WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES  USED  IN  PHARMACY.  495 
«  REPORT  OF  THE  WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES  USED  IN  PHAR- 
MACY. 
By  Mr.  Barnard  S.  Proctor. 
\_Abstract.~] 
"  The  author  first  made  a  comparison  of  the  apothecaries' 
weights  of  our  country  with  those  of  other  civilized  nations. 
Though  there  are  forty  different  European  pounds  and  as  many 
ounces  in  general  use,  there  were  only  two  or  three  systems  of 
pharmaceutical  weights,  and  these  not  widely  differing  from  each 
other.  The  English  system,  though  good  in  the  abstract,  had 
no  simple  relation  to  the  systems  of  other  countries,  nor  to  the 
other  weights  and  measures  of  this  country.  Some  of  its  own 
members  were  in  an  anomalous  position.  What  was  a  fluid 
pound  of  apothecaries'  weight  ?  Was  it  1 2  avoirdupois  ounces^ 
12  troy  ounces,  or  16  avoirdupois  ounces  ?  A  critical  examina- 
tion was  then  made  of  several  suggested  alterations  in  the  weights 
and  measures  of  pharmacy,  those  of  Mr.  Jacob  Bell,  Mr.  Griffin, 
Dr.  C.  Wilson,  and  Mr.  Warington,  being  especially  noticed. 
The  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  the  weights  and  measures 
authorized  by  the  Medical  Council  in  the  new  Pharmacopoeia 
were  next  reviewed,  and  a  suggestion  made  that  the  ounce  of 
that  system  should  be  divided  into  drachms  and  scruples.  To 
get  rid  of  the  fractions  of  a  grain,  which  would  otherwise  be  ap- 
pended to  these  drachms  and  scruples,  the  author  proposed  that 
the  value  of  the  grain  should  be  slightly  increased ;  so  that,  in- 
stead of  18*229  grains  being  contained  in  one  scruple,  there 
should  be  only  18  ;  instead  of  54-687  in  the  drachm,  there  should 
be  but  54 ;  and  432  in  the  ounce,  instead  of,  as  now,  437*5. 
This  was  as  near  an  approach  to  an  amalgamation  of  the  troy 
and  apothecaries'  system  as  he  could  devise.  The  elaborate  and 
ambitious  system  proposed  by  the  American  Pharmaceutical 
Association  was  next  noticed,  and  then  the  French  metrical  sys- 
tem, the  merits  and  demerits  of  all  under  various  circumstances 
being  carefully  weighed.  For  ultimate  general  adoption  the 
author  thought  the  American  octonary  system  to  be  superior  to 
the  metric  decimal  system ;  that,  in  short,  doubling  and  halving 
