45 6  International  Pharmaceutical  Congress,  {^pfemberffm* 
fluences  the  value  of  the  drug,  as  well  as  the  altitude  and  soil.  In 
fact,  he  regarded  atmospheric  humidity  as  an  extremely  potent  in- 
fluence in  alkalojd-production,  instancing  the  great  activity  of 
Indian  Datura  tatula,  as  compared  with  D.  stramonium,  and  how 
tobaccos  vary  in  nicotine-content  according  to  their  geographical 
source.  Opium  gave  him  an  interesting  example,  and  he  had  fig- 
ures to  go  upon ;  thus,  at  Amiens,  in  i860,  opium  was  made  from 
poppies  grown  there  which  yielded  22-88  per  cent,  of  morphine. 
Some  produced  in  Auvergne  gave  17-5  per  cent.  Smyrna  opium, 
he  said,  yields  10  to  12  per  cent.,  and  that  of  India  only  2  to  3  per 
cent.  Is  there  not  here,  he  queried,  evidence  that  humidity  of  the 
air,  as  well  as  temperature,  has  a  marked  influence  on  the  quality  of 
the  product  ?  Then  he  quoted  Fliickiger  and  Hanbury's  statement 
regarding  annual  and  biennial  henbanes,  and  mentioned  the  supe- 
riority of  British  digitalis  over  the  continental,  concluding  with  ref- 
erences to  European,  Indian  and  Japanese  aconite,  which  gave  a 
little  too  much  credit  to  geographical  difference  and  too  little  to  dif- 
ference in  species. 
CINCHONA  CULTIVATION. 
Three  papers  on  cinchona  cultivation  were  read :  Verne  deal- 
ing with  the  culture  in  the  British  and  Dutch  Indies.  Reimers  con- 
sidered the  subject  from  a  general  aspect.  Reimers  and  Goris  sub- 
mitted suggestions  for  a  monograph  on  the  subject. 
CONIFEROUS  RESINS. 
A.  Tschirch  presented  a  paper  on  some  of  the  most  recent  re- 
searches in  coniferous  resins. 
MENISPERMACE^E. 
Mahen  gave  the  results  of  some  work  on  the  menisperms. 
PELLETIER  AND  CAVENTOU  MONUMENT. 
The  unveiling  of  the  Pelletier  and  Caventou  monument  was,  as 
expected,  a  most  important  and  inspiring  event.  Moissan,  in  deliv- 
ering the  oration  for  the  occasion,  traced  the  career  of  the  two 
savants,  stating  that  Bertrand  Pelletier,  father  of  Joseph  Pelletier, 
was  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  and  a  pharmacist  in 
Paris.    Joseph  Pelletier  became  a  professor  in  the  School  of  Phar- 
