No. 4.-Figure Code.

The following is another example of a figure code.

We will suppose, in this case, that a shipowner wishes to arrange a code for telegraphing information about his ships. We will say he has ten ships. He might arrange his code thus, beginning with the names of the ships :

:

The second and third figures could be utilised for giving information about the arrival or departure of the ship, by means of a hundred phrases, thus:

:

Not arrived yet.

08

Has broken down, and cannot now arrive by time.

fixed.

And so on up to 99.

The fourth and fifth figures could be used to convey other information by means of another hundred phrases, such as :--

CHAPTER XXIX

THE METRIC SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

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The Metric System" derives its name from the fact that it is based on the "metre a French measure of length, equal to about 39 inches.

It has nothing to do with the gas meter, yet strange to say the gas meter is the only instrument in popular use in which decimal measures, which are those used in the metric system, are employed. Thus, the following diagrams mean that the meter registers 31,100 feet.

The metric system is sometimes called the "Decimal System because the multiples and sub-multiples proceed by tenths of the unit the word "decimal" being derived from a Latin word signifying the numeral ten. The term "Decimal System," however, does not necessarily mean the metric system. The gas meter already mentioned has a decimal system for registering the amount of gas consumed, and if we were to divide our yard into tenths and hundredths that also would be a decimal system, but neither could be called the metric system. The term Metric System properly speaking applies only to the system based on the French measure of length-the metre.

Towards the close of the last century the weights and measures of France, like those now in use in this country, were in a state of confusion. In 1790 the French Government made overtures to our Government with a view to the appointment of a joint commission of scientists of the two countries to fix a natural standard of weights

and measures. Unfortunately, our Government did not respond. The French Government, therefore, undertook the task themselves and with the assistance of an international committee (on which England was not represented) eventually adopted a most perfect system of weights and measures-what is now known as the Metric System, which was legally sanctioned and came into operation in France in the year 1795.

The fundamental basis fixed upon was the ten-millionth part of a quadrant of the Meridian; i.e., the distance from the Equator to one of the Poles. This was named The Metre (from a Greek word signifying a measure) and forms the unit of length, to which the respective units of surface, capacity, solidity, and weight are definitely and simply related, as will presently be shown.

Although the French are generally given the credit of having been the first to propose a decimal system of weights and measures, it is worthy of note that that honour really belongs to one of our own countrymen-James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine who in 1783 devised a decimal system practically identical with that subsequently adopted by the French Government. There is evidence to show that Watt submitted his proposal to the French authorities, who readily perceived its advantages, and ultimately adopted it.

Since its introduction into France the use of this system has rapidly extended. It was introduced into France in 1795, Belgium in 1801, Holland in 1816, Greece in 1836, Switzerland in 1850, Spain in 1859, Portugal in 1861, Italy in 1863, Roumania in 1865, Germany in 1872, Mauritius in 1875, Austria in 1876, Egypt in 1876, Servia in 1883, Norway in 1882, Sweden in 1889, Turkey in

1892, and it has also been adopted in the Argentine Republic, Bolivia, Brazil, Central America, Chili, Columbia, Ecuador, Finland, the French, Italian, Spanish, and Portugcse colonies and dependencies, Haiti, Japan, Java, Mexico, Peru, San Domingo, Uruguay, and Venezuela, these countries having a total population of 445 millions.

It will thus be seen that a very large proportion of the civilised nations of the world have adopted the metric system of weights and measures; and in no single case has a country which has once adopted the system ever discarded it.

For the last twenty years the Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom have acknowledged the great advantages of the system, and have been unanimous in urging the Government to make it compulsory in the United Kingdom, but the only result of their labours so far is that the use of the system has been made permissive; formerly it was illegal to use metric weights and measures in this country for trading purposes. There is no doubt that, sooner or later, the system will be made compulsory in this country.

Explanation of the Metric System.-Dismiss from your mind all the tables you learned at school, such as avoirdupois weight, troy weight, apothecaries weight, cloth measure, square measure, wine measure, ale and beer measure, corn or dry measure, and everything else connected with British weights and measures, and learn the following table instead :—

The first three words are the Greek equivalents for the numbers 10, 100, 1,000, and the last three are the Latin equivalents for the same numbers. Greek multiply by; Latin divide by.

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