AmFe0bu''i87h7arm'}  Minutes  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  85 
James  T.  Shinn  desired  to  know  what  means  were  adopted  in  Europe  in  order 
to  dispense  with  the  use  of  graduated  measures  in  prescriptions.  PrOf.  Maisch 
informed  him  that  a  special  scale,  one  beam  of  which  is  often  furnished  with  a 
rider,  is  usually  reserved  for  this  purpose.  After  the  vial  has  been  tared,  the  pre- 
scribed liquids  are  then  weighed  directly  in  it. 
A  communication  from  Hans  M.  Wilder  was  also  read,  advising  a  recalculation 
of  the  pharmacopoeia  quantities  into  parts  by  weight,  and  suggesting  that  it 
be  left  optional  with  physicians  to  prescribe  either  in  grams  alone  or  by  grams 
and  cubic  centimeters,  just  so  that  they  indicate  it  plain  and  legible.  He 
called  special  attention  to  the  necessity  of  great  care  in  the  marking  of  the 
decimal  point,  the  position  of  which  may 'often  be  a  matter  of  life  and  death, 
as  far  as  the  patient  is  concerned.  Prof.  Maisch  stated  that  the  same  subject 
will  claim  the  attention  of  the  New  York  College  of  Pharmacy  this  week. 
Dr.  Pile  expressed  a  fear  that  it  would  prove  difficult  for  physicians  to  adjust 
their  doses  by  weight,  on  account  of  the  differences  in  the  specific  gravity  of  liquids. 
Prof.  Maisch  replied  that  practically  only  three  classes  of  liquids  deserved  con- 
sideration in  this  connection,  namely,  water,  syrups  weighing  one-third  heavier,  and 
oils  weighing  one-tenth  less  than  water ;  with  most  tinctures  and  fluid  extracts,  if 
prescribed  as  if  they  were  of  the  same  specific  gravity  as  water,  the  difference  would 
hardly  be  greater  than  the  increase  in  bulk  by  dissolving  solids,  which  physicians 
have  very  generally  overlooked,  but  in  those  cases,  where  great  exactness  is  desired 
and  the  precise  size  of  the  patient's  teaspoon  or  tablespoon  is  known,  the  difficulty 
can  be  overcome  by  the  addition  of  an  adjuvant  to  make  up  a  designated  quantity. 
In  answer  to  an  inquiry,  Prof.  Maisch  stated  that  several  American  medical  socie- 
ties had  recently  advised  their  members  to  use  the  metric  system  in  prescribing. 
James  T.  Shinn  thought  that  the  looseness  of  physicians  in  the  matter  of  doses 
justified  the  retention  of  the  present  system  of  measuring  liquids  as  a  matter  of 
convenience.  Prof.  Maisch  regarded  the  appliances  for  weighing  in  pharmacies  as 
productive  of  far  more  accurate  results  than  the  present  means  used  by  druggists 
for  measuring.  He  considered  the  uniformity  of  the  metric  system  all  over  the 
world  as  the  most  important  argument  for  its  introduction.  Even  in  comparatively 
narrow  glass  tubes  there  is  so  much  liability  to  error  in  reading  off  the  space  occu- 
pied by  the  liquid  which  is  measured,  that  in  analytical  work  a  special  indicator  is 
made  use  of  so  as  to  reduce  the  apparent  variation  to  its  minimum.  This  error  is 
enormously  augmented  in  proportion  as  the  diameter  of  the  surface  of  the  liquid 
increases.  E.  M.  Boring  alluded  to  another  error  due  to  capillary  attraction  in 
tubes  of  narrow  diameter. 
A.  W.  Miller  suggested  that  physicians  might  write  a  formula  for  one  single 
dose,  leaving  the  adjustment  of  the  diluent  to  the  pharmacist,  in  order  to  make 
up  the  conventional  teaspoon  or  tablespoonful  dose.  The  physician  could  then 
readily  prescribe  any  convenient  number  of  doses  by  the  usual  subscription  : 
Misce  tales  doses  no.  .  All  the  much  dreaded  labor  of  calculation  and  adjust- 
ment would  thus  be  thrown  on  the  druggist,  who  has  certainly  more  leisure  to 
do  it  carefully  and  accurately  in  the  seclusion  of  his  prescription  department  than 
the  physician  at  the  bedside  of  the  patient. 
