220  Spoonful  Doses.  {Am  May'"i9oh2arm' 
necessarily  more  potent  than  those  given  in  larger  amounts.  This 
would  indicate,  of  course,  that  the  dose  measures  used  should  facili- 
tate, if  possible,  the  accurate  division  of  the  mixture  into  the 
required  number  of  doses. 
Spoons  have  been  in  use  as  medicine  measures  for  such  an 
extended  period  of  time,  and  have  established  themselves  so  firmly 
in  popular  practice,  that  there  are  many  people  who  would  not  think 
of  using  any  other  variety  or  kind  of  medicine  measure. 
It  may  also  be  of  interest  to  note  that  in  many  households  a  par- 
ticular spoon  is  sometimes  set  aside  as  the  medicine  spoon ;  this  is 
usually  of  sterling  silver,  and  the  continued  use  of  such  a  spoon 
will  sometimes  develop  associations  and  reminiscences  that  are 
likely  to  become  highly  prized  or  sacred. 
But  even  apart  from  any  personal  preference  for  or  liking  of  a 
particular  spoon,  these  household  utensils  are  so  common  and  their 
use  as  measures  for  various  culinary  purposes  so  firmly  established, 
that  it  will  be  well-nigh  impossible  to  displace  them  entirely  by  any 
substitute  or  contrivance  that  we  may  possibly  find  to  offer.  One 
other  interesting  and  probably  very  important  reason  why  spoons 
are  preferred  by  many  for  measuring  liquids,  is  the  fact  that  they 
are  more  readily  cleaned  than  are  ordinary  medicine  glasses.  This, 
while  it  appears  to  be  but  a  trifling  matter,  nevertheless  is  one  of 
considerable  importance. 
This  line  of  thought  would  naturally  recall  the  oft-repeated  asser- 
tion that  spoons  are  extremely  variable  in  size  and  capacity. 
Inquiry  among  a  number  of  jewelers,  silversmiths,  and  manulac- 
turers  of  spoons  elicited  the  opinions  that  there  had  been  little  or  no 
change  in  the  actual  capacity  of  the  various  spoons,  and  while  they 
do  vary  in  style  or  shape  of  bowl,  the  actual  capacity  of  the  bowl 
varies  very  little.  As  was  pointed  out  to  the  writer,  a  wide  or 
round  bowl  is  usually  quite  shallow,  while  a  narrow- pointed  spoon 
is  generally  quite  deep. 
These  opinions  were  later  confirmed  by  a  number  of  additional 
measurements  that  were  made  of  various  makes  and  sizes  of  spoons. 
The  results  of  these  measurements  correspond  very  closely  with 
those  given  in  the  table  on  dose  measures  quoted  above.  These 
investigations  also  appear  to  confirm  the  suggested  fact  that  in 
actual  practice  there  is  less  variation  in  the  capacity  of  spoons  than 
in  the  glass  medicine  measures  that  are  usually  recommended,  and 
