1. The Southern system 253 2. The Northern system 259 CHAPTER XXII THE METRIC SYSTEM 271 CHAPTER XXIII HOW THE METRIC SYSTEM WORKS IN FRANCE 284 CHAPTER XXIV THE CONFLICT OF THE IMPERIAL AND METRIC SYSTEMS 1. General view of the Imperial system 295 2. The propaganda of the Metric system 300 3. The reform of the Metric system 306 CONVERSION-TABLES OF METRIC AND IMPERIAL MEASURES 310 INDEX 311 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MEN AND MEASURES CHAPTER I GENERAL VIEW The earliest measures were those of length, and they were derived from the rough-and-ready standard afforded by the limbs of man. The readiest of these measures were those offered by the length of the forearm, and by parts of the hand; these formed a natural series of far-reaching importance. These arm-measures were— 1. The Cubit, the length of the bent forearm from elbow-point to finger-tip, about 18 to 19 inches. 2. The Span, the length that can be spanned between the thumb-tip and little finger-tip of the outstretched hand. It is nearly half of the cubit, about 9 inches. 3. The Palm, the breadth of the four fingers, one-third of the span, one-sixth of the cubit, about 3 inches. 4. The Digit or finger-breadth at about the middle of the middle finger, one-twelfth of the span, one-twenty-fourth of the cubit = 3/4 inch. From this division of the cubit into 6 palms and 24 digits, and of its half, the span, into 12 digits, came the division of the day into watches and hours, of the year into months; came also the consecration of the number 12 in legend, history, and social institutions—came in short duodecimalism wherever we find it. Add to the above measures the outstretch of the arms, the fathom, we have the five primitive limb-lengths. A time came when civilisation required the fixing of a standard cubit. It was perhaps at first an arbitrary standard, but it became fixed by law in the most ancient Eastern Kingdoms and, about the fortieth century before the Christian era, perhaps much earlier, certainly by the time of the Egyptian fourth dynasty, it had been fixed at a length known for certain to be equal to 18·24 English inches.