 1909 was 6,480. |