Reader's Digest 9月号の記事 "World of Medicine" からの抜粋です。
Spoonful of Medicine Could Be Wrong Dose
When Cornell University researchers asked 195 participants to pour one teaspoon of night-time flu medicine into kitchen spoons of different sizes, they poured an average of 8 per cent too little (using midsize spoons) or 12 per cent too much (using large spoons). Repeat dosing mistakes may make medicen ineffective or even dangerous. Always use a measuring cap, a dropper or dosing spoon.
"dropper" も少量の液体量を量る器具のようですが、どんな物でしょうか? 辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A short glass tube with a rubber bulb at one end and a tiny hole at the other, for measuring out drops of medicine or other liquids.: Small doses may need to be measured by a special dropper instead of a teaspoon.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: a short glass tube fitted with a rubber bulb and used to measure liquids by drops —called also eyedropper, medicine dropper: He put drops in his eyes with a dropper.
目盛りのついたスポイドの事ですね。スポイドは英語と思っていましたが、調べると元はオランダ語のようでした。