The Metre, = 39·370113 inches, is divided into 10 decimetres, 100
centimetres, 1000 millimetres.
1 yard = 0·9144 metre; 1 foot = 0·3048 metre; 1 inch = 0·0254 metre, or
2·54 centimetres.
It is multiplied by 10 for the decametre, by 100 for the hectometre, by
1000 for the kilometre, by 10,000 for the myriametre. Practically the
kilometre, = 0·621 mile or 1093·6 yards, is the only larger unit used;
the other units are useless. And though it be interesting to know that
the kilometre is approximately 1/10,000 of the quarter-meridian, it is a
useless fact.
_Surface_
The square metre = 1·196 square yard. The lower units are little used.
For land-measurement the square decametre, 10 × 10 metres, is called an
Are; 100 ares = 100 × 100 metres, make a Hectare = 2·47 acres; and the
square metre is a Centiare.
1 acre = 0·40468 hectare.
_Solidity_
The cubic metre = 35·315 cubic feet (nearly the volume of a ton of water
= 35·84 cubic feet) contains 1000 cubic decimetres, each of 1000 cubic
centimetres (= 61 cubic inches).
1 cubic foot = 0·028317 cubic metre.
The cubic centimetre is strictly speaking 1/1000 cubic decimetre, but as
used in chemistry for fluid measure it is considered as 1/1000 of the
litre, which is only approximately a cubic decimetre.
_Capacity_
The Litre was originally a cubic decimetre, but this definition has been
abandoned. It is now defined as the volume of a kilogramme of pure water
in air at 4 degrees Centigrade = 39·2° Fahrenheit.
At ordinary temperatures a litre of water weighs about 998·8 grammes or
0·9988 kilogramme (see Table at end of Chap. X).
The only minor unit practically used (and only in scientific work) is
the millilitre, under the name of cubic centimetre, = 15·432 grains of
water.
1 Litre = 2·204 lb. water, or 1·76 pint.
1 Pint = 0·568 litre; 1 gallon = 4·546 litres.
The principal larger unit is the Hectolitre = 22·04 gallons or 2·75
bushels. The Decalitre = 2·2 gallons.
1 Bushel = 36·37 litres; 1 Quarter 291 litres or nearly 3 hectolitres.
1 Bushel to the acre = 0·9 hectolitre to the hectare. (Deduct 1/10 on
English.)
1 Hectolitre to the hectare = 1·11 bushel to the acre. (Add 1/10 to
French.)
_Weight_
The original unit was the Gramme, defined as the weight of a cubic
centimetre of water at 4° Centigrade = 15·432 grains. It is divided into
10 decigrammes, 100 centigrammes, 1000 milligrammes. Of its multiples
the decagramme is useless; the hectogramme is merely the name inscribed
on a 100-gramme weight; the kilogramme of 1000 grammes is used when its
use cannot be avoided.
But the present legal unit is not the gramme but the kilogramme = 2·2046
lb. or 15,432 grains.[51]
Footnote 51:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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