Am,Mayr;i902!irm'}  Spoonful  Doses.  221 
that  the  supposed  variation  is  largely,  if  not  entirely  due  to  the  dif- 
ference in  the  quantity  that  may  be  heaped  on  a  spoon  of  a  cer- 
tain shape.  It  will  readily  be  seen  that  a  wide  shallow  spoon  will 
hold  more  above  the  rim  than  one  that  is  narrow  and  deep,  though 
the  actual  capacity  of  the  bowl  may  not  differ  materially. 
The  writer,  however,  does  not  want  to  put  himself  on  record  as 
advising  the  use  of  spoons  in  preference  to  an  accurately  graduated 
medicine  measure.  It  is  no  doubt  possible  to  construct  a  gradu- 
ated measure  that  will  not  only  facilitate  the  accurate  measuring 
out  of  the  desired  dose,  but  which  at  the  same  time  may  be  used  to 
dilute  and  to  administer  such  doses  to  the  patient.  This  desirable 
combination,  however,  is  not  available  at  the  present  time. 
With  a  view  of  bringing  this  question  of  doses  and  dose  meas- 
ures to  the  attention  of  physicians  and  pharmacists,  a  limited  num- 
ber of  circular  letters  were  sent  out,  asking  for  opinions  on  two 
different  subjects — the  first  being  in  reference  to  the  advisability 
of  promulgating  a  definition  for  the  term  "  spoonful,"  and  in  the 
event  of  this  being  acceptable,  whether  or  not  the  definition  as 
given  in  the  French  Codex  would  appear  to  cover  the  necessary 
points.  This  definition  reads  as  follows :  "A  spoon  is  full  when  the 
liquid  it  contains  comes  up  to  but  does  not  show  a  curve  above  the 
upper  edge  or  rim  of  the  bowl." 
The  second  question  was  in  connection  with  the  gradual,  but 
nevertheless  steady  increase  in  the  number  of  physicians  using  the 
metric  system  of  weights  and  measures  in  their  prescription  writ- 
ing. At  the  present  time  there  is  no  generally  accepted  equivalent 
for  what  is  intended  when  the  dose  is  indicated  in  a  metric  quan- 
tity, nor  on  the  other  hand,  is  there  any  accepted  or  generally 
understood  quantity  implied  by  the  term  teaspoonful,  for  instance, 
so  that  the  conscientious  pharmacist  has  no  definite  basis  for  esti- 
mating or  controlling  the  dose  of  any  active  ingredients  that  may 
have  been  called  for  by  the  prescriber. 
Briefly,  the  questions  were  as  follows  :  Should  we  advise  the  adop- 
tion and  use  of  4,  8  and  16  c.c.  as  the  approximate  equivalents  for 
'  the  terms  tea,  dessert  and  tablespoonful  respectively  ?    They  would 
correspond  nearly  to  the  present  equivalents,  namely,  1,  2  and  4 
drams. 
Should  we  use  and  advocate  the  equivalents  as  5,  10  and  15  c.c. 
on  account  of  their  being  decimal  quantities  and  corresponding 
almost  exactly  to  the  actual  capacities  of  spoons  in  actual  use  ? 
