Am.  Jour.  Pharru.) 
January;  1903.  / 
International  Conference. 
9 
probably  always  have  a  place  in  the  pharmacopoeias,  quite  inde- 
pendently of  the  extended  use  of  morphine.  A  similar  condition 
exists  with  regard  to  rhubarb  and  a  number  of  other  drugs,  which 
cannot  as  yet  be  replaced  by  any  known  constituent  of  them. 
There  are,  however,  instances  where  such  conditions  do  not  exist, 
and  where  in  the  interests  of  medical  science — to  which  pharmacy 
should  always  be  contributory — pure  and  well-defined  chemical 
substances  may,  with  advantage,  replace  the  crude  drugs  and  the 
variable  and  sometimes  worthless  preparations,  such  as  tinctures, 
extracts,  etc.,  which  are  made  therefrom. 
The  preliminary  list  of  medicaments  submitted  to  the  Conference 
included,  for  example,  tincture  of  jaborandi,  but  when  the  question 
of  uniformity  of  strength  was  considered  it  was  wisely  decided  to 
expunge  it  altogether.  This  step  was  taken  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  not  only  are  the  jaborandi  leaves  occurring  in  commerce 
extremely  variable  in  alkaloidal  content,  but  it  is  believed  to  be 
generally  conceded  that  their  therapeutic  activity  is  fully  represented 
by  the  alkaloid  pilocarpine. 
Cannabis  Indica  and  its  preparations  were  likewise  unanimously 
excluded  on  account  of  their  unstable  and  variable  character  and 
consequent  uncertainty  of  action.  It  is  unfortunate  that  this  factor 
of  instability  should  attend  the  originally  active  preparations  of 
cannabis  or  its  resin,  such  as  cannabinol,  and  thus  preclude  the 
use  of  an  otherwise  valuable  drug.  The  other  drugs  or  prepara- 
tions contained  in  the  preliminary  list,  the  recognition  of  which  by 
the  conference  was  not  considered  desirable,  were  the  following  : 
Colocynth  (on  account  of  not  being  sufficiently  potent),  stramonium, 
squill,  Pearson's  solution,  syrup  of  chloral,  syrup  of  codeine,  syrup  of 
morphine,  phosphorated  oil,  digitalin  and  aconitine. 
Gelsemium  was  proposed  for  adoption  by  the  Dutch  delegation, 
but  was  opposed  by  the  majority  of  the  continental  delegates  on 
the  plea  of  not  being  sufficiently  used.  With  consideration,  how- 
ever, of  the  potency  of  the  drug,  the  fact  that  the  tincture  is  recog- 
nized by  both  the  United  States  and  British  Pharmacopoeias,  and 
that  the  preparations  of  these  two  widely  used  standards  differ  to 
the  extent  of  50  per  cent,  in  strength,  its  exclusion  would  hardly 
seem  justifiable. 
Among  other  proposals  of  the  Hutch  delegation,  the  following 
principle  was  enunciated: 
