Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
March,  1903. 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
137 
Revision  Commission  for  the  new  eighth  edition  of  the  Austrian 
Pharmacopoeia;  there  was  therefore  no  occasion  for  the  Austrian 
delegates  to  take  a  very  active  part  in  the  discussion. 
The  report  of  the  British  delegate,  Dr.  MacAllister,  to  the  Gen- 
eral Medical  Council  is  also  very  promising,  considerable  satisfaction 
being  expressed  at  the  conservative  way  in  which  the  International 
Congress  was  conducted,  and  the  concessions  that  were  gladly  made 
to  the  demands  of  the  British  delegate.  There  appears  to  be  no 
doubt  that  the  British  Pharmacopoeia  in  its  next  edition,  or  possibly 
in  an  addendum,  will  incorporate  the  essential  features  of  the  pro- 
posed international  standards  for  potent  remedies. 
As  time  rolls  on  the  indications  are  more  and  more  in  favor  of 
the  general  adoption  of  the  recommendations  of  the  International 
Congress. 
Atomic  Weights. — The  International  Atomic  Weights  Commis- 
sion has  recently  published  the  revised  table  of  atomic  weights  for 
1903.  (Zeitschr.f.  angewandte  Chemie,  1902,  page  1305.)  In  view 
of  the  fact  that  considerable  difference  of  opinion  exists  as  to  the 
practicability  of  the  Oxygen  or  Hydrogen  standard,  the  table  is 
published  in  parallel  columns  based  respectively  on  O  =  16  and 
H  —  I  as  standard. 
Among  the  new  additions  to  the  list  of  elements  is  Radium.  This 
has  been  given  the  symbol  Ra  and  the  atomic  weight  of  225.  The 
elements  of  the  Argon  Group  have  been  reconsidered.  Krypton  is 
now  given  as  having  an  atomic  weight  of  81  -8  instead  of  45,  as 
given  in  a  previous  table. 
Xenon  is  given  an  atomic  weight  of  128  instead  of  65. 
Of  the  elements  more  or  less  directly  of  interest  to  pharmacists 
the  following  have  had  their  atomic  weights  redetermined  or  recon- 
sidered : 
Antimony:  this  is  given  as  120-2  instead  of  120. 
Iron:  this  is  55-9  instead  of  56. 
Mercury  is  200  instead  of  200-3. 
Uranium,  according  to  recent  determinations  of  Richards  and 
Merigold,  should  be  238-5  instead  of  239-5. 
Tin,  according  to  the  work  done  by  Bongartz  and  Classen,  should 
be  119  instead  of  118-5.  All  of  these  atomic  weights  are  given  on 
the  basis  of  O  =  16  being  equal  to  H  =  1008. 
Weights  and  Measures. — The  possible  misunderstandings  that 
