METRIC SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES The metric system has been adopted by Mexico, Brazil, Chili, Peru, etc., and except Russia and Great Britain, where it is permissive, by all European nations. Various names of the preceding systems are, however, frequently used: ln Ger many, I kilogram = 1 pound; in Switzerland, of a meter =1 foot, etc. If the first letters of the pre fixes deka, hecto, kilo, myria, from the Greek, and deci, centi, rani, from the Latin, are used in preference to our plain English, 10, 100, etc., it is best to employ capital letters for the multiples and small letters for the subdivisions, to avoid ambiguities in abbreviations: 1 dekameter or 10 me ters =1 dm.; 1 decimeter or-116 of a meter =1 dm.
The meter, unit of length, is nearly the ten-millionth part of a quadrant of a meridian, of tbe dis tance between equator and pole. The International Standard Meter is, practically, nothing else but a length defined by the distance between two lines on a platinum-iridium bar at 0° Centigrade, deposited at the Interna tional Bureau of Weights and Meas ures, Paris, France.
The liter, unit of capacity, is de rived from the weight of one kilo gram pure water at greatest density, a cube whose edge is one tenth of a meter and, therefore, the one-thou sandth part of a metric ton.
The gram, unit of weight, is a cube of pure water at greatest density, whose edge is one hundredth of a me ter, and, therefore, the one-thou sandth part of a kilogram, and the one-millionth part of a metric ton.
The metric system was legalized in the United States on July 28, 1366, when Congress enacted as follows: " The tables in the schedule hereto annexed shall be recognized in the construction of contracts, and in all legal proceedings, as establishing, in terms of the we,ights and measures now in use in the United States, the equivalents of the weights and meas ures expressed therein in terms of the metric system, and the tables may lawfully be used for computing, de termining, and expre,ssing in custom ary weights and measures the weights and measures of the metric system." Approximate Equivalents.—A me ter is about a yard; a kilo is about 2 pounds; a liter is about a quart; a centimeter is about inch; a metric ton is about same as a ton; a kilome ter is about mile; a cubic centime ter is about a thimbleful; a nickel weighs about 5 grams.
The following are the tables;