504  American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  {Aro'ctober^£m* 
It  was  moved  by  C.  S.  N.  Hallberg  that  the  officers  of  this  Section  for  the 
ensuing  year  be  requested  to  prepare  a  plan  for  a  basis  of  preliminary  education 
for  admission  to  colleges  of  pharmacy.  This  was  amended  by  C.  A.  Mayo  to 
read  "and  if  possible  suggest  a  common  curriculum."  After  some  discussion, 
the  motion  as  amended  was  carried. 
The  following  are  the  officers  of  the  Section  for  the  ensuing  year  :  Chairman, 
C.  B.  Lowe,  Philadelphia  ;  Secretary,  J.  A.  Koch,  Pittsburg. 
The  following  papers  were  presented  : 
A  PLEA  FOR  THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  DOSES  INTO  THE 
PHARMACOPOEIA  OF  1900. 
By  Harry  B.  Mason. 
The  author  concluded  that  "  There  is  no  good  reason  why  doses  should  not 
be  introduced  into  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  1900.  There  are  many  good  reasons 
why  they  should  be  so  introduced.  Pharmacists  want  them  ;  physicians  want 
them.  They  would  tend  materially  to  bring  about  that  general  use  of  the  book 
for  which  it  is  designed  and  upon  which  its  success  depends.  They  would,  by 
virtue  of  this  increase  in  the  use  of  the  book,  improve  pharmaceutical  practice 
by  an  inevitable  increase  in  the  prescribing  of  pharmacopceial  preparations. 
Besides  this,  doses  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  would  benefit  medical  science.  They 
would  increase  exactness  and  accuracy  in  medication.  They  would  give  the 
pharmacist  that  authoritative  guide  of  which,  as  safeguard  to  the  physician, 
he  is  in  great  need,  and  with  which  the  Pharmacopoeia,  as  the  authoritative 
book  of  standards,  should  supply  them.  With  no  good  reason  why  the  step 
should  not  be  taken,  and  with  several  good  and  potent  reasons  why  it  should 
be  taken,  will  the  Pharmacopceial  Convention  of  next  May  refuse  to  incorpo- 
rate doses  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  1900?  Will  it  refuse  to  do  what  the  phar- 
macopceial revisers  of  nearly  every  other  country  have  recognized  as  necessary, 
and  have  done  ?" 
The  paper  was  discussed  from  all  sides,  and  Mr.  Sheppard  moved  that  it  is 
the  sense  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  that  doses  be  intro- 
duced into  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia.    This  motion  was  carried. 
USE  OF  THE  METRIC  SYSTEM. 
By  H.  M.  Whelpley. 
The  author  gave  a  report  on  the  use  of  the  metric  system  in  545,000  pre- 
scriptions. This  report  was  a  continuation  of  those  made  in  1897  (see  Proc, 
A. Ph. A.,  p.  303)  and  1898  {Ibid.,  452).  Of  the  545,000  prescriptions  analyzed, 
5-98  per  cent,  were  in  the  metric  system.  This  makes  it  that  out  of  the  1,008,- 
500  prescriptions  reported  thus  far  examined  by  the  author,  about  6  per  cent, 
complied  with  the  metric  system. 
USE  OF  METRIC  SYSTEM  IN  BOARD  OF  PHARMACY 
EXAMINATIONS. 
By  H.  M.  Whelpley. 
The  author  gave  a  list  of  the  States,  territories  and  colonies  of  the  United 
States  and  the  use  they  make  of  the  metric  system. 
It  was  found  that  one  State  (New  Jersey)  and  one  territory  (Oklahoma)  do  not 
use  the  metric  system  in  Board  of  Pharmacy  examinations. 
Of  those  Boards  reporting  the  use  of  the  metric  system,  a  majority  state 
that  it  is  used  in  every  examination  and  for  each  applicant. 
