THE ALUMNI JOURNAl, 



65 



had the good sense to adopt it, but it is 

 in no wise French, even the names being 

 taken from the Greek and Latin. The me- 

 tric system is not only entirely homogene- 

 ous as regards its various standards and 

 units, but it is the foundation of a whole 

 system of absolute units for the measure- 

 ment of every conceivable quantity. We 

 have in this country the amusing spectacle 

 of a metric superstructure and founda- 

 tion, with a very heterogeneous unscien- 

 tific ground-floor intervening. We are 

 almost as familiar with "ohms," "am- 

 peres" and "volts" to-day as we are 

 with "pounds," and "feet," and more 

 than we are with various ' 'ounces' ' ' 'scru- 

 ples," "drachms," etc. Yet we could 

 not measure an ohm or a volt without 

 the metric system, they are metric units. 



Among the blessings which the era of 

 electricity is going to bring us is the 

 metric syistem as a whole. Already we 

 find the "kilowatt" challenging the 

 antiquated "horse-power" for popular 

 favor, and we are bringing up a genera- 

 tion of engineers who appreciate the 

 m.erits of the system. 



To look at the subject from another 

 point of view, let us suppose we have a 

 yard or pound and wish to know whether 

 it is " true and lawful." After some in- 

 quiry we may learn that w^e must send it 

 to the Coast and Geodetic Survey, a de- 

 partment of the U. S. Treasury, at Wash- 

 ington, D. C, which has the custody of 

 the United States standards. In due 

 time we should receive our yardorpound 

 back again with the report of their errors. 

 They have been compared with — what ? 

 A standard yard, a standard pound? 

 Not at all. They have been compared 

 directly or indirectly with the " national 

 prototype standard meter and kilogram," 

 which are the copies of " the meter and 

 kilogram of the ' 'archives' ' and have been 

 atested by the International Bureau of 

 Weights and Measures" at Paris, and 



issued to each of the co-operating govern- 

 ments. Thus to-day both ends of our 

 system are metric. The "meter and kilo 

 of the archives " are our standards, and 

 our more complex units are directly de- 

 rived therefrom. Only our two intermed- 

 iate units, the foot and the pound, are in 

 the old system, if indeed, such a hetero- 

 geneous conglomeration can be dignified 

 with the name of "system." Let us hope 

 that this anomalous condition will soon 

 pass away. The physicist and the chemist 

 already use the metric system exclu- 

 sively, and we look to the apothecary, 

 and the physician to take the next step 

 toward the millennium when our ante- 

 quated units will be laid away with the 

 antequated methods of communication 

 and transportation, and when we shall 

 no longer accomplish twentieth century 

 deeds and measure them in "mediaeval 

 units. 



THE nOST RECENT WORK. 



Creosote Pills. — For obtaining very small 

 creosote pills Fauel recommends the use of a 

 mass obtained by dissolving five parts of sugar 

 in twenty-four parts of water and then adding 

 eleven parts of gelatin. One part of this, used 

 warm, is said to emulsify two parts of creosote, 

 and by the addition of liquorice powder a con- 

 venient pill-mass may be obtained which con- 

 tains a large proportion of the activeingredients. 

 When creosote is prescribed in pilular form, 

 together with tannin and iodoform, Viole ab- 

 sorbs the first by means of animal charcoal, then 

 adds the other ingredients, and finally masses 

 the whole with turpentine. The charcoal is said 

 to mask the taste of the creosote to some ex- 

 tent, and by rolling the pills in magnesia, 

 silvering or coating with tolu varnish it may be 

 still further covered. — Pharni. Jour. Trans., 

 1894- 735- 



Detertnination of Alkaloid e by Potassio- 

 mercuric iodide. — Grandall and Lajoux. [Jour, 

 de Pharni. el de Chem.) propose the following : 



100 Gms. of finely powdered plant parts are 

 well triturated with 100 Gms. basic acetate lead, 

 then percolated with 600 Gms. water. The 

 treatment with basic lead acetate has for its 

 purpose, the precipitation of the organic acids. 



