Am!w  moarm' }      U-  5"-  Pharmacopceial  Convention. 
269 
the  early  days  of  the  American  Republic,  nut  by  law  but  by  voluntary  action 
and  consent,  the  Convention' of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia;  but  to-day,  in- 
corporated and  its  actions  legalized,  it  constitutes  the  power  which  regulates 
the  relations  between  the  professions  of  pharmacy  and  medicine,  and  gives 
the  standard  of  legal  purity  for  certain  substances  used  widely  for  other 
than  medical  intent. 
The  Corporation  of  Trinity  House  has  maintained  its  supremacy  and 
the  character  of  its  work  by  its  conservatism,  and  by  its  refusal  to  widen 
the  circle  of  the  Executive  or  the  character  of  its  membership.  As  with 
it  so  do  I  believe  that  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopceial  Convention  will,  to  the 
great  benefit  of  the  professions  of  pharmacy  and  medicine  and  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  maintain  its  own  existence  by  conservatism,  by  guard- 
ing well  the  portal  of  entrance  to  the  Convention,  and  by  making  scientific 
and  practical  fitness  rather  than  geographic  representation  the  requirements 
for  membership,  especially  in  its  Executive. 
President  Wood  also  referred  to  the  fact  that  as  the  Spanish 
translation  of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  had  become  the  official 
Pharmacopoeia  of  Cuba,  he  believed  that  the  University  of  Havana 
should  be  given  the  inherent  right  to  send  a  delegate  or  delegates 
to  the  Convention,  because  to  the  University  of  Havana  we  ought 
to  look  for  the  translation  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  into  the  Spanish 
language.  This  recommendation  was  subsequently  approved  by 
the  Convention.  During  the  reading  of  the  address  there  was 
present  upon  the  platform  Dr.  Jose  Guillermo  Diaz,  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Havana,  who  translated  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  into 
Spanish  and  to  whom  in  large  part  is  due  the  popularization  of 
the  Spanish  edition.  Dr.  Diaz  was  later  introduced  to  the  Con- 
vention and  he  and  his  colleagues  Dr.  Juan  Guiteras  and  Dr. 
Jose  Alacan  also  Professors  in  the  University  of  Havana  were 
extended  the  privileges  of  the  floor. 
One  other  matter  might  be  mentioned  which  was  considered 
by  President  Wood  in  his  address.    He  says : 
In  1902,  your  President  and  Dr.  Frederick  B.  Power,  Ph.D.,  an 
American  chemist,  Director  of  the  Wellcome  Chemical  Research  Laboratories 
of  London,  were  appointed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  as  delegates 
to  represent  the  U.  S.  Government  in  the  International  Conference  for 
the  Lnification  of  the  Formula;  of  Heroic  Medicines,  which  had  been 
called  by  the  Belgian  Government  and  which  met  in  Brussels  in  September, 
1902.  Although  attempts  had  been  made  before  to  obtain  such  unification, 
and  failed,  this  Conference  fully  achieved  the  object  for  which  it  was 
summoned,  namely — the  making  of  a  list  of  drugs  which  were  considered 
actively  remedial  and  yet  capable  of  doing  great  harm,  with  a  list  ot  prepara- 
tions and  their  strength;  so  that  the  traveller  can,  when  the  work  of  the 
Conference  has  been  accepted  by  the  various  nations  individually,  have  a 
