130  Dose  Measures  and  Measured  Doses.  {A 
Table  No.  6.— SHOWING  HIGHEST,  LOWEST  AND  AVERAGE  QUANTITIES 
MEASURED  FROM  THE  SAME  MEASURE  BY,  RESPECTIVELY,  TEN 
PATIENTS,  TEiST  NURSES,  AND  TE^  PHYSICIANS. 
TEASPOONS. 
TABLESPOONS. 
Hi°h 
Patients. 
7'° 
3'° 
5'2 
Spoon . 
i8'o 
0  9 
I3"5 
3'2 
38 
Glass  No.  14. 
l6'2 
12*0 
14-2 
6'o 
3'4 
4'4 
Glass  No.  17. 
15-6 
I2"3 
14-4 
TTicrh 
XXlg  11. 
Average. 
Nurses. 
High. 
Average. 
67 
3-6 
48 
162 
12-6 
139 
4-4 
3"5 
3-8 
Glass  No.  14. 
i6-4 
13-0 
14-9 
5'2 
3'2 
4'6 
Glass  No.  17. 
14*5 
High. 
Low. 
Average. 
Physicians. 
High. 
Low. 
Average. 
5-8 
3-8 
4"9 
Spoon. 
15-6 
12-0 
14-4 
4-8 
3"i 
3"9 
Glass  No.  14. 
16-6 
14*8 
157 
6-o 
3-6 
4'8 
Glass  No.  17. 
16-2 
13-8 
14-9 
certain  conditions  a  patient  may,  at  one  time,  get  more  than  double 
the  dose  of  an  active  medicine  than  he  has  been  in  the  habit  of 
having.  Altogether,  the  possible  results  from  variations  of  this 
kind  are  not  in  keeping  with  modern  ideas  of  scientific  medicine. 
Several  other  interesting  features  were  developed  in  the  course  of 
these  investigations  :  one  of  them  is  the  fact  that  the  majority  of 
people  measure  out  larger  doses  from  a  ^mall  bottle  than  they  do 
from  one  three  or  four  times  the  size.  Using  the  same  liquid  and 
the  same  measure,  the  variation  in  the  size  of  the  doses  measured 
reached  as  much  as  20  per  cent.  The  reason  for  this  particular 
difference  was  not  developed,  but  it  was  probably  due  to  some  sug- 
gestive influences. 
Another  interesting  variation  was  noted  in  connection  with  spoons. 
It  appears  that  individuals  using  the  same  spoon  almost  invariably 
measure  out  more  when  using  a  colorless  fluid  than  when  using  one 
that  has  a  decided  color.  In  some  cases  this  difference  has  reached 
as  much  as  70  per  cent.  This  variation  was  found  to  be  more 
marked  in  artificial  light.  This  latter  incident  probably  gives  the 
clue  for  a  solution  ot  this  particular  problem.    The  direct  cause  for 
