On 2010/10/19, at 12:55 , Carleton MacDonald wrote:
Huh. Wonder what would have happened to measurement standards in this
country if the pirates HADN'T attacked ...
Dear Carleton,
While checking the story of the pirates, I found this:
1793 December 11
The French government tried to present the USA with its first metric
standards as a gift. In a report, 'Le Système Métrique Décimal',
published by the Ministère du Commerce et Industrie in Paris they wrote:
Standard metres and graves (kilograms), made by the temporary
Commission, were very probably distributed, at least in part, in
several foreign countries. In the papers of the Committee of Public
Safety, kept in the National Archives, there is a mention under the
date of 21 frimaire year I (11 December 1793), that a copper metre and
a copper grave both with gradations were sent to the USA through an
agency for a Correspondent of the Natural History Museum, Joseph Dombey.
Robert P Crease, Chairman of the Department of Philosophy, Stony Brook
University, and historian at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA
describes this as a 'Missed metric moment'. Robert P Crease wrote:
The unfortunate saga of Joseph Dombey contributed to the failure of
the US to capitalize on an early opportunity to go metric.
On 17 January 1794 a French doctor and botanist named Joseph Dombey
stepped aboard the Soon, a brig departing from Le Havre for
Philadelphia. Dombey bore a letter of introduction from the Committee
of Public Safety, the executive body that ruled France during the
Reign of Terror. Dombey was carrying to the US Congress a copper
length prototype – newly named the metre – and a copper kilogram,
which were intended to help the US reform its system of weights and
measures.
…
Andro Linklater in his 2002 book Measuring America (Walker and Co.)
"He was the ideal choice in every way but one – his luck was
phenomenally bad." Had Dombey succeeded, today we might not be in the
ludicrous situation of the US – the world's largest economy –
persisting with non-SI units.
…
The following year, Congress appointed a committee that recommended
Jefferson's proposals. It was a key moment for US metrological reform.
Western nations were being seized, settled and surveyed – and any
delay in implementing a new system would make it harder to overturn
the existing one. But while Congress considered the committee's
recommendation, it had other pressing business and put off taking a
vote. This is how matters stood when Dombey set sail in January 1794.
…
Due to a series of misfortunes, Dombey never made it to American
shores. In March, as the boat neared Philadelphia, a fierce storm
damaged the brig and drove it south to the Antilles, where it had to
land at Point-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe.
…
Right after it left the harbour, the ship was attacked by British
privateers who seized its cargo and took the crew hostage. Despite
disguising himself as a Spanish sailor, Dombey was recognized and
imprisoned for ransom at the British colony of Montserrat, where in
April – still ailing – he died and was buried.
…
Dombey's metre and kilogram are apparently lost, though the National
Institute of Standards and Technology in Washington, DC – which still
seeks US conversion to SI – has in its collection other prototype
standards that were made in France at about the same time.
…
For a country to switch to a new measurement system is an immensely
difficult undertaking requiring strong leadership, political will and
the right social climate. All these were present in the US in 1794,
but the moment was not exploited.
To see the full article in Physics World by Robert P Crease go to:
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/indepth/43030
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see
http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html
Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
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