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Jefferson, Thomas

"Public Papers"


Let 10 ounces make a pound;
10 pounds a stone;
16 stones a kental;
10 kentals a hogshead.
COINS.
Let the money unit, or dollar, contain eleventh-twelfths of an
ounce of pure silver. This will be 376 troy grains, (or more
exactly, 375.989343 troy grains,) which will be about a third of a
grain, (or more exactly, .349343 of a grain,) more than the present
unit. This, with the twelfth of alloy already established, will make
the dollar or unit, of the weight of an ounce, or of a cubic inch of
rain water, exactly. The series of mills, cents, dimes, dollars, and
eagles, to remain as already established. (8.)
The second rod, or the second pendulum, expressed in the
measures of other countries, will give the proportion between their
measures and those of the United States.
Measures, weights and coins, thus referred to standards
unchangeable in their nature, (as is the length of a rod vibrating
seconds, and the weight of a definite mass of rain water,) will
themselves be unchangeable. These standards, too, are such as to be
accessible to all persons, in all times and places. The measures and
weights derived from them fall in so nearly with some of those now in
use, as to facilitate their introduction; and being arranged in
decimal ratio, they are within the calculation of every one who
possesses the first elements of arithmetic, and of easy comparison,
both for foreigners and citizens, with the measures, weights, and
coins of other countries.


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