UNIFORMITY OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 355 



The measures and weights of the metric system having been almost 

 universally adopted by scientific chemists, there seemed to be every reason 

 to expect that they would be adopted in pharmacy also. This has been done 

 in some countries which have not yet introduced the system into commerce. 

 The Swedish Pharmacopoeia is constructed on this principle, and in the 

 United States of America prescriptions are written in terms of the metric 

 system. In this country the change has hitherto been opposed by the 

 General Council of Medical Education and Eegistration, which issues its 

 decrees under the authority of an Act of Parliament. In these circumstances, 

 the Metric Committee of the British Association resolved to address the 

 Medical Council, suggesting that " the objection formerly urged to the intro- 

 duction of the metric system side by side with the imperial in all the formulas 

 for the preparation of drugs and chemicals, that the metric weights and 

 measures were not yet sanctioned by the Legislature, is now removed by the 

 passing of the Metric Weights and Measures Act," and expressing the desire 

 of the Metric Committee that the system may be introduced into the forth- 

 coming ncAV edition of the Pharmacopoeia. Hereupon the following resolu- 

 tion was passed : " That the General Medical Council are not prepared to 

 adopt, in its full extent, the suggestion of the Metric Committee of the 

 British Association ; but the Council will direct that a complete comparative 

 table of metric and imperial weights and measures, with instructions for 

 their mutual conversion, shall be inserted in the forthcoming edition of the 

 British Pharmacopoeia." 



Your Committee thought it probable that great advantages would arise 

 from the introduction of the metric system in the carrying department of 

 railways. On this question Professor Levi consulted some of the officials at 

 the Clearing-house in London, and Mr. Louis d'Eyncoiirt, a member of the 

 Council of the International Decimal Association, embraced the opportunity 

 of a visit to Boulogne to make inquiries regarding the goods traffic by rail- 

 way between England and France. But although the evidence thus obtained 

 was important and decisive, it appeared that the Eoyal Commission on the 

 Railways in Great Britain and Ireland was not disposed to proceed with the 

 inquiry. 



Your Committee have reason to believe that they have already exercised 

 considerable influence in the promotion of an object of so wide and general 

 importance as the uniformity of weights, measures, and coins in all countries ; 

 and, in conclusion, they would recommend the reappointment of the Com- 

 mittee with similar powers, and another vote of at least fifty pounds towards 

 the purchase of copies of the Mural Standard, and more especially in con- 

 nexion with the forthcoming Universal Exhibition and International Statis- 

 tical Congress. 



*o^ 



Report on the Progress of tlie Metric System in the United States of America. 

 By H. Yates Thompson, F.S.S. 



Gentlemex, — In accordance with your letter to me, dated 17th February 

 1866,' I took occasion, on a visit to the United States of America in May and 

 June last, to ascertain what steps are being taken by friends of the Metric 

 System of Weights and Measui-es to promote its adoption in that country. 

 ■ It appears that ever since the settlement of the Constitution in 1789, 

 wherein it was declared that Congress should have power " to fix the standard 

 of weights and measures," there has been a continual effort, which has 

 hitherto been without practical result, to obtain a uniform and decimal 



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