Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  1 
Mar.,  1881.  j 
Orthogixiphy  of  the  Metric  Units. 
103 
a  safe  one,  and  is  irrational  to  adopt  in  a  conntry  which  has  not  made 
the  system  compulsory,  and  in  case  of  death  resulting  from  accident, 
brought  about  by  a  misunderstanding,  censure  from  a  coroner's  jury, 
an  indictment  for  manslaughter  or  a  civil  action  for  loss  of  support 
could  be  instituted,  with  a  very  fair  chance  of  success  on  the  part  of  the 
plaintiff;  and  even  abroad,  where  the  system  is  established,  accidents 
continue  to  happen  from  tliis  practice ;  for  example,  a  pliysician  of 
Sangerhausen,  in  Germany,  wrote  the  following  prescription  :  '^Cldor. 
hydr.,  15*0;  tinct.  opii,  15;  aqu^e,  60*0.  M.  A  third  part  to  be 
administered  in  the  evening  as  an  enema."  The  patient  died,  and  a 
prosecution  was  instituted  against  the  pliysician  and  apothecary  who 
dispensed  his  prescription.  It  seems  that  the  physician,  in  writing 
the  prescription,  had  it  upon  his  mind  to  order  a  little  laudanum  to. 
the  solution,  and  thought  fifteen  drops  would  be  about  right,  and  by 
an  unfortunate  lapsus  "  followed  out  his  usual  practice  of  not  desig- 
nating a  quantity,  and,  of  course,  the  prescription  as  written  contained 
a  fatal  quantity  of  tincture  of  opium.  It  unfortunately  happened  to 
fall  to  the  lot  of  a  junior  assistant  to  compound  the  prescription,  and 
he  put  the  quantities  in  as  written  for,  without  carefully  examining 
the  directions  to  the  patient,  and  sent  it  out  with  the  result  before 
stated.  The  court  took  the  view  that  all  of  the  parties  concerned  in 
making  the  blunder  were  blameworthy,  and  sente^nced  the  doctor  to 
one  month's  imprisonment,  the  apothecary  to  two  months  and  the 
assistant  to  three  months.  Gross  carelessness  would  be  the  universal 
verdict,  and  yet  this  life  would  not  have  been  lost  if  the  proper 
quantities  had  been  designated. 
This  paper  has  largely  outgrown  the  limits  which  the  writer 
intended  for  it,  and  the  apology  is  that,  although  the  subject  seems  a 
trifling  one,  viewed  superficially,  it  becomes  of  considerable  import- 
ance when  the  question  is  to  be  decided — which  orthography  shall  be 
adopted  by  our  Pharmacopoeia  Committee  ? 
The  original  orthography,  metre,  litre  and  gramme,  is  at  present 
officinal.  Although  the  metric  system  is  not  used  in  the  text,  it  is 
used  in  tabular  form  in  the  United  States  and  British  Pharmacopoeias, 
and  the  orthography  is  the  original.  Upon  those  who  desire  to  alter 
the  adopted  orthography  must  fall  the  duty  of  sustaining  the  onus 
prohcmdi  in  asking  for  a  change.  If,  after  due  consideration,  it  is  the 
judgment  of  the  committee  that  the  alteration  should  be  made,  it  will 
then  be  the  duty  of  all  to  loyally  uphold  the  will  of  the  majority. 
