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 unit of volume in both the imperial and U.S. customary systems of measurement. Specifically, in the imperial system, it is {{frac|60}} of an imperial fluid drachmalso spelled fluidram[https://archive.org/details/bookofhouseholdm0000mrsi/page/40/mode/2up Page 40], The Book of Household Management (1861) or {{frac|480}} of an imperial fluid ounce; in the U.S. customary system, it is {{frac|60}} of a US customary fluid dram or {{frac|480}} of a US customary fluid ounce.[https://web.archive.org/web/20070613023743/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/appendix/appendix-g.html CIA World Factbook]{{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|year=1819|publisher=Longman|page=xv}}

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.{{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|year=1809|publisher=Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme|pages=6–7}} 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",{{cite book|author=Philological Society (Great Britain)|title=The European magazine, and London review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lyEYAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA123|year=1814|publisher=Philological Society of London|page=123}} later known as the minim-tube.{{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|year=1808|publisher=D. Appleton|page=107}} 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.