The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7235 p206
8 February 2003

Society summary

Museum information sheet on weights and measures

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's museum has added an information sheet on "Balances, weights and measures" to its range of sheets illustrating the history of the preparation of medicines.

The new information sheet looks at 6,000 years of history and covers details of weights from liquorice seeds and lead, to apothecaries' weights and the troy weight system, which used 5,760 grains of wheat to measure a pound. It includes a section decoding symbols of various weights and measures and giving conversions for weights including grains, scruples, drachms, ounces and pounds.

Like the original 10 sheets launched last year (PJ, 26 October 2002, p626), the new sheet can be downloaded as a PDF file from the museum section of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's website. Copies of the double-sided, A4-sized sheets are also available by post. Requests should be telephoned to 020 7572 2210 or e-mailed to museum@rpsgb.org.uk.

The information sheets have been written for the museum by Peter Homan, FRPharmS. The original sheets cover "Drug preparation and extraction", "Secundum artem: the skill of the apothecary and pharmacist", "Liquid medicines and medicine bottles", "Lozenges and pastilles", "Suppositories, pessaries and bougies", "Ointments, creams and plasters", "Pills and pill-making", "Powders and cachets", "Capsules and tablets" and "Patent and brand name medicines".

Briony Hudson, keeper of the museum collections, said: "By providing virtual access to the museum's objects and expertise we can reach the public and let them know about the educational and research potential of our collections and historical information."