578 
Editorial. 
/ Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
"I     October.  1896. 
the  weights  and  measures,  and  say  nothing  about  any  system  but  the  one 
which  is  to  be  adopted.  If  we  want  to  measure  a  litre  of  alcohol  it  is  just 
as  easy  to  do  it  if  we  have  the  proper  vessel  as  it  is  to  measure  a  pint  or  a 
quart  with  the  vessels  now  in  use.  It  then  becomes  of  no  more  value  for  one 
to  know  what  a  litre  is  in  pints  than  it  is  to  know  what  our  dollar  is  worth 
in  shillings.  The  writer's  experience  with  students  who  wish  to  learn  the 
metric  system  is  that  ten  minutes  with  a  set  of  metric  weights,  a  balance  and 
something  to  weigh  will  put  them  in  a  position  to  learn  the  system  them- 
selves in  less  than  an  hour  ;  in  fact,  it  frequently  dawns  on  them  at  once 
when  they  are  placed  before  a  balance  with  a  set  of  metric  weights  that  they 
have  no  use  to  know  the  value  of  these  weights  in  grains  or  ounces. 
Tables  of  equivalents  have  their  use  just  now,  but  when  the  new  system  has 
once  been  adopted  these  tables  will  only  be  of  value  in  trading  with  such  coun- 
tries as  do  not  use  it,  and  if  this  country  does  not  move  faster  in  the  matter  we 
will  be  the  last  to  abandon  the  tables. 
THE  LAVOISIER  MONUMENT. 
The  following  circular  has  just  been  issued  by  the  American  Committee,  and 
is  self-explanatory  : 
"  A  century  has  elapsed  since  the  judicial  murder  of  Lavoisier  under  the 
reign  of  terror.  The  rapid  progress  of  science  during  the  century  has  made 
the  fundamental  importance  of  the  work  of  Lavoisier  universally  recognized. 
"The  centenary  of  his  tragic  death  has  reminded  chemists  in  many  lands  of 
their  debt  to  the  memory  of  Lavoisier.  Accordingly,  a  monument  will  be 
erected  to  Lavoisier,  at  Paris,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences 
of  Paris. 
"Large  sums  have  already  been  subscribed  for  this  purpose  in  France,  and 
subscriptions  are  progressing  in  Germany  also.  The  American  Lavoisier  Com- 
mittee, the  first  of  all  organized,  has  deemed  it  prudent  to  defer  active  work 
until  the  present. 
"We  admit  that  chemists  are  more  numerous  in  other  countries,  but  the 
proverbial  liberality  of  Americans  will  make  it  difficult  to  crowd  us  to  the  rear, 
especially  as  our  manufacturing  chemists  are  interested  as  much  in  the  work  of 
Lavoisier  as  are  the  physical  and  general  chemists. 
"Besides,  a  monument  to  Lavoisier  should  not  interest  the  chemists  only, 
for  other  branches  of  science  are  greatly  indebted  to  the  founder  of  the 
Chemistry  of  the  Elements,  the  investigator  of  the  process  of  combustion  in 
all  its  forms.  Astronomers  gratefully  remember  his  co-operation  with  Laplace, 
his  work  in  the  establishment  of  the  metric  system  and  the  determination  of 
its  units,  sustaining  the  field  work  of  triangulation  by  his  money,  and 
measuring  and  weighing  with  Hauy  in  his  laboratory  till  ruthlessly  thrown 
into  prison.  Physicists  begin  their  exposition  of  the  measurement  of  heat  by 
the  description  of  the  first  calorimeter  and  the  work  done  therewith — all  by 
Lavoisier.  Experimental  physiology  also  began  in  the  laboratory  of  Lavoisier, 
with  his  experiments  on  respiration  at  rest  and  under 'external  mechanical 
work.  Mineralogists  and  geologists  have  not  forgotten  that  the  first  personal 
work  of  young  Lavoisier  was  the  beginning  of  the  geological  map  of  France, 
the  first  map  of  that  kind  ever  made. 
