THE POLYNESIAN
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PUBLISHED AT HOWOLTTLTT, OAETT, XSLA1TC3".
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that is, reduced to the same notation :
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ritoi'osnn chan(;k in wr.ir;ins, meas-
LUI S. AM) MONEYS IN (JkT.AT IIUIT
A1N AM) THE UMI ED STATES.
It may not be generally known, that a
body of learned men in Great Britain
have been engaged for some years in the
"Commission" of dividing a more simple
and convenient system of weights, meas
ures, and moneys; and as the question is
one of deep importance to our own coun
try, it may not be amiss to prepare our
readers with a few observations anticipa
tory to the forthcoming "Report."
In two countries like Great Britain and
the United States, which stand first in
point of commerce in the known wnrld it
can but be looked upon as a reproach that
twenty-seven years of peace should have)
been suffered to elapse without this great
desideratum having been accomplished,
except in some trivial particulars ; and
the more so, as France, had at the earlier
date of her Republic, proved to us its
practicability and advantages. The sub
ject, however, presents so many embar
rassments for ingenuity to exercise itself
upon, that it is difficult to bring a body of
mainematicians to the same conclusion, in
consequence of their not being able to
agree to start from the same point. Na
poleon, in the latter respect, was more fa
voiably circumstanced for he was not
only a clear-headed mathematician him
self, and therefore capable of judging of
the matter, but when he had come to a
conclusion, his power ' was sufficiently
strong to carry out his views without re
sistance, even if his name had not been
enough to rccomme'nd them as infallible.
In England and this country, on the con
trary, 110 government could pretend to the
despotic control, even if it possessed the
requisite attainments, necessary to origin
ate and enforce a change. It is a subject
alike out of the sphere of the legislatures
and executives, who are, therefore com
pelled to devolve its consideration upon
some other competent deliberate body,
and, as to each member of such a body,
his own ideas naturally appear the most
simple ami efficacious; years arc con
sumed in the work of mutual conversion,
before they can agree upon the basis
whereon their superstructure of practical
calculations is to be raised.
There are many who think that any al
teration of established weights, measures,
or coins, must be injurious, whatever may
be the abstract merit of the proposed in
novation ; and there are others who doubt
the practicability of introducing any chan
ges without a long period of confusion,
and the conquest of a large force of re
sistance. This may be true to a certain
extent ; but when shall we be better pre
pared for a change ? It can be nothing
more than a trivial sacrifice on 'the part
of some of the present generation for the
benefit of their successors. One thing,
however should be borne in mind, that is,
whatever system of weights and measures
Great Britain may choose to devise, it
will be highly important for us to adopt,
in consequence of the intimate connec
tion of the commerce of the two countries.
In this respect, it is desirable that the fun
damental bases of the weights, measures,
and coins of all the countries with which
wc have commercial intercourse, should
be the same ; but this could not be done
without producing, for a long period, con
fusion, injustice and error.
The great desideratum in establishing
a new system of weights measures, and
coins, is, that the auantitu and the money
should be subdivided in the same way,
and the best notation for the purpose is'
of course, that which is the r.nmhinn ho en
of arithmetic nearly all over the world,
namely, the decimal a scale which, as
it ascends from units to tens, hundreds,
and thousands, so also descends to tenth,
hundredth, thousandth- parts, &c. Such
a system, both as regards their weights
and measures, and their coins, has been
successfully carried into practice in France
and Netherlands, and as far as the coins
arc concerned, in the United States.
With such a general notation, ihc keep
ing of commercial accounts would re
quire nothing but the expeditious process
of common addition, subtraction, multipli
cation, and div ision. Suppose, for exam
ple, that the pound in weight, and the
pound, or dollar, in money, were bioth
subdivided into tenths, hundredths, and
thousandth parts, (call them if you please,
dimes, cents, and mills,) then five pounds,
six dimes, three cents, and four mills, in
weight, would be expressed by 5.G34 lbs.,
and the value in money at two pounds,
'six dimes, eight cents, four mills, or
2.681 per lb. avoirdupois would be ar
rived at by merely multiplying the two
expressions together, producing 15.122.
This example is an extreme one, and is
only given for illustration. Indeed, those
who are familiar with the facilities of de
cimal arithmetic, wc trust will not accuse
us of exaggeration in saying, that if the
weights, measures, and moneys of the
two countries, were brought under that
notation, any one moderately expert in
simple multiplication and division, might
acquire a proficiency in making up ac
counts, invoices, &c. in a few hours.
Under the present system, years are spent
in the earlier part of life in learning rules
" by heart," which are seldom long re
membered ; and acquiring a knowledge
of formula: which are still more seldom
understood, almost every one being com
pelled, in after years, to supply himself
with what his tutor failed to impress upon
his memory, by a sort of mental arithme
tic of his own. By substituting the de
cimal system, this would be entirely done
away with.' Instead of the tutor wanting
an " assistant," the pupil, as far as the
arithmetic of the shop and counting room
is concerned, would have but little need
of assistance ; and, as the- ground work
of commercial knowledge would thus re
quire less time and talent, those intend
ed for commercial occupations would be
able to devote more ability and greater
opportunities to the attainment of a high
er order of knowledge that would be use
ful to them in their pursuits, than under
the old regime can be expected from
them, until they have acquired it by a
long course ol actual experience.
Having thus described the advantages
of a purely decimal system, we would
name three great principles by which, it
is hoped, the " Commission " has been
guided. First, that the old integral bases
should bo preserved in every case where
there are not very strong reasons to the
contrary ; secondly, that whenever the
integral base is altered, it should be main
ly with a view of facility in converting
values and quantities from the old scales
into the new ; and thirdly, that the num
ber of scales used should be reduced, as
much as possible, without producing a
greater degree of inconvenience than their
suppression would remove.
The importance of preserving the old
integral bases will be obvious to any man
We learn that some such nomenclature
as thia will be proposed in the Report.
rf K...' e .1 i It .
mi uusmess irom me loriowing reasons.
Almost every commercial house has a
multitude of old accounts to which refer
ence is frequently necessary ; and as it
would be required to translate the partic
ulars ol them into the language of the new
2' yards, 2.G25 ; 2? yards, 2.75 ;
2J yards, 2.875, &c. For itinerary, ma
rine, and agrarian purposes, two yards
would constitute one fathom; 5J yards,
one rod; 22 yards, one chain of 100
links ; and 17G0 vards, one statute mile :
system, that language should be assimila-, the latter terms and quantities having
as mr us possiuie 10 me arithmetical long oeen used in ootn countries to de
language now in use. By preserving the fine distances on maps, charts, deeds,
sovereign or pound sterling of Great Brit- grants, and other important documents,
am, for instance, as the integral base for to which reference is often required, and
money in that country, no other labor consequently should be preserved. The
would be imposed on. the accountant than terms feet, inches, and lines should be
converting the fractional parts now in use abolished, their places being supplied by
to their equivalent decimal expression, an
operation with which any one may be
come familiar in a few hours' practice.
Then all the new coins of that country of
a denomination less than a sovereign
would be required to express the tenth,
hundredth, and thousandth parts of the
pound sterling ; and not only can any val
ue under the pound sterling be set forth
in those three parts alone, with greater
convenience and to a greater degree of
nicety than by the nine coins now in cir
culation for the purpose ; but the silver
coins as low as sixpence now current may
be expressed detcrminately in them, anil
would therefore cause little embarrass
ment should it be found impracticable to
withdraw them wholly at once. The
crown, for example, would be two dimes
and five cents, or 25-100 of a pound ;
the shilling, five cents or 5-100. of a
pound ; the sixpence, two cents and five
mills or 25-1000 of a pound . the penny,
four mills or 4-1000 of a pound ; anc the
farthing, one mill or one-thousandth of a
pound.
With regard to the legal coinage of our
own country, it probably could not be
improved, with the exception of a slight
alteration in the weight of our cents 1
j
but when we come to the obtrusive, in
congruous, and illegitimate eighth and
sixteenth dollar pieces of Spain, a sweep
ing change seems necessary. The change
could readily be effected by. reducing the
value of the 12 cent pieces to 10 cents,
and the 6 cent pieces to 5 cents, which
would soon drive them but of the coun
try, after the manner of the old pistareens
a few years since. No individual who
has long resided among us, can be ignor
ant of the inconvenience and perplexity
he has met with by the use of these coins.
and can be so prejudiced as not to be
willing to have them abolished. With
these alterations, only a slight change
would be required in our laws, such as
the reduction of postage from 18 cents
to 15 cents ; 12. cents to 10 cents ; 6
cents to 5 cents, etc., which has long been
called for, and a few others.
Presuming that the foregoing advanta
ges are sufficiently obvious to create a
change in moneys, we shall next endeav
or to show wherein the system of weights
and measures can be unproved, which
will be equally applicable to both coun
tries. L Measures of Length. The unit
of the measures of length, we conceive
should be the present yard of Great Brit
ain and the United States, from which all
other measures of extension, whether they
be lineal, superficial, or solid, should be
derived, computed, or ascertained. For
scientific, mechanical, mercantile, and re
tail pjurposes, it should be divided into
tenths, hundredths, and thousandths,
whicb can be made to express any other
fractional part of a yard that would be
likely to occur in business. For instance,
2 J yards would be written 2.125 ; 2
yards, 2.25 ; 2 yards, 2.375 ; 2 J yards,
the tenths, hundredths, and thousandths
of a yard. All old measures of feet and
inches can readily be reduced to yards
and the decimals of a yard, by. dividing
the feet by 2, and the inches by 36.
By the new system, the chief imple
ments to be used in' measuring would con
sist of a rule or line one yard in length,
graduated on one side into tenths, hun
dredths, and thousandths: and on the
other, into eighths, quarters, halves, &c;
or of shorter or longer rods or lines grad
uated into the subdivisions or multiples of
a yard ; and the Gunter's Chain 22 yards
or 100 links in length, which has" long
been used in both countries for agrarian
measures.
2. Measures of Surfaces. The unit
of the measures of surface, might consist
of the square yard, which could also be
divided into tenths, hundredths, and thou
sandths, and be made to express any oth
er fractional parts of a yard. 4810 square
yards would, as at present, constitute an
acre, which could likewise be divided in
to tenths, hundredths, thousandths, dec.
and be made to express any other frac
tional part of an acre. The terms rood
and rod, would very properly be discon
tinued, which could easily be reduced"
from the old system to the new, the for
mer being just 0.25 and the latter 0.00G25
of an acre.
. 3. Cubic or Solid Measure. The
unit of this measure might very conven
iently be made a cubic yard, which could
be divided into tenths, hundredths, thou
sandths, etc., for merchants and engi
neers, and into tenth-yard, hundredth
yard, -and thousandth-yard cubes for oth
er purposes.
Wood and timber could be bought or
sold by the cubic yard, which might like
wise be divided into tenths, hundredths,
thousandths, etc. Then the most con
venient lengths to cut market fuel would
be. 1, I J, and two yards. The term on,
as applied to rough and hewn timber, and
to shipping in a cubit sense, might be dis
continued, and cubic yards substituted in
their stead.
4. Liquid and Djiv Measures. The
unit of liquid and dry measure might very
properly consist of the old wine gallon,
which contains, at present, 231 cubic
inches. It could be divided into tenths,
hundredths, and thousands, etc., which
can readily be made to express any other
fractional part of a gallon that would oc
cur in practice. The bushel might con
tain 10 gallons, "strict measure," and
should not be used for any other purpos
es than measuring such materials as can
not be consistently bought or sold by
weight. It might also be divided into
tenths, hundredths, thousanndths, etc.,
which could be made to express eighths,
quarters, halves, etc. as exemplified in the
measures of length. The old denomina
tions, quarters, weighs, lasts, cooms, pecks,
pottles, etc, etc., might be discontinued.
The measures necessary to be used
would be the bushel ; 50-100 or J bush-