"Long before Mouton's proposals of 1670... Simon Stevin... published, first in Flemish and in the same year, 1585, in French, a treatise in which the first explanation of decimal fractions is given. In the same treatise Stevin proposes that not only weights and moneys but also linear, square, and cubic measure and even degrees and minutes should be reduced to a decimal system. This proposal, together with the explanation of the decimal fractions, establishes for Simon Stevin a proud place in the history of the development of scientific systems of measurement."