Dear John,
Thanks for these thoughts and dates. I have slightly emended the
article 'Spelling metre or meter' at http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/Spelling_metre_or_meter.pdf
to suit your additional information.
Cheers,
Pat naughtin
Geelong, Australia
On 2009/04/26, at 9:22 PM, John M. Steele wrote:
Pat,
The USMA laws page includes the Metric Act of 1866. It has been
amended to remove invalid conversion tables, but the history section
at the bottom has scans of the actual bill and tables.
We were using meter, liter and deka- at the time. However, the
metric ton (1000 kg) is described with two terms, tonneau and
millier, I assume "everyone" later simplified tonneau to tonne, and
the other died out.
However, both sets of spelling have been used. The Mendenhall Order
of 1893 (found on same page) uses metre, litre, and even gramme.
Also on the same page, U. S. Grant's report to Congress on the
Treaty of the Meter uses "meter" but it is only a US report, not the
original.
Finally, the Upton report of 1878 seems to indicate that the
original spellings of "are" and "stere" (cubic meter) omitted the
final "e", although the Metric Act of 1866 shows a final "e" in both
cases.
These are just data points. I've never seen anything that would
represent a scholarly tracking of the situation.
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
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