282  INTERNATIONAL  PHARMACEUTICAL  CONGRESS  AT  PARIS. 
Notwithstanding  the  wisdom  of  these  views,  the  importance  of  the  con- 
siderations which  have  suggested  them,  and  the  authority  of  the  Assembly 
which  has  issued  them,  the  question  as  to  the  part  that  Pharmacy  should 
act  in  the  civilized  world,  and  the  conditions  necessary  for  its  rational 
organization  in  relation  to  the  social  economy  are  too  grave  to  be  considered 
as  definitely  resolved. 
Nobody  at  this  day  will  deny  the  place  due  to  chemistry  and  the  part 
which  belongs  to  it  in  social  progress,  yet  few  persons  appreciate  at  its 
proper  value  the  influence  that  Pharmacy  has  exercised  on  the  rise  and 
developement  of  modern  chemistry. 
It  is  therefore  indispensable  to  revive  again  this  fundamental  question 
before  the  public  assembly  of  the  Societies  of  Pharmacy  from  all  parts  of 
the  world,  convened  at  Paris  by  the  International  Congress  of  Brunswick. 
At  this  juncture,  when  various  States  seek  with  the  greatest  earnestness 
to  generalize  the  employment  of  weights,  measures  and  money  of  a  uni- 
form type,  the  Congress  will  naturally  be  led  to  recognize  the  necessity  of 
a  Codex  or  legal  formulary  which  will  be  the  guide  for  the  Pharmaciens  of 
all  countries.  This  Codex  will  insure  uniformity  of  composition  in  the 
most  important  medicines  that  have  been  recognized  by  universal  expe- 
rience in  the  shops  (pharmacies)  of  all  countries. 
For  these  reasons  the  Committee  of  Organization  of  the  International 
Congress  of  18G7  propose  the  following  questions  : 
First  Question. — The  Constitution  of  Pharmacy. 
What  character  should  be  attributed  to  the  Pharmaceutist?  What  are 
the  functions  he  should  perform  and  what  conditions  ought  he  to  accom- 
plish in  order  to  acquit  himself  of  his  professional  obligations  ? 
Second  Question. — The  consideration  (study)  of  the  means  of  compiling 
a  Codex  or  legal  universal  formulary  of  officinial  medicines,  for  which  it 
is  important  to  establish  a  uniform  composition  in  all  the  Pharmacies  of 
the  civilized  world. 
Third  Question. — Give  the  best  and  most  practical  means  of  determining 
the  proportion  of  active  principles,  especially  of  alkaloids  in  the  drugs 
containing  them,  and  in  the  pharmaceutical  preparations  of  which  these 
drugs  are  the  base,  such  as  opium  and  the  opiates,  cinchona  and  the  pre- 
parations of  bark,  etc. 
The  meetings  will  be  inaugurated  on  the  21st  of  August,  1867,  at  noon 
precisely,  in  the  session  room  of  the  Society  of  Pharmacy  of  Paris,  at  the 
Superior  School  of  Pharmacy,  Rue  l'Arbalete. 
The  meeting  will  continue  five  days. 
The  Commissioner  General, 
Robinet, 
at  Paris,  Rue  de  l'Abbaye-Saint-Germain,  3. 
[The  above  circular,  enclosed  with  the  following  from  the  Committee  of 
the  Society  of  Pharmacy  of  Paris,  was  received  by  the  Editor :  ] 
