First Report of the Council to the General Meeting, Held Feb. 26th, 1856; A Statement of Receipts and Expenditure, the Proceedings of the General Meeting, a List of Contributions, Etc (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1857 Excerpt: ...be repealed. 11. The department which it is proposed to appoint should make an Annual Report to Parliament. The expediency of introducing the Metric system has thus been admitted, first, by the unanimous opinion of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, and, secondly, by a large majority of the House itself. We shall now conclude our observations with a brief summary of the principal reasons in favour of the measure: --1st. The uniformity in Weights and Measures whicli it has always been the great object of the Legislature to establish, is defeated by the vast variety of Weights and Measures in use in every part of the country and in many branches of trade. 2nd. The existence of so many Weights and Measures other than the Imperial, proves that we do not at present possess a system adequate to the requirements of trade, and adapted to daily intercourse, and to the purposes of science. 3rd. The Metric Weights and Measures are universally admitted to fulfil the conditions of a sound and convenient system. 4th. This system has been adopted not only in France, but in Belgium, Holland, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, and Greece, and is rapidly extending over other parts of Europe and in America. 5th. The increase of our trade with those countries which use the Metric Weights and Measures renders its adoption by ourselves a matter of great practical importance. 6th. The permissive use of Metric Weights and Measures is highly expedient for the purpose of legalising the transactions now carried on according to that system. 7th. The country has already expressed itself in favour of the Decimal method of calculation, on which the Metric System is based. 8th. The Metric Weights and Measures admit of binary divisions. 9th. By decimalizing the Weights..