92 
EDITORIAL. 
furnished  by  the  Recording  Secretary  which  include  the  President's  ad- 
dress, the  Executive  Committee's  report,  and  the  list  of  subjects  for  future 
investigation.  The  Report  on  the  Progress  of  Pharmacy  occupies  sixty 
six  pages,  and  consists  chiefly  of  succinct  notes  of  discoveries  and  im- 
provements in  chemistry,  materia  medica,  pharmacy,  etc,  with  references 
to  authorities,  etc.,  which  will  prove  useful  to  investigators.  This  paper 
would  have  been  much  more  accessible  if  the  committee  had  appended 
an  alphabetital  index  to  the  work  like  that  in  the  volume  for  1858. 
The  Report  on  Weights  and  Measures,  by  Alfred  B.  Taylor,  is  the  most 
elaborate  document  yet  published  by  the  Association,  and  is  calculated  to 
excite  considerable  interest  beyond  the  precincts  of  the  Association,  from 
the  wide  scope  of  its  researches  and  the  novelty  of  its  suggestions.  Deeply 
impressed  with  the  grave  importance  that  attaches  to  any  change  in 
national  customs  so  deeply  seated  as  are  those  connected  with  weights  and 
measures,  the  author  has  hesitated  in  urging  any  present  change,  especially 
as  the  substitutes  for  our  present  system,  which  have  been  brought  forward, 
possess  objections  that  render  them  far  from  perfect,  including  the  French 
decimal  system.  The  proposed  alterations  of  the  troy  grain  to  suit  the 
new  division  of  the  avoirdupois  ounce,  as  adopted  by  the  present  revisers 
of  the  British  Pharmacopoeia,  does  not  meet  with  approval,  the  sacrifice 
being  greater  than  the  benefits.  The  report  enters  into  historical  details 
of  great  interest,  indicative  of  much  research  and  thought,  in  reference  to 
the  various  arithmetical  scales  that  have  been  proposed,  and  especially 
that  of  the  Hindoos,  or  our  decimal  system,  attributed  commonly  to  the 
Arabs.  At  this  point  the  report  takes  the  bold  step  of  suggesting  the 
adoption  of  the  Octonary  scale  of  enumeration  with  an  entirely  new  set  of 
characters  ;  8  taking  the  place  of  10,  64  of  100,  and  512  of  1000,  etc.  The 
eight  primary  numbers  or  digits  he  calls  un,  du,  the,  fo,  pa,  se  &n&  hi  ; 
unty  is  8,  under  64,  untyder  512,  unsen  4096,  untysen  32768,  undersell 
262144,  untydersen  2097152,  unholy  or  the  eighth  power  of  eight,  equal  to 
16,777216  and  so  on.  This  octaval  method  is  carried  out  in  all  the  tables 
of  calculation  and  value  for  weight,  measures,  time,  length,  capacity,  area, 
etc.,  and  in  the  opinion  of  the  author  presents  advantages  in  the  simplifica- 
tion and  facilitation  of  calculations  of  the  highest  value  to  commerce  and 
science,  and  worthy  the  effort  required  and  inconveniences  occasioned,  to 
substitute  it  for  the  present  decimal  system. 
The  author  assumes  the  equatorial  circumference  of  the  earth  to  be  a  more 
accurate  and  reliable  basis  of  calculation  than  the  meridian  as  adopted  in  the 
decimal  system,  and  he  has  taken  the  unholy  part  of  the  sextant  of  that  cir- 
cumference which  amounts  to  15f  inches  as  the  unit  of  linear  measure 
and  calls  it  a  module.  The  content  of  a  cubic  module  is  adopted  as  the 
bushel  or  modius  which  is  the  standard  of  measures  of  capacity.  This 
measure  will  contain  139  pounds,  and  104.7  grs.  of  distilled  water  at  39| 
Fahr.    We  give  below  the  two  tables  of  weights,  and  measures  of  capacity. 
