3o6 
International  Standards. 
S  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\       July,  1910. 
fluence  it  has  had  on  the  increase  of  proprietary  medicaments  with 
their  attending  misrepresentation  and  fraud. 
The  growth  of  intercommunication  and  commerce  which  followed 
the  Napoleonic  wars  early  in  the  nineteenth  century  led  to  repeated 
attempts  to  secure  greater  uniformity  in  strength  and  nomenclature 
of  medicaments.  One  of  these  earlier  attempts  is  reflected  by  a 
conspectus  of  the  several  then  existing  pharmacopoeias,  dispensa- 
tories and  formularies  of  the  world,  compiled  by  A.  J.  L.  Jourdan, 
and  published  in  1828.  A  second  edition  of  this  work,  in  two 
volumes,  comprising  a  total  of  more  than  1450  pages,  was  published 
in  1840. 
The  first  edition  included  a  review  of  35  official  pharmacopoeias 
and  18  formularies  while  the  second  edition  included  42  pharmaco- 
poeias and  31  formularies. 
Largely  due  to  the  initiative  of  Professor  George  DragendorfT, 
then  just  at  the  beginning  of  his  eventful  career,  an  International 
Pharmaceutical  Congress  was  held  at  Brunswick,  Germany,  in  1865, 
to  discuss  the  possibility  of  evolving  greater  uniformity  in  pharmaco- 
poeial  requirements.  This  initial  congress  was  attended  by  delegates 
from  Germany,  Russia,  Austria,  France,  and  Sweden.  In  discussing 
the  practicability  of  evolving  an  international  pharmacopoeia  it  was 
pointed  out  that  uniformity  in  nomenclature  and  in  the  formulae 
of  pharmacopoeial  galenicals  could  readily  be  attained  if  at  the 
periodical  revision  of  the  various  pharmacopoeias  such  changes  were 
seriously  attempted. 
At  the  second  congress,  held  in  Paris  in  1867,  it  was  proposed 
to  compile  and  publish  a  code  that  would  serve  as  a  basis  for  inter- 
national standards,  and  at  the  third  congress,  held  in  Vienna  in 
September,  1869,  it  was  announced  that  the  Pharmaceutical  Society 
of  Paris  had  volunteered  to  compile  a  comparative  epitome  of 
national  pharmacopoeias  showing  the  differences  existing  at  that 
time  in  regard  to  the  nomenclature,  composition  and  strength  of 
galenical  preparations.  This  compilation  was  to  be  submitted  to  the 
next  international  congress,  and,  it  was  expected,  would  form  the 
basis  for  an  agreement  to  serve  as  a  guide  in  future  revisions  of  the 
several  national  pharmacopoeias. 
Largely  because  of  the  Franco-German  war  the  fourth  inter- 
national congress  was  not  held  at  the  time  specified  and  it  was  not 
until  3  years  later,  in  1874,  that  the  congress  met  in  St.  Petersburg. 
The  Society  of  Pharmacy  of  Paris  presented  the  promised  epit- 
