BOOKS ON APOTHECARY WEIGHTS

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V22 2019 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 22, Number 26, June 30, 2019, Article 14

BOOKS ON APOTHECARY WEIGHTS

We recently discussed apothecary weights, and I asked if there were any books or catalogs written about them. -Editor

Martin Purdy of Upper Hutt, New Zealand writes:

There's "Apothecaries Weights, An Outline Catalogue" by Norman Biggs, White House Publications, 1994, ISBN 1 898310 01 7. It seems to be devoted to UK items, but it does reference the following in the bibliography:

D. Vangroenweghe and T. Geldof, Pondera Medicinalia, Bruges 1989, which may be more general - I don't know anything more about this particular book.

Thanks. Here's some more info from Ron Haller-Williams. -Editor

I have a copy of Biggs, bought some 20 years ago.

1. Norman Biggs, "Apothecaries Weights: An Outline Catalogue" (White House Publications, 1994) - 32 pages ISBN 1898310017, 9781898310013
https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=1898310017

2. Daniel Vangroenweghe & Tillo Geldof, "Apothecaries' Weights (Pondera Medicinalia)" (Centre for the Study of Apothecaries' Weights, 1989) - 268 pages
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=spCxHAAACAAJ

The symbol for dram or drachm (?) resembles a flat-topped "3", possibly relating to the fact that it was three scruples(?), but it also seems to resemble a script "z" - "z" was used in abbreviations (such as "oz" for "ounce") and even to indicate the word "and". The ounce, though, seems an extension of this: ? See also
http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/docs/dox/medical.html

"the 1/2 dram is marked 3s which I do not understand since it weighted 1.892g or 1.5 scruples, ideal weight 1.994g" It is quite simple: Following the symbol for scruple/drachm/ounce/etc, we have a Roman numeral to indicate how many:

s = Semis (The long "s" ſ is sometimes used - or even "ſs" as first and last letter)
i or j = 1
ii or ij = 2
iiii, iiij or iv = 4

So, of course(?), ʒiv = ℥s.

And ʒs is half a drachm = 90 grains = 1.5 scruples which (if there were a single weight for this) would be indicated as "℈is" or "℈iſ".

P.S. The convention was sometimes used, for a final "i" to be written as "j".

Thanks! That's actually a great explainer. Thanks for the links as well; it's nice to know some of these references are available online. And here are some additional ones Ron found just today. Thanks again, -Editor

An on-line catalog:
https://www.apothecariesweights.com/catalogue/

Also this descriptive page:
https://www.samhs.org.au/Virtual%20Museum/Medicine/
Apothecary_scales/Apothecary_scales.html

and this downloadable on-line 20-page booklet, posted about 4 months ago:
https://archive.org/details/CONA2019FebruaryPresentation

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
BEAUTIFUL AND UNUSUAL MONEY : Two Scruples Apothecary Weight (https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n24a31.html)
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: JUNE 23, 2019 : More on Apothecary Weights (https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n25a10.html)

THE BOOK BAZARRE

RENAISSANCE OF AMERICAN COINAGE: Wizard Coin Supply is the official distributor for Roger Burdette's three volume series that won NLG Book of the Year awards for 2006, 2007 and 2008. Contact us for dealer or distributor pricing at www.WizardCoinSupply.com .

Wayne Homren, Editor

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

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