termed the notations of music.

The science of accurate admeasurements has been exclusively discovered
by man; and for the attainment of this important acquisition, it will be
seen that the hand has been chiefly and progressively instrumental. When
we contemplate the present state of man, in our own nation, surrounded
by the conveniences which gratify his wants, and behold him practised in
their enjoyment, we are little disposed to revert to that period of his
history, when he struggled to continue his existence, and trace his
tardy progression from rudeness to refinement.

Pleas'd with himself, the coxcomb rears his head,
And scorns the dunghill where he first was bred.

Although we now measure space and time, bodies solid and fluid, heat and
its absence with the facility of a single glance; yet if we consider the
slow, and painful steps, by which such acquirements have been attained,
we shall be forcibly impressed, how much we are the creatures of patient
experiment, and also how mainly the hand has contributed to our
advancement. If we investigate the standards of admeasurement, we find
that many have been derived from the human body, and more especially
from its operative instrument, the hand. That the members and dimensions
of our own body should have been the original standards of measurement
is most natural, and the terms in which they are conveyed afford a
sufficient illustration of the fact. Thus, we have a nail; _pollex_,
_pouce_, _pulgada_, Swedish _tum_, for an inch; which word has been
misapplied by our Saxon predecessors, and corrupted from the Latin
_uncia_, which related only to weight. We still measure by digits, by
fingers' breadth, by hands high. Cubit from _cubitus_, was formerly
employed. We now retain ell, _aune_, _ulna_. Foot, pace, _pas_, _pes_.
Yard, not as Mr. Tooke supposed from the Saxon gyrwan, to prepare, but
from gyrdan, _cingere_, and is employed to represent the girth of the
body. Fathom, the distance of the arms when extended to embrace, from
which the meaning is implied in most languages.[5] But it will be
immediately perceived, that measurement could not proceed to any
considerable extent, could neither be compounded by addition, nor
subdivided, without the employment and comprehension of numbers.

In our childhood we are taught the knowledge of numbers; and those who
have superintended the work of education, must have witnessed the
difficulty of impressing on the mi