View source for Minim (unit)

{{short description|Unit of volume}}
{{Distinguish|Minim (music)}}
{{wiktionary|minim}}
{{Use British (Oxford) English|date=October 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
The '''minim''' (abbreviated '''min''') is a [[units of measurement|unit]] of [[volume]] in both the [[Imperial unit|imperial]] and [[United States customary units|U.S. customary]] systems of measurement. Specifically, in the imperial system, it is {{frac|60}} of an [[Dram (unit)#Unit of volume|imperial fluid drachm]]<ref>also spelled ''fluidram''</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/bookofhouseholdm0000mrsi/page/40/mode/2up Page 40], ''The Book of Household Management'' (1861)</ref> or {{frac|480}} of an [[Fluid ounce|imperial fluid ounce]]; in the U.S. customary system, it is {{frac|60}} of a [[Dram (unit)#Unit of volume|US customary fluid dram]] or {{frac|480}} of a [[Fluid ounce|US customary fluid ounce]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070613023743/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/appendix/appendix-g.html CIA World Factbook]</ref><ref name="(médecin)1819">{{cite book|author=Robert Thomas (médecin)|title=The modern practice of physic, exhibiting the ... symptoms, prognostics, morbid appearances and improved method of treating the diseases of all climates...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V_laAAAAQAAJ&q=Octarius&pg=PAxv<!--|accessdate=17 December 2011-->|year=1819|publisher=Longman|page=xv}}</ref> <!--Commented-out text, assertion: "In the Pharmacopoeia, it is also noted that the minim was originally created by Mr Timothy Lane, [[Fellow of the Royal Society|F.R.S.]], as {{val|61440}} parts per wine gallon."--><!--Questions: "the" Pharmacopoeia? Which one? You mean the [[British Pharmacopoeia]]? If so, then which edition thereof? Feel free to put this sentence back into the article IF a real reference citation is entered. I spent some time trying to verify the assertion using Google Books search, without the £875.00 it takes to get past the paywall of the current edition of the British Pharmacopoeia, but without success. I searched inside various 19th-century editions and Latin-to-English translations of ''The Pharmacopœia of the Royal College of Physicians of London'' but the search claimed to find no "Lane". Example editions: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Pharmacopœia_of_the_Royal_College_o/26hdAAAAcAAJ (1809) and https://www.google.com/books/edition/Translation_of_the_Pharmacopœia_of_the/wd9ZAAAAcAAJ (1851) -->

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 (unit)|drop]], which had previously been the smallest unit of the [[apothecaries' system]].<ref name="LondonPowell1809">{{cite book|author1=Royal College of Physicians of London|author2=Richard Powell|title=The pharmacopoeia of the Royal College of Physicians of London, M. DCCC. IX|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCPrAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA7<!--|accessdate=18 December 2011-->|year=1809|publisher=Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme|pages=6–7}}</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">{{cite book|author=Philological Society (Great Britain)|title=The European magazine, and London review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lyEYAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA123<!--|accessdate=18 December 2011-->|year=1814|publisher=Philological Society of London|page=123}}</ref> later known as the minim-tube.<ref name="Weeks-Shaw1808">{{cite book|author=Clara S. Weeks-Shaw|title=A text-book of nursing: for the use of training schools, families, and private students|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vBttAAAAMAAJ&dq=minim-tube&pg=PA107<!--|accessdate=18 December 2011-->|year=1808|publisher=D. Appleton|page=107}}</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 [[metrication|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==
{| class="wikitable"
! Imperial minim
! US customary minim
|-
|{{sfrac|1|480}} imperial fluid ounce
|{{sfrac|1|480}} US fluid ounce
|-
|{{sfrac|1|60}} UK teaspoon
|{{sfrac|1|80}} US teaspoon
|-
|{{sfrac|1|60}} imperial fluid drachm
|{{sfrac|1|60}} US fluid dram
|-
|59.193880208{{overline|3}} microlitres (exactly)
|{{val|61.611519921875}} microlitres (exactly)
|-
|≃ 0.0036122322 cubic inches<ref name="inim">This assumes the international inch of exactly 25.4 millimetres.</ref>
|{{sfrac|77|20480}} 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==
<references/>

== External links ==
* [https://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2600.pdf Unicode Miscellaneous Symbols]

{{Imperial units}}
{{United States Customary Units}}
[[Category:Units of volume]]
[[Category:Customary units of measurement in the United States]]
[[Category:Imperial units]]