<p>The attempt to solve the serious universal problem of the multiplicity and arbitrariness of measurement systems arose at the beginning of the French Revolution, when the Constituent Assembly, by Decree of 8 May 1790, instructed the French Academy of Sciences to study a system of measurements that could be accepted throughout the world. In 1791, the Metric Commission (created in France two years earlier), proposed to create the Metric Decimal System, a system of measurements from which the meter would be born as a unit of length. Thus, was born the Decimal Metric System, which was established in France by Decree of 7 April 1795. The value of this had to be determined from a natural pattern, so the commission in charge decided that the meter would be the ten-millionth part of the quadrant of the terrestrial meridian. Of course, the one that crossed the city of Paris. Given the impossibility of measuring the entire quarter of the terrestrial meridian, it was proposed to measure two arcs of equal length north and south of the 45º parallel. Since then, Paris and Greenwich competed for the meridian origin of the world, until, at an international conference held in Washington, in 1884, Greenwich was adopted as a definitive reference in the geography of our planet. With the Decimal Metric System, new units and their multiples and submultiples had been properly named. However, in socio-economic reality, its introduction added to the pre-existing chaos. In 1798 and 1799, the Institut de France organized the famous Commission of Weights and Measures, of which Gabriel Císcar was a member representing Spain, which was a source of pride for him. Gabriel Ciscar y Ciscar, Spanish sailor and scientist who represented the Kingdom of Spain on the Weights and Measures Commission of the French National Institute in 1798 and 1799.</p>