sed the Latin numerals; thus,
decimetres, tenths of meters; centimetres, hundredths of meters;
milliametres, thousandths of meters. The unit adopted for square
measure was the _are_, equal to 100 square meters; for solid measure,
the _stere_, equal to one cubic meter; and for measure of capacity,
the _litre_, a cubic decimeter. The weights were derived from these
measures; the _gramme_ being the weight of one cubic centimeter of
distilled water. The system of decimal gradation was applied to all of
these; that is, each denomination represented a tenth part of the one
above it, and ten times as much as the one next below it, the Latin
and Greek numerals being prefixed as we have already described with
reference to the meter. In conformity with this decimal law, the
quadrant was divided, for astronomical purposes, into 100 degrees
instead of 90; and the thermometer likewise into 100 degrees from the
boiling to the freezing point. At the same time, a system of reckoning
money by tens was introduced; and it must be owned, that the whole
system of computation in weights, measures, and money established in
France at this period, is one of the greatest triumphs of
civilisation. In ordinary transactions, old denominations of money are
still used by the French; the _sous_, in particular, being apparently
ineradicable. But in book-keeping, the furnishing of accounts, and in
literature, the modern and legal standards are invariably adhered to.

About thirty years ago, the Americans took it into serious
consideration whether they should adopt the ready-made scale of France
entire. On that occasion (1821), Mr John Quincy Adams produced a most
elaborate report to Congress, containing an immense amount of
information on the subject of metrology. He found great fault with the
French nomenclature, so puzzling to the unlearned. 'Give the people,'
said he, 'but their accustomed _words_, and they will call 16 a dozen;
120, 112, or any other number, a hundred.' He disapproved, likewise,
of thrusting the decimal principle upon things incompatible with it.
'Decimal arithmetic,' said he, 'is a contrivance of man for computing
numbers, and not a property of time, space, or matter. It belongs
essentially to the keeping of accounts, but is merely an incident to
the transactions of trade. Nature has no partiality for the number 10;
and the attempt to shackle her freedom with them [decimal gradations],
will for ever prove abortive.' And again: 'To