Modern Unit of Mass
In the avoirdupois system, the dram is the mass of 1⁄256 pound or 1⁄16 ounce. The dram weighs 875⁄32 grains, or exactly 1.7718451953125 grams.
In the apothecaries' system, which was widely used in the United States until the middle of the 20th century, the dram is the mass of 1⁄96 pounds apothecaries (lb ap), or 1⁄8 ounces apothecaries (oz ap or ℥) (the pound apothecaries and ounce apothecaries are equal to the troy pound (lb t), and troy ounce (oz t), respectively). The dram apothecaries is equal to 3 scruples (s ap or ℈) or 60 grains (gr), or exactly 3.8879346 grams.
"Dram" is also used as a measure of the powder charge in a shotgun shell, representing the equivalent of black powder in drams avoirdupois.
Read more about this topic: Dram (unit)
Famous quotes containing the words modern, unit and/or mass:
“And of the other things death is a new office building filled with modern furniture,
A wise thing, but which has no purpose for us.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“During the Suffragette revolt of 1913 I ... [urged] that what was needed was not the vote, but a constitutional amendment enacting that all representative bodies shall consist of women and men in equal numbers, whether elected or nominated or coopted or registered or picked up in the street like a coroner’s jury. In the case of elected bodies the only way of effecting this is by the Coupled Vote. The representative unit must not be a man or a woman but a man and a woman.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Teach those Asians mass production?
Teach your grandmother egg suction.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)