WEIGHTS  OF  THE  PHARMACOPOEIA. 
99 
easily  written  ? — or  which  the  more  readily  conceived  and  re- 
membered? Much  has  been  said  in  praise  of  the  beautiful  and 
simple  system  of  the  French ;  and  we  seek  not  here  to  underrate 
it :  but  we  should  like  some  earnest  advocate  of  its  adoption  to 
show  wherein  the  expression  "  8  heeto- grammes,  7  deca-grammes, 
and  5  grammes,"  (which,  translated  from  its  Greek  form  into 
plain  English,  is  «  8  hundred-grammes,  7  ten-grammes,  and  5 
grammes ;)"  we  should  like  the  advocate  of  this,  we  say,  to  show 
in  what  respect  it  is  better  or  more  convenient  than  the  simple 
expression,  875  grammes  ? 
So  far,  then,  as  the  "grain"  should  be  thus  employed,  it 
would  exhibit  practically  all  the  benefits  of  a  decimal  metrology, 
and,  in  a  manner  attended  with  the  least  possible  sacrifice  of, 
or  interference  with,  established  values  and  reckonings.  It 
would  relieve  the  physician  from  the  mental  effort  of  constant 
reductions  in  writing  his  prescriptions.  It  would  have  the 
good  effect  of  dislodging  that  relic  of  Latin  ignorance — the 
Roman  numeration.  It  would  have  the  further  advantage  of 
abolishing  those  superfluous  cabalistic  symbols  of  weight,  which, 
however  precious  to  the  mystery  of  alchemic  craft,  are  but  little 
congenial  with  the  frank,  direct  and  catholic  spirit  of  modern 
utilitarianism.  And  it  would  diminish  materially  the  risk  of 
error  both  in  reading  and  in  writing  medical  prescriptions,  where 
error  is,  alas,  too  frequently  of  serious  consequence. 
There  would  probably  be  no  occasion  for  carrying  the  em- 
ployment of  our  proposed  "  grain  unit  "  higher  than  875  grains, 
— the  eighth  part  of  the  pound.  From  and  above  this  weight, 
we  should  propose  the  use  of  the  eighth-pound,  the  quarter-pound, 
the  half-pound,  and  the  pound.  The  separate  weights  necessary 
for  the  carrying  out  of  our  project  would  be  the  following: — 
Table  of  Weights. 
1  gr.  2  grs.             4  grs.  8  grs. 
10  grs.  20  grs.            40  grs.  80  grs. 
100  grs.  200  grs.          400  grs.  800  grs. 
|  lb.  I  lb.              i  lb.  1  lb. 
(875  grs.)  (1750  grs.)  (3500  grs.)  (7000  grs.) 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  plan  here  proposed  disturbs  nothing. 
