AmiS  F89arm-}A^w  System  of  Weights  and  Measures.  191 
formly  5-33  per  cent.,  the  Revision  Committee  would  be  simply 
carrying  out  its  original  action  to  a  logical  conclusion,  with  this 
advantage  that  in  the  second  case  the  alterations  in  strength  would 
relatively  be  so  much  less,  because  those  preparations  are  as  a  class 
so  much  weaker  in  strength  of  drug,  representing  as  they  do,  only 
10  to  20  to  40,  and  in  one  case  50  per  cent,  of  fluid  extract  strength. 
As  regards  the  framing  of  formulas  on  the  plan  of  percentage, 
there  is  everything  to  say  in  its  favor.  It  is  simple  ;  it  indicates,  at 
a  glance,  the  percentage  of  ingredients  ;  (percentage  of  weight  in 
the  case  of  solids  and  percentage  of  volume  in  the  case  of  liquids) ; 
it  involves  no  change  of  existing  weights,  only  measures ;  it  is 
readily  applied ;  and  it  is  an  easy,  feasible  stepping-stone  towards 
the  ultimate  adoption  of  the  gram  and  the  cubic  centimeter. 
But,  it  may  be  argued,  if  you  go  this  far  and  adopt  this  form  of 
arrangement,  why  not  go  further  and  accept  the  gram  and  the  cubic 
centimeter?,  Because,  there  is  just  this  vital  point  to  be  considered  : 
The  great  majority  of  American  pharmacists  have  never  employed 
weights  and  measures  on  the  percentage  plan,  and  if  you  introduce 
percentage  with  strange  and  unfamiliar  weights  and  measures,  they 
will  not  near  as  readily  adapt  themselves  to  changed  conditions,  as 
if  you  first  employed  it  in  every-day  familiar  measurements.  The 
best  and  quickest  way  towards  the  ultimate  adoption  of  the  gram 
and  cubic  centimeter,  is  through  the  intermediate  adoption  of  per- 
centage adapted  to  familiar  weights  and  measures. 
It  should  not  be  assumed  that  a  percentage-troy  system  for 
making  pharmacopceial  preparations  would  require  prescriptions  to 
be  written  in  such  a  system.  Far  from  it.  Physicians,  in  their 
domain,  are  a  law  unto  themselves,  but  the  pharmacist  should 
equally  maintain  that  in  his  province  his  convenience  should  be 
consulted.  Pharmacists  must  take  an  advanced  position  on  this 
question.  It  is  to  their  interest  more  than  it  is  to  the  physicians  to 
have  the  working  formulas  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  eminently  practic- 
able. If  they  wait  until  physicians  take  the  initiative  and  adopt  a 
metrical  system  in  their  prescriptions  before  adopting  one  for  their 
own  preparations,  they  will  have  a  long,  long  weary  wait,  judging 
from  present  apathy  on  the  subject.  The  writer  may  be  pardoned 
for  quoting  personal  experience  when  he  states,  as  some  evidence  of 
the  use,  or  rather  lack  of  use,  of  the  metric  system  in  Philadelphia, 
that  of  the  nearly  500,000  prescriptions  over  which  he  has  had 
