Am jiiiy,ri9Pioarm' }  International  Standards.  309 
single  decade  the  total  compliances  with  the  requirements  of  the 
Brussels  protocol  on  the  part  of  the  leading  pharmacopoeias  of  the 
world  have  been  increased  from  less  than  50  per  cent,  in  1902  to 
95  per  cent,  in  1910. 
While  European  pharmacopoeias,  generally,  have  been  brought 
well  into  compliance  with  the  provisions  of  the  Brussels  protocol 
the  national  pharmacopoeias  now  official  in  North  and  South  America 
mostly  antedate  the  Brussels  Conference  and  are  therefore  not  in 
accord  with  the  requirements. 
The  variations  in  the  strength  of  potent  medicaments  now  exist- 
ing in  the  pharmacopoeias  used  in  the  several  countries  of  North  and 
South  America  are  well  illustrated  by  the  appended  table  giving  the 
requirements  of  the  International  Protocol  and  the  comparative 
strength  of  the  corresponding  preparations  in  the  several  well  known 
pharmacopoeias  that  are  either  officially  recognized  or  widely  con- 
sulted in  American  countries. 
Of  the  several  pharmacopoeias  used  on  this  Continent  the  French 
Codex,  the  Spanish  Pharmacopoeia,  and  the  Pharmacopoeia  of 
Mexico  comply  fully  with  the  protocol  of  the  Brussels  Conference, 
the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  United  States  complies  fairly  well  with  the 
several  requirements,  while  the  Pharmacopoeias  of  Great  Britain,  of 
Argentine,  of  Venezuela,  and  of  Chili  antedate  the  Brussels  Confer- 
ence and  differ  rather  widely  in  many  respects  from  the  provisions 
of  the  protocol  adopted  at  that  time. 
One  rather  important  variation  manifested  by  the  Pharmaco- 
poeias used  in  North  America  is  due  to  the  fact  that  English  speaking 
pharmacists  have  been  trained  to  measure  rather  than  weigh  pharma- 
ceutical preparations.  As  is  well  known  the  latter  is  the  accustomed 
practice  on  the  Continent  of  Europe  and  throughout  South  America, 
and  it  may  be  necessary  for  American  and  English  pharmacists  to 
change  their  mode  of  making  preparations  before  the  proposed  inter- 
national standards  can  be  fully  complied  with. 
The  desirability  of  developing  a  uniform  nomenclature  on  this 
hemisphere  is  well  illustrated  by  table  2  showing  the  titles  used  in 
the  several  pharmacopoeias  for  3  of  the  articles  included  in  the 
Brussels  protocol :  Cocaine  hydrochloride,  Fowler's  solution  and 
fluidextract  of  ergot. 
One  difficulty  in  the  way  of  developing  Pan-American  uniformity 
in  the  nomenclature  of  pharmacopoeial  substances  is  the  fact  that  in 
Spanish- America  Latin  titles  are  considered  as  being  of  but  second- 
