Mesures usuelles: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia
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'''Mesures usuelles''' ({{IPA-fr|məzyʁ yzɥɛl}}, or ''customary'ordinary measurementsmeasures'''<ref name="Alder"/>{{rp|334}}) were a system of [[measurement]] introduced by [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon I]] in 1812 to act as compromise between the [[SI|metric system]] and traditional measurements. The system was restricted to use in the retail industry and continued in use until 1839.
==Rationale behind the new system==
[[File:Napoleon Groot.jpg|150px|thumb|left|The ''Mesuresordinary usuellesmeasures'' were introduced by [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon I]] in 1812]]
TheIn the five years prior to the start of the [[French First Republic]]'s introduction of the [[metric system]] into France, every effort was poorlymade managedto byinform modernthe citizens of the forthcoming changes and to prepare them for its introduction.<ref name="Alder"/>{{rp|267}} The responsible agency had distributed tens of thousands of educational pamplets, Private enterprise had produced educational games, guides, almanacs and conversion aids, and metre standards had been built into the walls of prominent buildings around Paris.<ref Itname="Alder"/>{{rp|267}}. The introduction was done district by district betweenover 1795the andensuing 1800years, with Paris being the first district to change. The agency Althoughalso thousandsrealised ofthat pamphletsthe wereFrench distributed,population thewould Agencyneed ofto Weightsbe andable Measuresto whichacquire oversawmetre therulers, introductionbut underestimatedof the work500,000 involved.rulers required in Paris alone needed 500,000 metre sticks, yet one month after the metre became the sole legal unit of measure, the agency hadwere only able to provide 25,000 in stock.<ref name="Alder">{{cite book
|title = The Measure of all Things - The Seven -Year-Odyssey that Transformed the World
|last= AdlerAlder
|first= Ken
|year= 2002
|publisher= Abacus
|location= London
|isbn=0-349-11507-9}}</ref>{{rp|269}} To improve the situation, the agency introduced incentives to organisations to mass-produce the rulers, but the quality of the rulers was difficult to ensure, and Paris police reported widespread flouting of the requirement placed on merchants to use only the metric system.<ref name="Alder"/>{{rp|269}} Where the new system was used, it was abused, and shopkeepers took the opportunity to round prices up and give smaller measures.<ref name="Alder"/>{{rp|270}}
|isbn= 0 349 11507 9
|page= 269}}</ref> This, combined with the excesses of the Revolution and the high level of illiteracy, made the metric system unpopular. Many people still thought in mostly non-[[decimal]] terms using the fractional subdivisions of the previous system: a ''livre'' ([[pound (mass)|pound]]) was thought to be necessarily divided into sixteen ''onces'' ([[ounce]]s) and a ''[[toise]]'' ([[fathom]] or double-yard) into 72 ''pouces'' ([[inch]]es), as though these were absolute concepts.
[[image:Louis-Philippe-France.png|150px|thumb|right|The ''Mesuresordinary usuellesmeasures'' were abolished by Louis-Philippe in 1839]]
[[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon I]], the French Emperor, disliked the inconvenience of surrendering the high [[factorization|factorability]] of traditional measures in the name of [[decimal]]isation, and recognized the difficulty of getting it accepted by the populace.<ref>{{cite web
|url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=cf1BAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA91&dq=je+me+moque+des+divisions+d%C3%A9cimales&cd=1#v=onepage&q=je%20me%20moque%20des%20divisions%20d%C3%A9cimales&f=false
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|work = Correspondance de Napoléon Ier: publiée par ordre de l'empereur Napoléon III.
|quote = ''Je me moque des divisions décimales'' [I din't give a damn about decimal divisiosn]
|accessdate = 2011-02-10}}</ref> Under the ''décret impérial du 12 février 1812'' (imperial decree of 12 February 1812), he introduced a new system of measurement, the ''mesures usuelles'' or "customaryordinary measures"<ref name="Alder"/>{{rp|334}}, for use in small retail businesses. However, all government, legal and similar works still had to use the metric system and the metric system continued to be taught at all levels of education.<ref name=historique>{{cite web
|url = http://www.industrie.gouv.fr/metro/aquoisert/metre.htm
|title = Un historique du mètre
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The [[prototype]]s of the metric unit, the [[kilogram]] and the [[metre]], enabled an immediate standardization of measurement over the whole country, replacing the varying legal measures in different parts of the country, and even more across the whole of Europe. The new ''livre'' (known as the ''livre métrique'') was defined as five hundred [[gram]]s, and the new ''toise'' (''toise métrique'') was defined as two [[metre]]s. Products could be sold in shops under the old names and with the old relationships to one another, but with slightly different absolute sizes. This series of measurements was called ''mesures usuelles''.
Napoleon's decree was revoked during the reign of [[Louis Philippe]] by the ''loi du 4 juillet 1837'' (law of 4 July 1837). This took effect on 1 January 1840, and reinstated the original metric system, thus bringing the system of ''mesuresordinary usuellesmeasures'' to an end.<ref name=historique/>
==The permitted units==
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*The ''livre'', ([[Pound (mass)|pound]]), was defined as 500 grams, divided into 16 ''onces'', (ounces), each ''once'' being divided into 8 ''gros''. Each gros being thought of as being composed of 72 ''grains'', whose name is the same as in English. Hence, the livre was 9216 ''grains''.<ref name=Europa1842/> The ''livre'' and ''once'' were about 10% larger than their English counterparts, while the ''grain'' was 17% less than its English counterpart.
The ''mesuresordinary usuellesmeasures'' did not include any units of length greater than the ''toise'' - the ''myriamètre'' (10 km) remaining in use throughout this period.<ref name=Europa1842>{{cite web
|url = http://home.fonline.de/fo0126/geschichte/groessen/mas10.htm
|title = Königreich Frankreich