.272 
Editorials. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharrn. 
,  .    May,  1890. 
new  revision  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States  is  pending,  that  the 
Committee  of  Revision,  as  welt  as  the  Pharmacists,  Druggists,  and  Physicians 
of  this  country,  should  have  their  attention  particularly  directed  to  this  important 
subject.  For  the  use  of  these  professions,  six  lines  contain  all  that  is  necessary, 
as  follows  : 
1,000  milligrams  make  one  gram. 
1,000  grms  or  cubic  centimeters  make  one  kilo,  or  liter. 
1,000  kilos  make  one  ton. 
65  milligrams  make  one  grain. 
15^  grains  make  one  gram. 
31  grams  make  one  ounce  Troy. 
In  writing  prescriptions,  a  vertical  line  should  be  drawn  between  grams  and 
milligrams,  all  figures  on  the  left  read  grams,  all  on  the  right  to  three  figures, 
respectively  deci-,  centi-,  and  milligrams. 
Chemists  think  in  milligrams  and  grams  only,  aad  pharmacists  and  physicians 
may  do  likewise,  reducing  our  system  to  two  denominations  only.  In  the  arts 
the  milligram  is  not  divided. 
As  the  metric  system  is  legal  throughout  the  United  States  any  physician  is 
entitled  to  present  a  metric  prescription  to  the  druggist.  All  boards  of  exami- 
ners in  medicine  and  pharmacy,  whether  state  or  collegiate,  are  justified  by 
law  to  exact,  and  shoiild  demand  from  every  candidate  for  graduation  or  for  a 
license  a  knowledge  of  the  metric  system. 
We  also  earnestly  recommend  that  Schools  of  Medicine  cease  to  give 
instruction  in  the  apothecarj^  system  of  weights  and  measures  for  which  there 
is  no  longer  any  reason,  and  that  in  the  Schools  of  Pharmacy  the  merits  of  the 
metric  system  should  be  presented  with  the  prominence  that  its  utility,  and  the 
near  prospect  of  its  adoption  justify,  in  the  best  way  to  secure  its  immediate 
use  as  the  exclusive  system  of  weighing  and  measuring  in  medicine  and 
pharmacy,  and  in  the  manufacturing  arts  correlative  with  them.  And  for 
the  further  promotion  of  this  object,  we  recommend  that  an  addition  be  made 
to  the  pharmacy  laws  now  in  force  in  most  of  our  States,  prescribing  that  all 
persons  receiving  a  license  to  sell  drugs  and  dispense  medicines  shall  be 
required  to  provide  themselves  with  a  set  of  metric  weights. 
Prof.  Wm.  H.  Seaman,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Dr.  Fred.  Hoffmann, "New  York. 
Prof.  Robt.  B.  Warder,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Committee  A.  A.  A.  Sc. 
Prof.  T.  C.  Mendenhall,  Presid.  A.  A.  A.  Sc. 
April  15,  1890. 
