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

Diversity of local standards
The basic form of the apothecaries' system is … See more

Roman weight system
The basic apothecaries' system consists of the units pound, ounce, and scruple from the classical Roman weight system, together wit… See more

While there will naturally have been some changes throughout the centuries, this section only tries to give a general overview of the situation that was recorded in detail in numerou… 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 Troyeswas … See more