Scientific American Volume 88 Number 16 (April 1903) . mum gain with a mini-mum of inconvenience. The simplicity of a singleratio in all commercial calculations, accounts, meas-ures, and numbers is so obvious as to appeal to everyone who thinks. Lord Kelvin states that instead ofinvolving confusion during the transition, the reversehappened in his own establishment; that the adoptionof the decimal system was a convenience from thevery first. Our country has been very slow in accepting themetric system, largely through ignorance of the metricsystem, but partly because of the inconvenience ofmak
Scientific American Volume 88 Number 16 (April 1903) . mum gain with a mini-mum of inconvenience. The simplicity of a singleratio in all commercial calculations, accounts, meas-ures, and numbers is so obvious as to appeal to everyone who thinks. Lord Kelvin states that instead ofinvolving confusion during the transition, the reversehappened in his own establishment; that the adoptionof the decimal system was a convenience from thevery first. Our country has been very slow in accepting themetric system, largely through ignorance of the metricsystem, but partly because of the inconvenience ofmaking the change. Surely it would be folly to expecttttat we would accept a reform which is a hundred-fold more sweeping, and the results of which are doubt-ful. Why not accept first a reform the practical valueof which has been tested in all civilized countries, andproven beyond doubt by the forty nations who havealready adopted the metric system? January 21, 1903. N. Y. Hubbard. ) 1903 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC. 300 Scientific American April iS, THE HOST POWERFUL EXPRESS PASSENGERLOCOMOTIVE. The Scientific American has duly illustrated anddescribed, from time to time, the most powerful pas-senger locomotive as each engine, which was qualifiedto bear this title, has made its appearance. At pres-ent the largest and most powerful express engine inexistence is the one shown in the accompanying illus-tration, which has just been built by the Baldwin Loco-motive Works for the Chicago & Alton Railway. Thisand a sister engine have been built especially for theheavy passenger ex-cursion trains whichwill be run in connec-tion with the St. LouisExposition. With a view to de-termining the besttype of engine for thisparticular service, theChicago & AltonRailway borrowed andtested some of themost powerful passen-ger engines in theUnited States. Theyfound that, big assome of these were,they were still notequal to the heavy ex-actions of the propos-ed service, and accord-ingly a design o
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