B.  s.  proctor's  report  on  weights  and  measures.  123 
question  depending-  upon  the  comparative  importance  we  attach  to  these 
several  considerations." 
And  in  this  connection  the  writer  comments  on  the  decimal 
scales  of  weight  and  measure  proposed  by  Mr.  Griffin,  and  by 
Mr.  Warrington,  and  on  the  whole  gives  the  preference  to  the 
French  metrical  system. 
"The  octonary  system  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association, 
the  only  one  which  can  be  said  to  compete  with  the  metrical  in  regard  to 
completeness  and  uniformity  of  arrangement,  is  also  the  only  one  which 
can  compete  with  it  as  a  plan  for  universal  and  permanent  adoption. 
The  existence  of  this  rivalry  is  my  strangest  inducement  for  delaying  the 
recommendation  of  any  great  change  till  the  merits  of  octavial,  decimal, 
and  it  may  be  also  of  duodecimal  systems  have  been  fully  canvassed,  and 
for  recommending  that  the  reform  of  British  metrology  should,  for  the 
present,  be  limited  to  such  changes  as  could  without  great  difficulty,  be 
made  in  the  existing  weights  and  measures,  and  would  render  them 
harmonious  and  unequivocal.  It  is  on  this  ground  that  the  modification 
of  the  Irish  system,  which  I  before  suggested  for  the  reform  of  pharma- 
ceutical weights,  I  would  now  recommend  for  general  national  adoption — 
not  as  an  institution  to  be  unchangeable  in  future  ages,  but  as  a  simple 
alteration  which  could  free  us  from  all  the  great  evils  of  our  present  want 
of  system,  and  enable  us  at  a  future  time,  to  adopt  any  better  arrangement 
with  greater  facility  than  at  present. 
Turning  to  the  third  case  supposed — that  is,  that  we  have  to  contrive 
or  select  the  best  system  possible,  without  reference  to  existing  customs, 
which  may  give  a  temporary  and  unreal  advantage  to  those  which  are 
made  to  suit  present  circumstances.  The  systems  to  which  I  shall  draw 
attention,  as  suited  for  this  purpose,  are  the  metric-decimal  and  the 
American  octavial. 
The  advantages  of  a  decimal  system  are  simply  that  it  brings  the  tables 
of  weights  and  measures  into  accordance  with  our  modes  of  expressing 
number,  every  place  giving  a  value  to  the  number  which  occupies  it ;  so 
that  if  several  numbers  are  placed  together,  each  has,  in  virtue  of  its 
position,  ten  times  the  value  of  that  to  the  right-hand  of  it,  and  one-tenth 
of  the  value  of  that  at  the  left ;  and  these  positional  values  are  multiplied 
by  the  value  of  the  digit  which  occupies  the  place. 
Looking  to  pharmaceutical  practices  for  evidence  regarding  the 
comparative  utility  of  decimal  or  octavial  scales,  we  find  a  general 
preference  for  the  latter.  Concentrated  infusions  and  decoctions  are 
made,  so  that  one  part  equals  eight  of  the  normal  strength.  The  great 
majority  of  bottles  used  for  dispensing,  etc.,  are  founded  upon  octavial 
numbers  of  ounces.  1,2,4,6,  8,  12,  and  16  are  the  current  sizes.  20 
ounces  are  not  frequently  used,  10  ounces  still  more  rarely,  and  five 
ounces  quite  unknown.    Looking  at  the  posological  table  in  36  cases 
