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Introduction: Decimal Ideas Before Revolutionary France

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A Brief History of the Metric System

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science ((BRIESFHISTCHEM))

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Abstract

The conceptual prehistory of the metric system is reviewed. The metric system, an artificial system of measures, did not evolve from customary measures previously in use in late eighteenth-century France, but from a set of ideas published by natural philosophers in the second half of the seventeenth century. These ideas included the utility of decimal arithmetic and a relatively few choices for a length standard derived from nature. Principles for new measures designed on philosophical principles were taken up by governmental bodies in Great Britain and the United States late in the eighteenth century, but no new measures emerged from those discussions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Currency was often discussed along with weights and measures in both theoretical and practical proposals for reform. This book will occasionally mention currency, but not enter into any detail on the subject.

  2. 2.

    A footnote on feet is in order here. “Foot” and its equivalent in other languages is the name of an anthropometric length unit dating back to antiquity. As the name suggests, it is a length close to that of a human foot. The length was standardized in different times and different places to slightly different lengths [2]. Just how long the foot unit Riccioli used compared to the one Mersenne used would be difficult to determine. Estimates of the ancient Roman foot made in the twentieth century vary from about 29.6 to 31.6 cm [10]. The lengths quoted here for the seconds pendulum are to give a rough idea of its length as determined before there were accurate length standards.

  3. 3.

    This variation with latitude is due primarily to the fact that the shape of the earth is not quite spherical. Ignoring surface features, earth is an ellipsoid slightly flattened at the poles and slightly bulging at the equator. The distance from the center of the earth to sea level at the equator is about 0.3% greater than the corresponding distance to the poles. This makes acceleration due to gravity about 1% less at the equator than at the poles. That variation would make a seconds pendulum at the equator about 1% shorter than at the poles—if the earth were not rotating. The centrifugal force due to the earth’s rotation opposes the force of gravity at the equator but is perpendicular to it at the poles; this reduces the length of the seconds pendulum at the equator by an additional 0.3%.

  4. 4.

    Germany was Watt’s word. Although not a nation-state at that time, Germany was a distinct region within Europe, albeit one with fuzzy borders.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, Le Moyne College, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Carmen J. Giunta

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  1. Carmen J. Giunta
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Correspondence to Carmen J. Giunta .

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Giunta, C.J. (2023). Introduction: Decimal Ideas Before Revolutionary France. In: A Brief History of the Metric System. SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28436-6_1

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