522 
Adoption  of  the  Metric  System. 
5  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
}     August,  1921. 
overwhelmed  by  both  sides  in  this  controversy  have  almost  biased 
our  opinions  and  we  hesitate  to  offer  our  judgment  at  this  time,  lest, 
it  be  not  candid  and  lucid.  We  are  tempted,  however,  to  submit  in 
detail  some  of  the  demonstrations  which  both  sides  have  presented 
to  the  country  in  their  most  recent  communications.  Pharmacists 
need  to  ponder  carefully  over  these  various  considerations  before 
formulating  their  judgment.  The  fact  that  this  system  lends  itself 
remarkably  well  in  serving  certain  phases  of  our  activities  and  prac- 
tices must  not  blind  our  judgment  insofar  as  to  favor  its  compulsory 
adoption  by  all  the  people  and  all  the  industries.  The  guiding  motive 
of  those  who  seek  to  offer  opinions  on  this  all-important  subject 
must  be  based  on  a  desire  to  serve  not  a  single  branch  of  industry 
or  service,  but  rather  with  an  eye  to  conveying  an  improvement  that 
will  benefit  the  great  majority  of  industries  and  services. 
Academicians  have  been  too  prone  to  ridicule  the  cumbersome 
old  English  systems  of  weights  and  measures  with  their  alleged 
ponderous  and  conflicting  units  and  they  have  been  frequently  and 
properly  criticized  for  having  obscured  in  the  ardor  of  their  decimal 
enthusiasm  certain  marked  advantages  which  these  systems  exhibit. 
We  never  recall  that  our  metric  arithmetic  teacher  ever  pointed  out 
to  us  the  labor  saving  which  results  from  the  use  of  the  dual  or  duo- 
decimal systems ;  that  five  is  the  only  digit  under  seven  which  is  not 
divisible  into  twelve,  while  two  and  five  are  the  only  two  which 
divide  into  ten;  that  ten  is  not  expressible  in  integral  units  when 
divided  into  quarters  or  thirds  the  latter  faction  running  into  rows 
of  integers  that  recur  into  Einsteinian  endlessness.  These  advan- 
tages, of  course,  are  well  balanced  when  the  metric  simplicity  is 
considered,  and  our  coinage  system  is  proof  positive  of  the  ease 
with  which  ten  lends  itself  to  our  everyday  arithmetical  processes. 
Rather  than  elaborate  further  on  the  matter  the  arguments  here- 
with are  presented,  culled  as  they  are  from  various  sources,  in  order 
to  afford  a  resume  of  both  sides  of  the  question. 
Arguments  for  the  Adoption  of  the  Metric  System. 
Under  the  metric  system  only  three  names  are  used. 
( 1 )  The  meter  and  its  decimal  values  for  measures  of  length. 
(2)  The  litre  and  its  decimal  values  for  measures  of  capacity. 
(3)  The  gram  and  its  decimal  values  for  measures  of  weight. 
