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English-speaking countries also used a system of units of fluid measure, or in modern terminology volume units, based on the apothecaries' system. Originally, the terms and symbols used to describe the volume measurements of liquids were the same as or similar to those used to describe weight measurements of solids [33] (for example, the pound by weight and the fluid pint were both referred to ...
The dram (alternative British spelling drachm; apothecary symbol ʒ or ℨ; [a] abbreviated dr) [4] [5]: C-6–C-7 [6] is a unit of mass in the avoirdupois system, and both a unit of mass and a unit of volume in the apothecaries' system. [5] It was originally both a coin and a weight in ancient Greece. [7]
The grain was the legal foundation of traditional English weight systems, [5] and is the only unit that is equal throughout the troy, avoirdupois, and apothecaries' systems of mass. [6]: C-6 The unit was based on the weight of a single grain of barley which was equal to about + 4 ⁄ 3 the weight of a single grain of wheat.
Troy weight, avoirdupois weight, and apothecaries' weight are all built from the same basic unit, the grain, which is the same in all three systems. However, while each system has some overlap in the names of their units of measure (all have ounces and pounds), the relationship between the grain and these other units within each system varies.
From the time of Offa King of Mercia (8th century) until 1526 the Saxon pound, also known as the moneyers' pound (and later known as the Tower pound) was the fundamental unit of weight (by Offa's law, one pound of silver, by weight, was subdivided into 240 silver pennies, hence (in money) 240 pence – twenty shillings – was known as one pound).
The apothecaries and troy pounds are divided into 12 ounces (of 480 grains) while the avoirdupois pound has 16 ounces (of 437.5 grains). The unit of volume, the gallon , has different values in the United States and in the United Kingdom – the US fluid gallon being about 0.83 imperial gallons and the US dry gallon being about 0.97 imperial ...
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The scruple (℈) is a small unit in the apothecaries' system, [1] derived from the old Roman scrupulum (lit. ' small pebble ' ) unit [ 2 ] ( scrupulus / scrupulum ). Mass unit