G26 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
Mr. Haselden thought they lost sight of one point, and that was that if 
they reduced the price of the licence or abolished it they would open the door 
to the sale of patent medicines by all sorts of persons. At the present time 
when patent medicines were growing beyond control, he should like to see not 
only the licence but the duty increased. If it were reduced, they would open 
the door to their sale by stationers, hatters, greengrocers, and others, and already 
co-operative societies were selling medicines without paying duty. 
ON THE INTRODUCTION OE METRICAL WEIGHTS AND 
MEASURES FOR USE IN PHARMACY. 
BY DR. REDWOOD. 
In proposing to submit the subject of weights and measures for discussion 
this evening, my principal object has been to draw forth the expression of 
opinion as to the desirability of taking some steps to promote the introduction 
of the metrical system for use in pharmacy. 
The subject has come under the consideration of the Pharmaceutical Society 
or its members on several previous occasions, and although some difference of 
opinion has been manifested on those occasions with reference to the practical 
expediency of attempting a sudden or speedy change from the system at present 
used in this country to the metrical system, yet the superiority, in many respects, 
of the latter, and the probability, amounting almost to certainty, that sooner or 
later it will supersede all other systems, have been generally admitted. 
The object of establishing one system of weights and measures for all nations 
commends itself so forcibly to the approval of those who are engaged in scien¬ 
tific or commercial pursuits, that the abstract proposition that it is desirable to 
accomplish such an object meets with ready assent, and any differences of 
opinion that may arise in connection with it almost exclusively relate to the 
comparative merits of different systems proposed for adoption, or to the balance 
between the anticipated gain from the adoption of that which is considered the 
best system and the loss or inconvenience which must inevitably attend a change 
while it is being made, or to the means by which, in the event of a change being 
decided upon, it may be most advantageously effected. 
At the present time it seems hardly necessary to consider the question of the 
comparative merits of competing systems. The greater part of those who have 
studied the subject and are capable of appreciating the relative merits of the 
system in use in this country and of the French system, have decided in favour 
of the latter ; but with the general public the question is not one of comparative 
merits but of comparative acquaintance or familiarity with these or other means 
for estimating the measurement of quantities, and as they have daily occasion for. 
the application of such means, they are satisfied to use those with which they 
are most familiar. 
As far as the general public is concerned, I have no doubt the prevailing 
feeling would be in favour of leaving things as they are, or of mending but not 
revolutionizing our system; yet there is undoubtedly a growing tendency to 
aim at a nearer approach to perfection than is attainable by any mere patching 
of that which is already but a clumsy piece of patchwork. 
I believe the practical requirements of pharmacy present stronger grounds 
f or a thorough reform of our system of weights and measures than can be ad¬ 
duced with relation to any other application of it, and the subject is one, there¬ 
fore, which has strong claims upon our attention. 
The acknowledgment in the Pharmacopoeia, “ that the absence in the present 
system of any denomination of weight between the grain and the avoirdupois 
