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The Adjunkts Speach on the New System of Weights and Measures      1812

(Des Adjunkts Standrede über das neue Maß und Gewicht) 

When the family friend arrived at the Rößlein in Mühlburg, the Adjunkt was standing on a chair, delivering a speech on the new system of weights and measures that was to be introduced in the country.



“As for me,” continued the Adjunkt, “I have no objection to anything, except that the new wine mug has turned out to be a bit too small for my liking. Mind you, I’m no child who’s just come into the world today and thinks that wherever the mug is biggest, that’s where you get the most drink for your money. For the bigger the mug, the more expensive it is. The smaller the mug, the cheaper it is, and a drunken stupor—for those who enjoy it, though I do not—costs the same as ever. In Segringen, during my flight, I found the mugs even smaller; in Baghdad by the River Tigris, and in Turkey, they were the smallest of all. But the fact is this: half a mug has hitherto been enough for my thirst, as measured and judged. Now half a mug is too little for me and a whole one too much, and I have always been an enemy of the pint. But whoever wishes to live in this world must adapt to the circumstances and approve of what brings general benefit. The new weights and measures bring general benefit. For

Firstly, until now it was different in every principality, in every little town, different Ellen, different Schoppen, different Simri or Sester, different weights. Now everything is the same from Überlingen or Constance on the Great Lake, down to Lörrach in the Wiesenkreis, and from there through the whole country down to Wertheim in Franconia. No one can be misled any longer, as they were before, when they come to a foreign place and ask: ‘How much is an Elle of cloth, or a Vierling of cheese?’ The innkeeper says: ‘So and so much.’ If he now thinks the cheese is cheap here and says, ‘You know what? Bring me half a Pfund instead’, he ends up with less weight, and the cheese is more expensive than at home. That won’t be possible in future. Indeed, every trader throughout the country will then be able to carry his own Ellenstick and Weightstone with him; if it is approved in Überlingen, it is also approved in Wertheim. Indeed, in a foreign place, one will no longer need to ask: ‘To whom does this village belong?’ but only: ‘What are the local weights and measures here?’ If the shopkeeper or innkeeper now says: ‘Baden weights and measures’, one immediately realises one is still in Baden; if he says, ‘Württemberg’, one is no longer in Baden.

Secondly, until now, even in the same place, in the same mill, in the same inn, in the same shop, different measures were used for different goods—and this was customary, not unjust; a different Maß for beer, a different one for oil, a different one for brandy, a different Sester for smooth fruit, a different one for rough fruit, and it is fortunate that one did not also have to have different kinds of money to pay with—a different sort of Kreuzer for snuff, a different one for smoking tobacco, a different one for cinnabar powder. In future there will be only one kind of Sester, one kind of Maß, one kind of Pfund for venison fat and for lard from Dan to Beersheba. Before, with such great inequality, it was no great feat to cheat a simple-minded person. In future, it will be a matter of skill, for one can re-measure everything using the next best Maß, whether at home or at a neighbour’s. Indeed, it does matter whether the same, correct measure for fruit is a little wider but not as deep, or a little deeper but not as wide, because of the slices and other fruits that are measured in heaps. The wider measure was more profitable when receiving, the narrower one when giving. But when the poor man and debtor was in the hands of the rich usurer, he had to give and take as the latter wished. In future, he is no longer in his hands, as far as that is concerned. The Maß has the same width and the same depth everywhere. It is a pity that one cannot also measure wine by volume for the same money. It would save the innkeeper many a trip and the guest many a Kreuzer. But the new system also has the advantage that the Maß for dry and liquid goods is consistently the same. A Malter is as much as an Ohm, a Sester as much as a Stütze, a Meßlein in which fruit is measured as much as a Maß in which wine is poured, and a Quarter of a Meßlein as much as a Schoppen. But all measures for fruit are twice as wide as they are tall, and all measures for liquids are twice as tall as they are wide. That is the only difference.”

“My friend,” says the assistant from his chair, clearing his throat, “pass me a sip from your quarter Meßlein of Ellmendinger. ‘My mouth is dry from speaking, and yet you’re not forcing it quite so much. For this is not the first drink you’ve had today, nor the second.’

‘Thirdly and finally,’ the assistant continues, ‘the new Maß has the great advantage that almost everything can be divided into ten equal parts; and this is the future system of weights and measures:’

A Zuber (the largest unit of fruit measurement) contains ........ 10 Malter.
A Malter contains ........ 10 Simri or Sester.
A Sester contains ........ 10 Meßlein.
One Meßlein has ........ 10 Becher.
Furthermore, one Fuder is equal to one Zuber of fruit measure and has ....... 10 Ohm.
One Ohm (equal to one Malter) has ....... 10 Stützen.
One Stütze (equal to one Sester) is ....... 10 Maß.
One Maß (equal to one Meßlein) is ....... 10 Glas.
Furthermore, the Rute is ........ 10 Schuh.
The Schuh ........ 10 Zoll.
The Zoll ......... 10 Linien.

    100 Ruten squared make one Quarter Feldmaß.
400 Ruten squared are an Morgen or Juchert;
for the Juchert has 4 Quarters.

Moreover, an hour of time remains as it was, but an hour’s journey, according to the new measure, will be exactly one-ninth of a thousandth of the circumference of the entire globe. Previously, it was only one-ten-thousand-and-eight-hundredth.

Moreover, the Elle will measure exactly two Schuh according to the new measure. One might say, as much as a pair of new shoes. The Elle also has 10 parts, and 1/2 of a tenth is then exactly 1 Zoll.

Furthermore, the Klafter has 6 feet; the timber Klafter is 6 feet long and 6 feet wide according to the new measure. The piece of timber will, in due course, be 4 Schuh long.
Item, the Zentner is 100 Pfund everywhere, no longer 104 in some places and 108 in others as before.

The Pfund is .......... 10 Zehnling.
The Zehnling is ......... 10 Zentaß.
The Zentaß is .......... 10 Pfenninge.
The Pfenning is .......... 10 Aß.

But to put it more briefly:
The Zentner is .......... 100 Pfund.
A Pfund .......... 100 Zentaß.
A Zentaß .......... 100 Aß.

Of course, some measures will become slightly larger, others slightly smaller, as is most appropriate, and people will soon get used to it. But note: a new coat, a piece of land, or a head of cattle will be worth neither more nor less than before, because the price of these items rises or falls in line with the larger or smaller measure; and the route from Mühlburg to Basel will be neither longer nor shorter, whether it is measured in large or small hours.

The great advantage, however, gained by the new division of measures, is evident in arithmetic, because everything divides into 10 parts, and there is no need to fear odd numbers or fractions when multiplying or dividing. For when there were yet no abacuses, no multiplication tables, no schoolmasters and no headmasters in the land, our ancestors counted on their fingers. Once 10, twice 10, three times 10; – up to ten times ten, and so on. Hence the principal numbers 10, 20, 30 and up to 100 arose. Furthermore, 10 times 100 is a thousand; 10 times 1000 is 10,000 and so on. Accordingly, this method of calculation is the most natural and is innate to humans, having grown with them in the womb through their fingers, and our elders understood it well with their three ancient numerals, namely I, V and X. These too derive from the fingers.

‘But for a change, and so that you don’t fall asleep,’ says the Adjunkt, ‘I shall now give you a riddle. Afterwards, we shall work through some examples:

Ein armer Mann in meinem Land
Hat zehen Finger an einer Hand,
Fünfundzwanzig an Füßen und Händen.
Wer kann mein Rätsel legen oder wenden?

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