464  International  Pharmaceutical  Congress.    { AseptJembe?,hia897? 
said  to  be  clearly  understood  ;  (3)  hyoscine  is  like  atropine  in  its  action;  (4) 
scopolamine  could  hardly  lay  claim  to  being  a  new  base. 
The  consideration  of  papers  having  been  brought  to  a  close,  after  occupying 
four  sessions,  the  question  of  next  year's  meeting  was  brought  up,  and  an  invi- 
tation to  hold  the  conference  in  Belfast  in  1898  was  accepted. 
The  following  officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year  : 
President,  Charles  Symes  ;  Vice-Presidents,  Walter  Hills,  J.  Laidlaw  Ewing, 
J.  C.  C.  Payne,  W.  F.  Wells  ;  Treasurer,  John  Moss  ;  Honorable  General  Secre- 
taries, W.  A.  H.  Naylor,  F.  Ransom  ;  Honorable  Local  Secretary,  R.  W. 
McKnight  ;  Assistant  Secretary,  J.  C.  Nightingale;  other  members  of  the 
Executive  Committee,  F.  C.  J.  Bird,  H.  Collier,  J.  C.  Umney,  J.  Anderson  Rus- 
sell, Edmund  White,  R.  Wright  ;  Auditor,  D.  W.  Elliot ;  Editor  of  the  "Year- 
Book,"  Louis  Siebold. 
EIGHTH  INTERNATIONAL  PHARMACEUTICAL 
CONGRESS. 
The  following  account  of  the  meeting  of  the  above-named  Congress  has  been 
taken  largely  from  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal  of  August  21,  1897  : 
The  Eighth  International  Pharmaceutical  Congress,  organized  by  the  Asso- 
ciation General  Pharmaceutique  de  Belgique,  was  formally  opened  on  Saturday, 
August  14th,  in  the  Conference  Hall  of  the  University  of  Brussels,  under  con- 
ditions which  promised  great  success,  over  6co  pharmacists  from  Belgium  and 
other  countries  having  registered  themselves  as  members. 
The  chair  was  taken  at  the  inaugural  meeting  by  M.  De  Bruyn,  the  Minister 
of  Agriculture  and  Hygiene,  who  was  accompanied  by  several  other  Govern- 
ment officials  and  the  members  of  the  Organizing  Committee.  M.  Ranwez, 
Professor  at  the  University  of  Louvain,  was  elected  President  of  the  Congress, 
and  M.  Duyk,  General  Secretar}'.  The  delegates  from  the  countries  repre- 
sented at  the  Congress  were  elected  Vice-Presidents. 
On  Monday,  August  16th,  the  first  paper  was  presented  by  Professor  Ranwez 
on  "The  Proportion  of  Active  Principle  in  Drugs,  etc."  This  was  in  answer  to 
the  query  :  "  Is  it  not  desirable  in  the  present  condition  of  scientific  knowledge 
to  insist  on  the  presence  of  a  normal  proportion  of  active  principle  in  a  pre- 
paration ?"  and,  after  a  general  review  of  the  subject  by  the  author,  he  con- 
cluded by  offering  the  following  resolution  :  "  That  the  competent  authorities 
should  require  a  uniform  percentage  of  active  or  important  principles  in  medi- 
cinal preparations."  This  resolution  called  forth  considerable  discussion,  pro 
and  con;  but  after  the  addition  of  the  words  "  as  far  as  possible,"  proposed  by 
M.  Petit,  delegate  from  France,  it  was  adopted  by  a  large  majority. 
The  next  paper  submitted  was  a  "  Report  on  New  Medicaments,"  by  F.  E. 
Fayn,  of  Antwerp. 
The  author  pointed  out  that  the  introduction  of  new  chemical  and  animal 
products  of  late  years  has  been  attended  with  many  inconveniences,  and  has 
placed  the  reputation  of  pharmaciens  in  a  somewhat  awkward  position.  Many 
of  the  products  are  monopolies,  and  are  issued  under  names  that  give  no  clue  to 
their  chemical  constitution.  At  the  time  they  are  introduced  to  the  medical 
profession  there  is  not  sufficient  information  published  concerning  them  to 
