412 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
[  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
i  September,  1903. 
«  Charles  Rice,  Ph.D., 
Born  October  4,  1841 
Died  May  13,  1901 
Erected  by  his  friends  in  grateful  appreciation  of  his  eminent  ser- 
vices to  Medicine  and  Pharmacy." 
The  Fifth  International  Congress  for  Applied  Chemistry  met  in 
Berlin,  Germany,  from  the  2d  to  the  8th  of  June.  According  to 
the  extensive  reports  in  the  German  journals  the  congress  was  a 
truly  representative  one,  and  all  of  the  meetings  of  the  twelve  sec- 
tions into  which  the  practical  work  was  divided,  were  well  attended. 
Section  8  was  devoted  to  Hygiene,  Medical  and  Pharmaceutical 
Chemistry.  Among  the  numerous  papers  that  were  presented  to 
this  section,  one,  by  Dr.  Mjon,  on  "The  Control  of  Active  Medica- 
ments," elicited  considerable  discussion.  Dr.  Mjon  asserted  that  the 
present  system  of  official  inspection,  in  European  States,  was  far 
from  satisfactory  and  that  the  public  was  not  receiving  the  protec- 
tion it  was  entitled  to,  particularly  in  connection  with  patented 
chemicals  and  so-called  proprietary  articles,  which  are  not  included 
in  the  present  system  of  inspection.  (Phar.  Zeit.,  1903,  page  462.) 
Another  paper,  of  considerable  historic  interest,  was  contributed  by 
Dr.  Kunz  Krause,  Dresden,  "  On  the  Relations  of  Applied  Chemis- 
try to  German  Pharmacy."  In  this  paper  the  writer  calls  to  mind 
that  scientific  as  well  as  applied  chemistry  has  been  greatly  advanced 
by  contemporary  pharmacists,  and  quotes  the  names  of  a  large 
number  of  well-known  chemists  who  at  some  time  in  their  life  were 
connected  with  pharmacy. 
Absorbent  Cotton. —  Dr.  F.  Keppler  (Siid-Deutsche  Apoth.  Zeitg., 
l9°3>  Page  439)  reports  the  examination  of  seven  samples  of  ab- 
sorbent cotton,  of  which  only  two  were  considered  to  be  very 
satisfactory,  the  remaining  five  gave  a  distinct  acid  reaction  with 
litmus  paper  and  also  a  distinct  turbidity  with  barium  nitrate  test 
solution,  indicating  the  presence  of  sulphuric  acid.  The  fat  present 
varied  from  0-27  per  cent,  for  the  best,  to  0-53  per  cent,  for  the 
poorer  quality. 
Alkaloidal  standards  in  the  new  Italian  Pharmacopoeia.    Accord-  . 
ing  to  a  paper  by  G.  Frerichs  [Apoth.  Zeitg.,  1903,  page  420)  the 
following  drugs  and  preparations  are  to  be  standardized,  gravimetri- 
cally :  Cinchona  bark,  to  contain  5  per  cent,  of  total  alkaloids ; 
