"^'"Mar'^8L°''}         Orthography  of  the  Metric  Units,  101 
used  by  the  Dutch  in  the  17th  century,  and  the  German  thermometer 
was  in  use  before  the  French  thennometre.  This  writer's  plea  is  not 
to  introduce  Frencli  words  into  the  English  language  because  they 
.are  French,  but  simply  on  the  ground  of  priority  and  right  to  retain 
original  words,  particularly  when  they  accord  with  the  genius  of  a 
language,  are  well  establislied  and  understood,  and  overwhelming  rea- 
sons cannot  be  given  for  a  change. 
The  changing  of  gramme  to  gram  is,  of  course,  a  matter  of  greater 
importance  than  the  other  changes,  because  in  pharmacy  this  unit 
would  be  the  one  most  largely  used.  Prof.  Maisch  admits  that  in 
France  and  Italy  the  abbreviation  gr.  is  used  for  gramme,  and  in  cen- 
tral and  northern  Europe  grm.  or  gm.,  and  he  says,  ^'  In  formulas  it 
is  scarcely  possible  to  mistake  the  one  value  for  the  other  because  the 
quantities  of  the  different  ingredients  would  indicate  at  once  whether 
gr.  referred  to  the  value  of  the  old  or  metric  system — The  grain 
.and  gramme  must,  in  this  country  and  in  England,  both  be  used  at 
the  same  time,  and  apothecaries  must  keep  both  kinds  of  weights. 
Many  illustrations  could  be  given  where  it  would  be  very  inconveni- 
•ent,  not  to  say  dangerous,  to  use  for  gramme  an  abbreviation  at  all 
similar  to  that  for  grain.  A  medical  writer  in  a  journal  in  using  a 
preparation,  possibly  a  new  remedy,  says  he  gives  it  in  doses  of  two 
gr.  How  much  does  he  mean?  The  country  doctor  orders  the  two 
gr.  put  into  a  package  and  mailed  to  him.  How  much  is  to  be  sent  ? 
Where  there  are  a  number  of  ingredients  in  a  formula  it  is  admitted 
that  there  should  not  be  serious  errors ;  but  does  it  not  confess  a  great 
weakness  in  the  ^proposed  use  of  a  system  which,  in  the  main,  is  distin- 
guished above  all  others  for  simplicity  and  perspicuity,  that  one  must 
depend  upon  the  relation  of  the  quantities  of  the  different  ingredients 
in  the  formula  to  sufficiently  indicate  whether  grains  or  fifteen  and  a 
half  times  the  quantity  is  wanted  ? 
Prof.  Oldberg  says  in  his  paper  that,  ^^gr.  is  not  the  adopted  abbre- 
viation of  gram,  but  gm.  is  the  abbreviation  used."  It  cannot  justly 
be  said  that  either  of  the  abbreviations  have  been  adopted  in  this 
country.    Gm.  is,  indeed,  recommended  in  his  admirable  little  work 
Metric  Weights  and  Measures  for  Medical  and  Pharmacal  Purposes," 
but  in  examining  copies  of  the  very  large  amount  of  literature  sent 
out  annually  by  the  Metric  Bureau,  to  aid  in  the  introduction  of 
the  system  in  this  country,  the  writer  failed  to  notice  the  abbrevia- 
tion gm.  once.    If  any  abbreviation  can  be  said  to  be  adopted  it  is  one 
