UNITS OF METRIC SCALE MARCH TO FAVOR ABROAD

Under the title of "Vestiges of Premetric Weights and Measures in Metric-System Europe" the Harvard Bureau of International Research is publishing the results of a year's research conducted in Europe by Professor A. E. Kennelly Hon. '06. The book has gone to press and will be published early in April.

The purpose of the research was to determine to what extent the metric system has failed to replace older forms of measurement in the countries where it has been adopted. Professor Kennelly spent last year in Europe investigating weight and measure practices in the 30 nations which have adopted the metric system. It was found that only two older units of measure were in common use in any of these countries. In the Balearic Isles the inhabitants still use the old Spanish ounce, and in parts of Germany the old Rhenish inch is still used in lumber measurement.

Professor Kennelly found that the vestiges of older systems of measurement are limited to isolated communities, where old natives still cling to the systems with which they are familiar. There is a steady advance of the metric system into all parts of the nations which have adopted it, and no basis was found for the charge that the metric system is failing, and is maintained only by the coercion of the governments.