The case of the Metric Martyrs began when last year on July 4 (!) Thoburn's
weights and scales were confiscated. By chance, they picked the right day to
do this!
I am always in Castlebar on that day on the Four Days Walks and the American
participants are congratulated by the others. If there are many Americans it
is celebrated in the evening.
On the same day:
In 1790 George Washington proposed a decimal system of units.
In 1799 Van Swinden, rapporteur of the Paris conference, launched the metric
system in a public session, when he made his report.
1814: The status quo in France, the co-existence of the metric and the
Napoleonic Customary System was confirmed by the king.
1837: France goes metric for good by the "Loi du Quatre Juillet concernant
les Poids et Mesures", starting its global spread.
More evidence how this day is as deeply connected to the metric system as it
is to the history of the US.
Han
