‘Je la veux sur l’échelle de Cassini, et je me moque des divisions décimales’ (letter to the Minister of War, 1809).
The republican calendar and era were used until the end of 1805, when Napoleon restored the Gregorian calendar and its era; thus 11 Nivose, an XIV, was the last day of the republican system.
But the republican idea of a new calendar and a new era is not dead; it has so little died out that a calendar and era devised by a French mathematician and sociologist in 1852 is now actually used, not only in France, but in England, and also in Brazil, by the followers of this reformer.[[55]]
[51]. This is a partial return to the original arrangement. The kilogramme was originally named the Grave, with its decigrave and centigrave. The tonne of 1000 kilogrammes was originally called a Bar, with its decibar and centibar. The gramme was a Gravet, with its decigravet and centigravet. Similarly the hectolitre was originally named the Decicade (1/10 of the Cade = 1000 litres) of 10 centicades. The litre was a Cadil.
[52]. In the latitude of Paris. If weighed at Marseilles it would be equal to about 1000·4 grammes; if in London to 999·75 grammes. It necessarily varies with latitude, as does the length of the pendulum beating seconds. But this variation does not impair its relative accuracy, as whatever it is weighed against is similarly affected.
[53]. Thus if bread is 25 centimes or 5 sous the kilo, a single pound or half-kilo of bread cannot be bought at this price.
[54]. It had been proposed in 1789 to divide France into equal departments or districts by rule and compass. Each district was to be half a degree square. It was only the refractoriness of the coast line that prevented this geographic homage to equality.
[55]. In this Positivist Calendar the saints of the old calendar and the agricultural produce of the revolutionary calendars are replaced by great men and women; typical great men, from Moses and Homer to Descartes and Bichat, giving their names to the 13 months, each of 28 days. There is an extra day at the end of the year, and two extra days in leap-year. This system has the advantage of the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th of the month always falling on the same day of the week.
The Positivist era dates from 1789; and the followers of Auguste Comte, in England, France and elsewhere, thus date 1911 as the ‘year 123 of the Great Crisis.’