Weight
From pound down to the scruple, the units of the traditional English apothecaries' system were a subset of the units of the Roman weight system, although the troy pound and … See more

Diversity of local standards
The basic form of the apothecaries' system is essentially a subset of the Roman weight … See more

While there will naturally have been some changes throughout the centuries, this section only tries to give a general overview of the … See more

Weight standards named after Troyes
As early as 1147 in Troyes in Champagne (in the Middle Ages an important trading town) a unit of weight called marc de Troyes was used. See more

Until around 1900, medical prescriptions and most European pharmacopoeias were written in Latin. Here is a typical example from the middle of the 19th century.
The use of Latin … See more

Roman weight system
The basic apothecaries' system consists of the units pound, ounce, and scruple from the classical Roman weight system, together with the originally Greek drachm and a new subdivision of the scruple into either 20 ("barley") … See more

Early metrication
At the time of the Industrial Revolution, the fact that each state had its own system of weights and measures became increasingly problematic. Serious work on a "scientific" system was started in France under See more