A disassembled hanging balance scale with various weights laying between the pans

Site of Balance Room, 1924

This space was earmarked for a “Balance Room” in floorplans of the 1924 ell extension to the Bulfinch. An apothecary balance scale ca. 1920 is pictured here, and scales just like it were used by pharmacy chemists in measuring medical compounds. In 1945 MGH adopted the metric system for measurement, abandoning the apothecary weight system used here.