Am.  Jour.  Pharm.l 
March,  1897.  J 
Editorial. 
161 
EDITORIAL. 
EIGHTH  INTERNATIONAL  PHARMACEUTICAL  CONGRESS. 
The  General  Pharmaceutical  Association,  of  Belgium,  has  decided  to  hold  the 
Eighth  International  Congress  of  Pharmacy  in  Brussels,  August  14  to  19, 
1897. 
There  will  be  six  sections  organized  : 
(1)  Legislation  and  questions  of  professional  interest,  Deontology  and  Phar- 
maceutical Education. 
(2)  Practical  Pharmacy,  Pharmaceutical  Chemistry  and  Pharmacopoeia. 
(3)  Food. 
(4)  Sanitary  Matters,  Public  Health. 
(5)  Microscopical,  Bacteriological  and  Biological  Researches. 
(6)  Toxicology. 
The  following  questions  have  been  suggested  by  the  Committee  of  Organi- 
zation to  be  discussed  at  the  meetings  : 
(1)  In  the  actual  state  of  science,  is  it  not  advisable  to  enforce  in  all  drugs 
and  medicines  a  normal  quantity  of  active  principles  ? 
(2)  Is  it  not  necessary  to  unify  the  modes  of  analysis  of  medicine  and  of 
their  active  principles  ?    If  so,  what  are  the  best  ways  of  doing  so  ? 
(3)  As  a  question  of  public  safety,  what  are  the  best  regulations  of  the  prac- 
tice of  pharmacy  ? 
(4)  From  a  bacteriological  point  of  view,  what  is  the  best  system  of  analysis 
of  drinking  water?  How  far  can  the  methods  actually  known,  be  relied 
upon  ? 
(5)  Has  the  chemist  the  right  of  preparing  and  selling  organic  essences  and 
the  substances  employed  in  organotherapy  ?  Which  are  the  best  ways  of  insur- 
ing the  chemist  of  the  value  of  these  substances,  and  also  of  serums  ? 
(6)  Show  the  best  ways  of  encouraging  the  manufacture  of  new  medicines  ? 
Is  it  possible,  in  patents,  to  amalgamate  the  protection  of  private  trade  and 
public  good  ?  Would  it  not  be  preferable  for  the  chemist  to  sell  them  and  the 
doctor  to  prescribe  them  under  names  more  appropriate  to  their  composition  ? 
(7)  Prepare  the  plan  of  a  programme  of  pharmaceutical  studies. 
In  addition  to  these  queries,  the  committee  has  offered  a  list  of  twenty  sub- 
jects for  papers,  on  which  some  six  prizes  will  be  awarded.  Those  who  desire 
to  take  part  in  the  Congress  should  send  their  names  to  M.  Maurice  Duyk, 
secretary,  or  Dr.  Fernand  Ranwez,  president,  102  Chaussee  de  Wavre,  Brussels, 
Belgium. 
AMERICAN  MILK  SUGAR. 
Previous  to  the  year  1890,  milk  sugar  from  Switzerland  was  largely  used  in 
the  United  States.  The  establishment  of  a  large  number  of  "creameries," 
however,  has  changed  this  condition  of  affairs  materially.  After  making  but- 
ter and  cheese,  milk  sugar  is  the  only  by-product.  The  vacuum  pan  appears 
to  have  made  this  substance  available  to  such  an  extent  that  it  not  only 
largely  supplies  the  demand  at  home,  but  it  has  become  a  factor  in  foreign 
markets.  The  milk  sugar  manufacturers  of  Germany  have  petitioned  their 
Government  for  a  protective  tariff,  not  against  the  Swiss  product,  but  against 
that  from  America,  which,  the  petitioners  claim,  will  gain  such  a  foothold  that 
it  will  be  difficult  to  exclude  it.  Consul  Germain,  at  Zurich,  says  that  the 
export  of  Swiss  milk  sugar  to  America  has  almost  ceased. 
