Historical Status of Taghdir al-Maghaees Treatise in Qajar Era Measurement Units Reforms

The Taghdir al-Maghaees Treatise authored by Mohammad Hassan Khan Etemad al-Saltaneh, a work on reforming quantification systems in Iran of the Nasseri period in which Etemad al-Saltaneh discusses the introduction of different quantification systems in different societies, the existence of different systems in Iran and the necessity of standardizing them, the French metric system, and a proposal to standardize quantification systems in Iran by following the example of the French metric system. The treatise, despite being reviewed and published in Payam Baharestan, has not received attention from researchers, and its historical value has been disregarded. Thus, the present article intends to examine the historical context and value of the treatise as its central theme and to explore the importance of the treatise in the debates on quantification system reforms.The result of the research indicates that the treatise was written in the last three years of the Nasseri period in response to the economic needs of the time, inspired by the debates among enlightened Iranian thinkers who believed in reforming quantification systems. The treatise can be considered the first comprehensive proposal to establish a standard quantification system in the country.