Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 64.djvu/404

400 new German empire was the substitution of the metric system for the many widely different local systems of metrology. The German people are now accustomed to it, and there is no more danger of its abandonment in Germany than in France. A list of forty-three countries could be given, the governments of which have adopted the metric system. This includes the greater part of continental Europe and of the American continent south of the United States. It has been legalized, but not made obligatory, in the United States and Great Britain. In Denmark it has not yet been fully adopted, but is largely used in trade, in coinage and in the railway system. In Austria, it has been established since 1876 ; in Norway and Sweden since 1889 ; in Turkey since 1891. In all cases it is reported to have given great satisfaction to the commercial classes, the chief obstacle being the ignorance and consequent opposition of the peasantry. From a carefully prepared list it is found that the population of the countries that have adopted the metric system is now a trifle less than 500,000,000. In 1863 it was about 140,000,000. The number has been more than trebled in forty years. In Russia a decree looking to its general adoption has been prepared by the minister of finance, approved by the administrative council, and is now awaiting the signature of the Czar. Should this be given, the system receives an addition of over 100,000,000 people to be put in training.

In the United States the first general legislation on the subject of weights and measures was an act of congress in 1866, by which the use of the metric system was made lawful, but not obligatory. No recognition of the theoretic superiority of any system is ever sufficient to induce the people to discard the system to which they are accustomed, however cumbrous this may be. The law of 1866 might be defined as merely legislative politeness. In 1875 an international conference was agreed upon by the most important nations of the world with a view to the promotion of some common system of metrology. The result was the establishment of the international bureau of weights and measures at Paris, maintained jointly by the participating governments. The first object to be attained was the preparation of a new international standard meter and a new international standard kilogram, certified copies of which were to be furnished to each government. The preparation of these was the work of a number of years. The copies sent to the United States were officially adopted by Congress, April 5, 1893, as the American national standards. The yard is hence legally defined as a definite fraction of a meter, and the pound as a definite fraction of a kilogram. This was an important step, but was regarded by many as of no practical importance, the use of the British standards being still protected by law.

The next step forward in this country was the adoption, July 12, 1894, of eight units for the measurement of electrical magnitudes.