Page:British Weights and Measures - Superior to the Metric, by James W. Evans.djvu/26

18 new, but really primitive, system of metrology. What he wrote in 1821 is as applicable now as then to the merits of the question under notice. Later writers have taken much the same ground—in some instances indeed they give but echoes of Adams's views; in others, extended research has added to their weight.

It must be remembered that the principles of our system have descended to us through long centuries—in our earliest traditions they are mentioned, and in the first British Acts of Parliament they are spoken of. Impurities crept in, and were a source of trouble so long back as the time when Magna Charta was assented to, for therein it was enacted there should be but "one weight and one measure" throughout the realm. It is curious to note that there then existed, as many centuries after, a strong demand for uniformity. Local customs proved too strong to sweep away, and it is only in comparatively recent times that many confusing provincialisms have been abolished, and some yet exist. Still the system as a system has always maintained its cardinal features. The adoption of its principles is with us as a people instinctive, and not easily to be eradicated.

As we have seen, Adams takes strong exception to the fundamental unit of the metric system, as inconvenient for every day use. Professor A. De Morgan, of London University College, in expressing somewhat similar thoughts, said: "I take an exception to the metre. It arose from a mere fanciful connection with the quarter of the meridian, which I think of no