Minim (unit)

Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Sister project Template:Use British (Oxford) English Template:Use dmy dates The minim (abbreviated min, [[♏|Template:Emoji presentation]] or [[♍|Template:Emoji presentation]]) is a unit of volume in both the imperial and U.S. customary systems of measurement. Specifically, in the imperial system, it is Template:Frac of an imperial fluid drachm<ref>also spelled fluidram</ref><ref>Page 40, The Book of Household Management (1861)</ref> or Template:Frac of an imperial fluid ounce; in the U.S. customary system, it is Template:Frac of a US customary fluid dram or Template:Frac of a US customary fluid ounce.<ref>CIA World Factbook</ref><ref name="(médecin)1819">Template:Cite book</ref>

The minim was introduced in the 1809 edition of The Pharmacopœia of the Royal College of Physicians of London as a replacement for the drop, which had previously been the smallest unit of the apothecaries' system.<ref name="LondonPowell1809">Template:Cite book</ref> It was observed that the size of a drop can vary considerably depending upon the viscosity and specific gravity of the liquid. (At the time, the phenomenon of surface tension was not well understood.) The minim, on the other hand, was measured with a graduated glass tube known as a "minimometer",<ref name="Britain_1814">Template:Cite book</ref> later known as the minim-tube.<ref name="Weeks-Shaw1808">Template:Cite book</ref> The minim-tube was a type of graduated pipette, a device invented in 1791 by François-Antoine-Henri Descroizilles.

Apothecaries' measures are fully defined in the United Kingdom's Weights and Measures Act 1878, but the UK's Weights and Measures Act 1963 provided for the abolition of the minim, fluid scruple, and fluid drachm, all already obsolete. Actual delegalization occurred on 1 February 1971.

The use of the minim, along with other such measures, has been reduced by the adoption of the metric system, and even in the least metricated countries, pharmacy is largely metricated and the apothecaries' system is deprecated. The unit may rarely persist in some countries in the measurement of dosages of medicine.

Definitions

Imperial minim	US customary minim
Template:Sfrac imperial fluid ounce	Template:Sfrac US fluid ounce
Template:Sfrac UK teaspoon	Template:Sfrac US teaspoon
Template:Sfrac imperial fluid drachm	Template:Sfrac US fluid dram
59.193880208Template:Overline microlitres (exactly)	Template:Val microlitres (exactly)
≃ 0.0036122322 cubic inches<ref name="inim">This assumes the international inch of exactly 25.4 millimetres.</ref>	Template:Sfrac cubic inch (exactly)<ref name="inus">This assumes the international inch of exactly 25.4 millimetres. The US gallon, of 231 cubic inches, is the same as the English wine gallon.</ref>
≃ 0.002001583 US fluid ounces	≃ 0.002168422 imperial fluid ounces
≈ 0.96076 US fluid minims	≈ 1.0408427 imperial minims

References and notes

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External links

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