414      Metric  System  of  Weights  and  Measures.  {^pfember.wo?1' 
England,  with  whom  more  than  three-fifths  of  our  trade  was,  at  that 
time,  conducted.  Altogether  the  possible  benefits  were  thought  to 
be  of  less  advantage  than  the  probable  immediate  loss.  The  gen- 
eral lack  of  interest  in,  or  appreciation  of,  the  advantages  of  the 
metric  system,  at  that  time,  is  apparent  from  the  fact  that  the 
memorial  that  was  subsequently  forwarded  to  Congress  by  the  Bos- 
ton Society  of  Civil  Engineers  was  endorsed  by  but  seventeen  othtr 
scientific  or  industrial  organizations  (Am.  Jour.  Phar.,  Vol.  49,  p. 
612).  It  should  be  stated,  however,  that  in  the  following  years 
several  industrial  organizations,  among  them  the  Philadelphia  Engi- 
neers' Club,  adopted  resolutions  favoring  the  introduction  of  the 
metric  system,  especially  its  compulsory  introduction  into  the  cur- 
riculum of  the  public  schools. 
The  agitation  at  that  time  was  not  without  some  practical  results ; 
we  find,  for  instance,  that  in  1878  the  metric  system  was  officially 
introduced  into  the  United  States  Marine  Hospital  Service  ;  subse- 
quently the  same  system  of  weights  and  measures  was  also  adopted 
by  the  medical  departments  of  both  the  United  States  Army  and 
Navy. 
In  1880  the  metric  system  was  officially  recognized  in  the  U.  S 
Pharmacopoeia,  and  in  the  next  decennial  revision  it  was  used  ex- 
clusively. 
Despite  this  official  recognition,  however,  the  metric  system  has 
made  comparatively  little  progress  with  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
medical  or  pharmaceutical  professions,  and  its  general  introduction 
will  probably  be  brought  about  by  the  changes  that  have  been 
imade  in  our  commercial  and  industrial  relations  with  the  countries 
where  it  has  been  adopted. 
Philadelphia  manufacturers  having  trade  relations  all  over  the 
civilized  world,  necessarily  feel  the  disadvantages  that  result  from 
being  compelled  to  use  different  systems  of  weights  and  measures. 
It  was  to  inquire  into  this  condition  of  affairs,  and  the  possibility  of 
avoiding  them,  that  the  Franklin  Institute  appointed  the  special 
committee  "  on  the  feasibility  and  advisability  of  adopting  the  metric 
system  of  weights  and  measures  in  the  United  States." 
Briefly,  the  conclusions  of  this  committee,  as  subsequently  en- 
dorsed by  the  Institute,  were  as  follows  : 
That  it  is  desirable  to  obtain  an  international  standard  of  weights 
and  measures. 
