47 G 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [December 9,1871. 
Relational Numbers for Specified Weights and Measures 
in the Description of Processes in the Pharmacopoeia.” 
[This paper is printed at p. 461, and gave rise to the 
following discusssion :—] 
The President said that the subject was a very im¬ 
portant one, upon which he was not at present prepared 
to offer any remarks. From what Professor Redwood 
had told them, it was clear that to his mind an alteration 
might be accomplished without any great difficulty. 
He (the President) was inclined to abide by the decision 
of Professor Redwood until he had an opportunity of 
turning the matter over in his own mind. 
Dr. Tilden said that Professor Redwood had had so 
much experience, and had expended so much thought 
upon the construction of the Pharmacopoeia, that he felt 
a little hesitation in offering any remarks, but if he 
might make a slight suggestion, he should recommend 
the adoption of the name “ pond” for parts by weight, 
and “ vol ” for parts by measure. Each of these units 
must of course have a definite value, which must be dis¬ 
tinctly understood. He should further suggest that 
the weight of 
a “pond" should be a decigram, 
were dissolved in liquids, the expression would be x 
grains in 1000 minims. In mixtures of solids the grain 
woidd be the sole unit, and 1000 grains the weight of 
the whole. Could every item be brought to the cen¬ 
tesimal standard, it would of course very much facilitate 
the work of prescribers. He did not see the advantage 
of introducing grain-measures into the Pharmacopoeia, 
and should prefer sticking to the old and well-understood 
minims and ounces. He offered these few hasty remarks 
with every sense of their imperfection, and without any 
intention of committing himself to them definitively. 
Mr. Bland said he had some difficulty in saying any¬ 
thing upon a subject like this, especially after Professor 
Redwood, but it seemed to him that some of the difficul¬ 
ties which he had shadowed forth as to the present state 
of the formulas in the Pharmacopoeia would not be 
removed or simplified by the alterations proposed. Like 
very many other persons who were advancing in life, lie 
began to feel more and more a tendency towards a sort 
of conservative feeling, and he thought there was nothing 
so bad or so inconvenient for them as pharmacists as to 
be continually changing. If alterations in the direc¬ 
tion suggested by Professor Redwood were to be made 
it must mean nothing more or less than this, that they 
must eventually adopt the metric system altogether. So 
long as the weights of solid substances and the measures 
of liquids were divided on a totally different system, it 
would be utterly impossible so to arrange the parts and 
measures as to avoid confusion with regard to the quan¬ 
tities. He would take as an instance the proposed for¬ 
mula for spirit of camphor. It had been stated cam- 
which 
was about a grain and a half, and of course a “vol" 
would be a volume corresponding to that weight. He 
believed that the application of a name, specially em¬ 
ployed for this purpose, would be likely to facilitate the 
use of the system. He protested against the introduc¬ 
tion of any more chemical processes into the Pharmaco¬ 
poeia, inasmuch as in the majority of cases they were 
not followed by manufacturers, and it was well known 
that pharmacists were not in the habit of making che¬ 
mical preparations for themselves. It was, moreover, an plior 1 part, rectified spirit 9 measures. Well, suppose 
he was going to make spirit of camphor. He should 
at once take 4 ounces of camphor and 36 fluid ounces of 
rectified spirit. But some of his friends whom he*saw 
around him in the wholesale trado would think that was 
very peddling little operation, and would be very 
a 
objection that, in the case of the alkaloids, the process 
must vary in detail on every occasion in which it was 
employed. Take the special case, for instance, of digita- 1 
lin, which had been alluded to, or aconitia, or he might 
allude to aloes, with which he was specially familiar. 
The extraction of the crystalline principles from those sub-1 sorry to lose their time in compounding such a quantity 
stances would be effected by processes which would vary as that. How would they compound it then \ They 
according to the quality of the crude drug operated upon, | would make perhaps at least eight times that quantity 
and other circumstances. It was well known that some- j of spirit of camphor, and they would say, “ I am to take 
times aconite, for instance, would yield a far larger quan- 1 part of camphor. What does a part mean ?” If they 
tity of aconitia than at others; and he believed that any | took the part to mean a pound, they must immediately 
minute details such as were set out for all the processes 1 alter the relation of the rectified spirit, seeing that the 
of the alkaloids especially, in the Pharmacopoeia, were measures by which the spirit was measured were com- 
almost superfluous, simply because they were not appli- 1 ponent parts of a pint in the small quantity which he 
cable in every case. Then, in the case of chemical pre¬ 
supposed was intended in the Pharmacopoeia. The 
camphor would be estimated by ounces, and the rectified 
spirit also by ounces. He confessed he looked back with 
something like regret to the old pint of 16 fluid ounces and 
the old ounce of 480 grains. Whatever might be their 
parations he was not sure whether it was a valid objec¬ 
tion ; but it was an objection to a certain extent to set 
out the ingredients one after another, as in the case of 
chloroform, which was represented in the paper. He 
knew an instance of a student going to work to make j inconveniences and defects, they had the advantage that 
chlorate of potash, and getting the biggest pan he could j they were divisible by a large number of factors, and did 
obtain, and putting into it the lime, the carbonate of in that way very much facilitate calculation when pro¬ 
potash, the manganese, and then pouring on it the hy- 1 portions of ingredients were required to be used difie- 
drochloric acid. There was a constant tendency to that ring from the quantities set forth in the Pharmacopoeia. 
Mr. Williams said that the formulae of the Pharma¬ 
copoeia were intended for retail use, and the large manu¬ 
facturers might be left to themselves. He certainly 
thought that the plan suggested by Professor Redwood 
was an exceedingly good one. It was easier for the mind 
sort of thing. People making such preparations were 
very apt to look through the ingredients, weigh them 
out, and put them all together without reading through 
the processes. Chemical manufacturers, as he said be¬ 
fore, followed their own processes, which they had learnt 
from experience, and which, on that very account, were to grasp the idea of measures or parts by weight as sug- 
supenor to any which could bo given to them 
Mr. Groves said they all were much indebted to Pro¬ 
fessor Redwood for bringing this subject forward. No 
doubt there was room for improvement in the mode of 
stating the quantities in Pharmacopoeial processes, but, 
with all due deference to Professor Redwood, he’thought 
the proposed plan not sufficiently simple. He should pre¬ 
fer expressing proportions of fluids in minims or fluid 
gested by Professor Redwood than proportional parts of 
a thousand as suggested by Mr. Groves. 
Professor Atteield said he could sympathize with tho 
remarks made by a gentleman who seemed to represent 
conservative interests, but at the same time he thought 
there was a good deal to be said on the other side of the 
question. He himself belonged, in matters of this kind, 
to a very strongly conservative party,—to a party much 
ounces, the whole compound equalling 1000 of such.! older than the conservative party which w r as represented 
He should much regret adopting any system that would by Mr. Bland, a party which had been in the habit 
tend to necessitate the weighing instead of measuring for many generations, for many centuries, of counting 
fluid in dispensing prescriptions. The loss of time by by tens, probably because every member of the race had 
such an arrangement would be something enormous, and ten fingers and ten toes. Now it seemed to him, in all 
become a very serious objection. In cases vdiere solids these discussions about weights and measures, both of 
