136 
The  Metric  System  and 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
*■    February,  19 18. 
if  these  needs  can  be  standardized,  the  markets  of  the  world  are 
thus  opened. 
Weights  and  measures  have  furnished  a  barrier  between  coun- 
tries which  partly  can  be  overcome  by  cumbersome  processes  of 
conversions  or  equivalents,  for  the  reduction  of  one  system  to  the 
other,  but  sizes,  styles,  and  qualities  must  conform  to  the  usage 
of  the  consumer  who  will  purchase  where  his  requirements  will 
be  met.  Therefore,  it  is  necessary  to  consider  all  interests  in  this 
general  policy  and  educate  all  to  the  advantages  of  common  stand- 
ards. International  weights  and  measures  must  be  the  point  of 
departure  for  any  system  or  systems  of  international  standards, 
and  to  secure  the  fullest  and  speediest  realization  of  such  inter- 
national standards,  the  way  first  should  be  paved  by  the  adoption 
and  use  of  the  metric  system. 
No  longer  are  we  living  in  the  past,  and  owing  to  the  war  the 
great  nations  are  so  interrelated  that  in  order  to  settle  their  financial 
dealings  and  their  international  indebtednesses,  there  must  be  the 
freest  possible  commerce.  For  the  United  States  of  to-morrow, 
the  home  market  will  no  longer  suffice,  while  the  vast  sums  owing 
to  America  by  Europe  must  be  repaid  in  large  part  by  commodities, 
crude  and  manufactured. 
Now  whatever  the  system  of  weights  and  measures  in  use  in  a 
country,  there  is  inevitably  progress  towards  standardization  on 
some  convenient  basis.  This  naturally  is  a  tendency  of  commercial 
civilization  and  is  influenced  by  such  consideration  as  the  state  of 
commercial  evolution  attained,  and  the  ease  of  interchange  of  ideas 
and  materials,  that  is  telegraph,  telephone,  and  land  and  sea  trans- 
portation. 
As  distinct  from  international  standards,  it  is  inevitable  that 
any  less  complete  system  of  standardization  will  be  based  on  local 
customs  and  practice,  and  there  are  likely  to  be  as  many  systems 
of  standards,  as  there  are  systems  of  weights  and  measures.  Con- 
sequently, to  secure  harmony  of  standards,  harmony  and  universality 
of  weights  and  measures  first  must  be  secured,  and  the  result  is 
inevitable.  Typical  of  this  may  be  cited  the  case  of  electrical  unit-: 
and  standards  for  years  truly  international  and  so  maintained  by 
international  agreement.  But  here  standardization  has  gone  much 
further  than  mere  units  and  definitions,  for  an  international  electro- 
technical  commission  regulates  international  standardization,  while 
standards  committees  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  are 
