Prev | Current Page 133 | Next

Jefferson, Thomas

"Public Papers"

.001 Dollar, . 1. { 375.98934306 pure silver.
The cent, . .01 { 34.18084937 alloy.
The dime, . .1 ------------
410.17019243
Eagle. . 10.

_Postscript_.
January 10, 1791
It is scarcely necessary to observe that the measures, weights,
and coins, proposed in the preceding report, will be derived
altogether from mechanical operations, viz.: A rod, vibrating
seconds, divided into five equal parts, one of these subdivided, and
multiplied decimally, for every measure of length, surface, and
capacity, and these last filled with water, to determine the weights
and coins. The arithmetical estimates in the report were intended
only to give an idea of what the new measures, weights, and coins,
would be nearly, when compared with the old. The length of the
standard or second rod, therefore, was assumed from that of the
pendulum; and as there has been small differences in the estimates of
the pendulum by different persons, that of Sir Isaac Newton was
taken, the highest authority the world has yet known. But, if even
he has erred, the measures, weights, and coins proposed, will not be
an atom the more or less.


Pages:
121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145