Word: drachms
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...pharmacologists also complain about the way doctors write their prescriptions. "Writing prescriptions in Latin is an obsolete affectation, conducive to misunderstanding and error," they say. With rare exceptions, the medicine bottle should be labeled with the name of the drug. "The obsolete apothecary system of grains, ounces and drachms is dangerous and unnecessary. The ancient symbols for ounce and drachm are nearly alike, and fatal over doses have resulted. The abbreviation gr. (meaning grain, 60 mg.) is easily mistaken for gram (1,000 mg.), also with catastrophic consequences." Instead of a dubious decimal point, the doctor should use a vertical...
...pole or perch, a 5 ½yd. unit based originally on the combined length of the left feet of 16 men. The government also lengthens the yard* and lightens the pound to conform to international standards, and in five years it will also abolish pennyweight, scruple and drachm...
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