Am'ju°y,r'i9ih9.rm"  }      A  Standard  Dosage  Measure.  415 
While  in  the  past  the  apothecary  may  have  used  graduated  meas- 
ures of  variable  shapes  and  with  indifferent  and  inaccurate  mark- 
ings, today  he  is  supplied  by  the  manufacturers  with  "  standard 
graduates  "  the  shapes  and  graduation  of  which  have  been  standard- 
ized with  the  cooperation  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Standards 
and  the  use  of  which  is  already  compulsory  by  statutes  in  some  of 
the  states. 
Accuracy  in  the  administration  of  medicines  is  equally  as  im- 
portant as  accuracy  in  their  preparation.  The  physician  calculates 
the  amount  of  active  medicament  that  he  intends  shall  be  given  his 
patient  in  each  dose  of  the  prescription  that  he  directs.  To  the 
trained  physician  the  word  dose  has  a  well-defined  meaning,  namely, 
the  right  amount  to  obtain  the  desired  effect,  no  more  and  no  less. 
So  it  is  evident  that  if  too  much  be  given  untoward  effects  or  unde- 
sirable reactions  may  result  and  that  if  too  little  be  given  there  may 
be  expected  a  failure  to  produce  any  effect.  In  either  case,  the 
intent  of  the  physician  may  be  nullified  with  detriment  to  his  patient. 
It  is  the  height  of  inconsistency  to  invalidate  the  judgment,  the  pro- 
fessional knowledge  and  skill  of  the  physician  and  the  pharmacist 
and  to  make  these  useless  by  the  careless  or  inaccurate  administra- 
tion of  the  medicines. 
The  inaccuracy  of  the  ordinary  dose  measures  has  been  so  fre- 
quently decried  that  the  variability  and  uncertainty  of  these  should 
be  common  knowledge.  The  almost  universal  custom  is  for  the 
physician  to  direct  as  a  dose  of  a  liquid  medicine,  either  a  teaspoon- 
ful,  a  dessertspoonful,  a  tablespoonful,  or  possibly  so  many  drops. 
Spoons  of  all  sizes  and  shapes  are  marketed  by  the  various  manu- 
facturers without  any  attempt  to  standardize  the  content  of  those 
bearing  the  same  designation.  In  the  same  household  one  teaspoon 
may  hold  55  minims  and  another  as  much  as  80  minims  and  as  great 
a  range  of  variation  may  be  shown  by  the  dessertspoons  and  the 
tablespoons.  Another  source  of  error  in  measuring  with  the  ordi- 
nary metal  spoon,  is  what  may  be  termed  the  personal  equation. 
One  person  does  not  hold  the  spoon  level,  another  gauges  the  spoon 
as  full  when  it  is  not  entirely  filled.  Even  more  uncertain  and  un- 
reliable is  the  measurement  of  the  fractions  of  the  teaspoon ful  that 
are  not  infrequently  prescribed  for  children.  Although  it  is  very 
generally  conceded  that  the  metal  spoon  of  the  household  use  is  too 
uncertain  and  unreliable  for  the  administration  of  medicine  it,  never- 
theless, even  at  the  present  time,  is  the  most  commonly  employed 
measure  for  this  purpose. 
