Record

HSF - Correspondence of Sir John Frederick William Herschel, and the Herschel family
- 2 - Correspondence of Colonel John Herschel
  - 1 - Letters of John Herschel to Margaret Brodie Herschel and John Frederick William Herschel

RefNo	HSF/2/1/105
Previous numbers	32.8.90
Level	Item
Title	Copy letter from J [John] Herschel], to Colonel [James Francis] Tennant
Creator	Herschel; John (1837-1921); British army officer and astronomer
Date	21 November 1869
Description	He is not sorry that Tennant 'takes up the gloves' for the metric system and John aims to defend himself from a charge of prejudice. He compares and contrasts the metric system with 'nondescript' English and other measures, not allowing that the metric system tied to the French unit is superior. He continues to discuss this, thinking that a decimal system is desirable, but change is not. Change of notation would be impossible without a change in unit and there is no absurdity in adapting the national unit to the decimal system. He then discusses the adoption of a universal system, believing that America and Australia would not take the metre as a unit. John relates his own experience and cannot get accustomed to a metrical basis; he always has to convert into feet and inches to grasp length and he rarely troubles to consider weights. He identifies himself as an opponent of the metric system, objecting to the practices in writing it. He wonders if the foot-pound will ever yield to the metre-kilogramme, and whether English speaking nations would relinquish their measures. In England, support for metric measurement is among a limited section of scientific experimentalists, of whom there are perhaps only ten individuals in India.
Extent	4p.
Format	Manuscript
PhysicalDescription	Ink on paper
AccessStatus	Open

Fellows associated with this archive

Code	PersonName	Dates
NA7955	Herschel; John (1837 - 1921)	1837 - 1921

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