of that unit the higher unit of power, comparable to that which is now represented by the well-known term “horsepower.”  Horsepower, unfortunately, does not form itself directly into the C.G.S. system.  The term horsepower is a meaningless quantity; it is not a horsepower at all.  It was established by the great Watt, who determined that the average power exerted by a horse was equal to about 22,000 foot pounds raised per minute; but this was thought by him to be too little, so he increased it by 50 per cent., and so arrived at what is the present horsepower, 33,000 foot pounds raised per minute.  Foot pounds bear no relation to our C.G.S. system of units, and it is most desirable that we should have some unit of power, somewhere about the horsepower, to enable us to convert at once watts into horsepower.  For that purpose I proposed that 1,000 watts, or the kilowatt, should replace what is now called the horsepower, and suggested it for the consideration of engineers.  It has been received with a great deal of consideration by those who understand the subject, and a considerable amount of ridicule by those who do not.  It is rather a remarkable thing that, as a rule, one will always find ridicule and ignorance running side by side; and it is an almost invariable fact that when a new proposition is brought forward, it is laughed at.  I am always very glad to see that, because it always succeeds in drawing attention to the matter.  I remember a friend of mine, who had written a book, being in great glee because it was severely criticised by the Athenaeum, a fact which drew public attention to the book, and caused it to make a great stir.  So when I proposed that the horsepower should be increased by 33 per cent., and made equivalent to 1,000 watts, I was not at all sorry to find that I had incurred the displeasure of the leader writers in nearly all our scientific papers, and I was quite sure that the attention of those who would not perhaps have thought of it would thereby be drawn to the matter.  Some people object to the use of a name, this name “watt.”  When you have fresh ideas, you must have fresh words to express those ideas.  The watt was a new unit, it must be called by some name, otherwise it could scarcely be conveyed to our minds.  The foot, the gallon, the yard, were all new names once; and how do we know that they were not derived from some “John Foot,” “William Gallon,” or “Jack Yard,” or some man whose name was connected with the measure when introduced?  The poet says: 

“Some mute, inglorious Milton here may rest—­ Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country’s blood:” 

so in these names some forgotten physicist or mute engineer may be buried.  At any rate, we cannot do without names.  The ohm, the ampere, the volt, are merely words that express ideas that we all understand; and so does the watt, and so will the 1,000 watts when you come to think over the matter as much as some of us have done.