Mesures usuelles (French for customary measurements) were a system of measurement introduced to act as compromise between metric system and traditional measurements. Measurement is the estimation of the magnitude of some attribute of an object, such as its length or weight, relative to a unit of measurement. ... Look up si, Si, SI in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The French First Republic established the metric system, but could not provide an education system for all of its citizens to train them unto familiarity and acceptance. Indeed, there was hardly any public communication at the detail required outside the Paris area. Most people could not even buy all the measuring instruments to fully grasp the concepts and use the metric system, anyway, and still thought in terms which were mostly non-decimal, but had the fractional subdivisions of the previous system: a livre (pound) was thought necessarily to be divided into sixteen onces (ounces); a toise (fathom or double-yard) was thought to be divided into 72 pouces (inches)—as though these were absolute concepts. Motto: (Liberty, equality, brotherhood, or death!) Anthem: La Marseillaise (unofficial) Capital Paris Language(s) French Government Republic Various  - 1792-1795 National Convention (rule by legislature)  - 1794-1799 Directory  - 1799-1804 First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte Legislature National Convention French Directory French Consulate History  - Storming of the Bastille/French Revolution 14 July... For other uses, see Decimal (disambiguation). ... The pound or pound-mass (abbreviations: lb, , lbm, or sometimes in the United States: #) is a unit of mass (sometimes called weight in everyday parlance) in a number of different systems, including the imperial and US and older English systems. ... The ounce (abbreviation: oz) is the name of a unit of mass in a number of different systems, including various systems of mass that form part of English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... A toise (symbol: T) is a unit of measure for length, area and volume originating in pre-revolutionary France. ... A fathom is the name of a unit of length in the Imperial system (and the derived U.S. customary units). ... An inch (plural: inches; symbol or abbreviation: in or, sometimes, ″ - a double prime) is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ...

Napoleon I, the Emperor of the French, himself despised the inconvenience of surrendering the high factorability of traditional measures in the name of decimality, and recognized the difficulty of its acceptance among the populace. In 1812 he accepted that for some time the common people could use the subdivisions they preferred, though these would not be based on the royal or provincial units of measurement, but the metric ones. Thus the prototypes of the metric units: the kilogramme and metre served an immediate standardization over the whole country, instead of having several legal types in different parts of the country, let alone across the whole of Europe. The new (but never called "new") livre was accepted as five hundred grammes, the new (but never called "new") toise was accepted as two metres. Products could be sold in shops under the old names, which related to one another in the same manner, but did not have quite the same absolute sizes. The term for this series of measurements was mesures usuelles. Napoléon I, Emperor of the French (born Napoleone di Buonaparte, changed his name to Napoléon Bonaparte)[1] (15 August 1769; Ajaccio, Corsica – 5 May 1821; Saint Helena) was a general during the French Revolution, the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from... ... For other uses, see Decimal (disambiguation). ... For the overture by Tchaikovsky, see 1812 Overture; For the wars, see War of 1812 (USA - United Kingdom) or Patriotic War of 1812 (France - Russia) For the Siberia Airlines plane crashed over the Black Sea on October 4, 2001, see Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 1812 was a leap year starting... For other uses, see Prototype (disambiguation). ... The international prototype, made of platinum-iridium, which is kept at the BIPM under conditions specified by the 1st CGPM in 1889. ... This article is about the unit of length. ... For other meanings of gram, see gram (disambiguation). ... This article is about the unit of length. ...

The toise or French fathom, though used more often than an English fathom, was now defined as two metres in length, and was divided into 6 pieds, or "feet"; this French foot (thus being in length a third of a metre) being divided in turn into 12 pouces, or "inches", and, as in Britain but not as in the US, the inch was divided into 12 lignes, or lines. A toise (symbol: T) is a unit of measure for length, area and volume originating in pre-revolutionary France. ...

Another old unit of measuring length, the aune or "ell" used to measure cloth was 120 centimetres, and divided into halves; tiers, meaning "thirds"; and quarters. (This measurement has survived in the form of wood sizes sold in hardware stores throughout Europe, but the name of the basic size, as well as its subdivisions, has been discarded.) An ell, when used as a unit of length, is usually 45 inches, i. ...

The litre was subdivided like an English quart, into demis (literally, "halves", being the equivalent of a pint of about sixteen fluid ounces), quarts (literally, "fourths", being the equivalent of a cup of about eight fluid ounces), huitièmes (literally, "eighths") and seizièmes (literally, "sixteenths", of about two fluid ounces). The litre or liter (see spelling differences) is a unit of volume. ... For other uses, see Quart (disambiguation). ... The pint is an English unit of volume or capacity in the imperial system and United States customary units, equivalent in each system to one half of a quart, and one eighth of a gallon. ... A fluid ounce is a unit of volume in both the Imperial system of units and the U.S. customary units system. ...

The boisseau, or "bushel", was redefined as an eighth of a hectolitre; it also kept its double, half, and quarter subdivisions. A table of weights from the secretaries of the different states, showing the no. ...

The livre, or "pound", was restandardized to 500 grams, but was now able to be divided into 16 onces, or "ounces"; each such French ounce had its old subdivision into 8 gros; each gros being thought of as being composed of 72 grains, of which the name is the same as in English. Hence, the livre was of 9216 of these grains.

The system of formally permitting the usual measures lasted until 1839, even though this was under a constitutional monarchy, rather than either the Empire of Napoleon III or under the Third French Republic, which would each have had greater ideological interest in getting rid of feudal subdivisions and so present themselves as being progressive. Butchers in France continue to use the 'new' livre today, albeit as a secondary measure. 1839 (MDCCCXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Forms of government Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A constitutional monarchy is a form of government established under a constitutional system which acknowledges an elected or hereditary monarch as head of state, as opposed to an absolute monarchy, where the monarch is not bound by a... Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (April 20, 1808 - January 9, 1873) was the son of King Louis Bonaparte and Queen Hortense de Beauharnais; both monarchs of the French puppet state, the Kingdom of Holland. ...

Similar methods were also used when other countries moved to the metric system. In Germany, a half-kilo is sometimes referred to as a Pfund (pound), while in the People's Republic of China, the Li was redefined from approximately 576 metres to 500 m and the Jin was defined as 500 grammes rather than about 605 g. This 500 g jin is still commonly used in open-air markets in mainland China. The li (里 lǐ) is a Chinese unit of distance, until recently usually considered to be about 576 metres, but is now standardised at a half a kilometre or 500 metres (547 yards). ... The Chinese units (Chinese: 市制; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally market system) are the customary and traditional units of measure used in China. ...

References

1. ^ Napoleon I: "Je ne suis pas davantage content de celle que vous me présentez pour les quatre départements du Rhin. Je la veux sur l’échelle de celle de Cassini, et je me moque des divisions décimales." (I am no longer pleased with what you give me for the four départements of the Rhine. I want it on the scale of Cassini, and I laugh at decimal divisions.) ('Reproaches on the subject of maps made at the Dépôt de la Guerre'. Military correspondence of Napoleon I, 6th volume, letter 1250 dated December 19th, 1809)[1]
2. ^ Napoleon I: "Les savants concurent une autre idée tout-à-fait étrangère au bienfait de l'unité de poids et de mesures; ils y adaptérent la numération décimale, en prenant le métre pour unité; ils supprimèrent tous les nombres complexes. Rien n'est plus contraire à l'organisation de l'esprit, de la mémoire et de l'imagination. Le nouveau système de poids et mesures sera un sujet d'embarras et de difficultés pour plusieurs générations." ('Of the introduction of the metric system'. "Memoirs written at St. Helena". Paris, 1823-25; volume IV, chapter XVI, 4)

César-François Cassini de Thury (June 17, 1714 – September 4, 1784) was a French astronomer, son of Jacques Cassini. ...

See also

• SI
• Metric system
• French units of measurement
• Unit of measurement
• Systems of measurement
• History of measurement
• List of unusual units of measurement