Septembers1'}    Metric  System  of  Weights  and  Measures.  417 
In  addition  to  this  it  may  be  well  to  state  that  British  as  well  as 
American  consular  reports  appear  to  indicate  that  the  introduction 
of  the  metric  system  has  met  with  least  opposition  in  those  coun- 
tries where  it  has  been  allowed  to  replace,  or  to  be  implanted  on 
existing  systems  of  weights  and  measures.  Even  in  France  there 
was  considerable  opposition  to  the  metric  system  until  the  people 
were  allowed  to  retain  the  old  and  familiar  names  for  weights  and 
measures  that  more  or  less  closely  corresponded  to  the  new  ones. 
The  same  is  true  of  Holland,  Germany,  and  other  countries  where 
the  metric  system  has  been  introduced. 
For  commercial  purposes  the  essential  feature  is  that  our  units  for 
weights  and  measures,  no  matter  what  we  choose  to  call  them, 
should  correspond  to  the  meter,  liter  and  kilogram  of  the  metric 
system.  Bearing  this  in  mind  and  also  the  fact  that  there  would  be 
less  objection  to  the  introduction  of  a  new  standard,  providing  the 
old  names  were  retained,  it  might  be  feasible  for  Congress  to  intro- 
duce a  new  or  metric  standard  yard  that  would  be  the  equal  of  1 
meter ;  a  new  or  metric  standard  quart  the  equal  of  I  liter,  and  a 
new  or  metric  pound  to  equal  500  grammes,  or  2  pounds  to  equal  1 
kilogram.  These  various  units  could  for  ordinary  purposes  be 
divided  into  halves,  quarters  and  even  eighths,  very  much  as  our 
dollar  is  used  at  the  present  time. 
This  adaptation  of  familiar  names  need  not  extend  beyond  the 
units  that  are  ordinarily  used  in  the  course  of  retail  trade,  for  all 
other  purposes  either  the  French  titles  or  a  modification  of  them 
should  be  used. 
For  physicians  or  pharmacists,  it  will  be  much  simpler  if  they 
acquaint  themselves  with  metric  quantities  in  the  terms  of  the 
metric  system  as  used  by  scientific  men  all  over  the  world;  a  reason- 
able and  fair  trial  will  convince  any  one  that  this  is  not  even  a  diffi- 
cult task,  to  say  nothing  of  its  being  impossible. 
Looking  ahead,  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  another  decade  will  see 
the  use  of  the  metric  system  firmly  established  in  every  civilized 
country  of  the  globe,  and  it  is  to  be  sincerely  wished  that  the  phar- 
macists of  the  country  will  contribute  their  share  to  bringing  about 
a  reform  that  is  as  simple  as  it  is  sensible. 
Officially,  the  pharmacist  of  the  country  has  done  good  work  in 
bringing  the  metric  system  to  the  attention  of  many  that  would  not 
otherwise  have  paid  much  attention  to  it.    Even  in  the  immediate 
