The
10 December 1799 Act, which had set the final metre length, and adopted as
final standards the metre and the kilogramme which are deposited in the
National Archives, also read in its 4th article:
"A
medal will be struck to pass down to posterity the era in which the metric
system has been brought to perfection and its basic operation. The
inscription engraved on the main side of the medal will be " A tous les
temps, à tous les peuples " - To any time, any people. The medal will be
inscribed below " République Française an VIII " - Eighth Year of the French
Republic. The Republic Consuls are entrusted with settling the other
accessories."
However,
the medal was created only after the 4 July 1837 Act was promulgated,
declaring the system legal. The medal was created thanks to Gonon, a patron
from Lyons who, besides, introduced changes in the original plan.
The decimal metric system medal
(Pénin, 1837, edited by the Monnaie de Paris)
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obtain an enlarging