Abstract
The Netherlands was one of the first countries in the world to adopt the metric system; a system that made its debut through the French Revolution. This step was taken by means of the Weights and Measures Act of 21 August 1816. For those who supported metrication, governments, natural sciences, it was a drive towards 'civilisation', overcoming what they regarded as irrational habits of the people. It would take several decades to achieve. People could not quickly change their mindset towards using decimal and scientific measuring units. In the mean time people were being educated about the new weights and measures and traders who did not use them in their shops were prosecuted. The inertia within the retail trades, by shoppers and consumers alike, was, and has ever been one of the great stumbling blocks on the road to full metrication. The recent case of the British Metric Martyrs, also retail traders, comes to mind. Even higher educated people were often not ready for metric. The medical professions, which have been studied closer, did not start to adopt metric units before 1850. Branches of medicine, like obstetrics and ophtalmology used Paris measuring units until after that year. In 1820 the pharmacists had succeeded in keeping metric out of their premises; they used a system that was almost exactly the same as the apothecaries' weights used until recently in English speaking countries. They changed in 1870 by force of law. This happened in the years when the whole of continental Europe was going metric. It should be stressed that Napoleon Bonarparte was not the person who metricated mainland Europe; in the contrary, he was opposed to metric. In his correspondence he used almost exclusively old French weights and measures and in 1812 France reverted partially, once again especially in the retail trades, to nonmetric units, in this case the Paris weights and measures system with certain modifications. At last France went metric in 1840 by the 'Loi du Quatre Juillet 1837 sur les Poids et Mesures'. From that year onwards, the metric system began to spread throughout Europe and later further.
