On the record
Had the same or any other unit been selected without measurement of the earth, the metric system would not have been less beautiful or perfect.
Source
gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Sumner suggests that the beauty of the metric system is not dependent on its earth-based origins.
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Their existence is a disgrace to civilization; for it implies the common consent of nations to the Arbitrament of War, as regulated by these laws.
It is true, doubtless, that there are various races of men; but there is but one great Human Family, in which Caucasian, Ethiopian, Chinese, and Indian are all brothers, children of one Father, and heirs to one happiness.
The most distant are not without a present influence on our daily lives.
They belong to a system so essentially irrational, that all the admitted virtues of many of its agents cannot save it from judgment.
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