Note 32 — Chapter III · CONSERVATISM

Even if the English did ultimately adopt the French weights and measures, without the coinage, they would not enjoy the full convenience of those systems, which consists in great part in their relation to the coinage. For example, in English land measure (what is called “square measure”) you have 160 poles to the acre. A farmer takes an acre at thirty-seven shillings, how much is that per pole? I do not know; I must make an elaborate calculation to find it out. A French farmer takes a hectare at sixty-seven francs, how much is that per are? Owing to the intentional relation between measures and money, the answer comes instantaneously, without calculation, sixty-seven centimes.