ADecimberPhi898m"}  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  631 
Whereas,  The  United  States  Constitution,  framed  over  a  century  ago,  at  a  time  when  even 
the  wonderful  prescience  of  its  makers  could  not  have  foreseen  the  conditions  existing  to-day, 
permits  through  Congress  not  only  the  patenting  of  processes  for  making  remedial  chemic  1 
compounds,  but  also  the  patenting  of  the  compounds  themselves,  by  citizens  and  aliens  alike; 
and 
Whereas,  This  privilege  of  patenting  products  intended  to  encourage  invention  and 
develop  native  industries  by  affording  a  term-limited  monopoly  in  the  articles  made  and  sold, 
hasbeen  seized  upon  by  foreign  manufacturers  as  a  means  of  securing  the  exclusive  sale  of 
such  products  in  the  American  markets— no  native  industry  being  developed  ;  no  native 
labor  being  emplo3'ed — and  at  prices  for  the  goods  wholly  out  of  proportion  to  their  real 
worth  and  far  in  excess  of  those  demanded  in  other  countries;  and 
Whereas,  This  privilege  is  used  alone  to  the  advantage  of  foreign  interests,  and  to  the 
detriment  of  the  American  public  and  its  interests;  therefore,  the  Philadelphia  College  of 
Pharmacy  in  Pharmaceutical  Meeting  assembled, 
Resolved,  That  we  protest  against  the  further  granting  of  such  a  monopolistic  privilege — not 
permitted  in  Germany,  France  or  England— as  one  opposed  to  the  genius  of  our  patent  laws 
and  the  interests  of  our  people;  and 
Resolved,  That  we  earnestly  urge  the  members  of  the  Patent  Commission  appointed  by  the 
President  under  Act  of  Congress  Number  121,  approved  June  4, 1898— whose  duty  it  is  to  submit 
to  Congress,  a  report  indicating  '  An}'  proposed  changes  in  the  substance  of  the  existing  law  ;" 
the  report  to  "be  accompanied  by  notes  which  shall  brief!}'  and  clearly  state  the  reasons  for 
proposed  change" — to  recommend  that  the  privilege  of  patenting  remedial  chemical  com- 
pounds be  repealed,  and,  also,  the  practice  of  the  United  States  Patent  Office  of  copyrighting 
and  registering  for  all  time  as  the  exclusive  property  of  manufacturers,  single  names  of  com- 
pounds which  by  use  become  titles. 
In  the  discussion  which  followed  the  reading  of  these  resolutions  Messrs. 
Boring,  Lowe,  Cliffe,  Procter,  Mclntyre  and  England  participated.  Mr. 
England  stated  that  it  was  his  object  to  have  the  resolutions  adopted  and  a 
copy  forwarded  to  the  Committee,  who  are  now  engaged  in  considering  the 
revision  of  our  patent  laws,  and  who  are  to  report  to  President  McKinley  in 
the  near  future.  The  resolutions  were  finally  adopted  as  read,  and  a  copy 
ordered  to  be  sent  as  proposed.  Mr.  England  made  a  motion,  which  was 
seconded  and  carried,  that  a  copy  of  Mr.  Cliffe's  paper  should  accompany  the 
resolutions  sent  to  the  Committee. 
Mr.  Iv.  F.  Kebler  read  a  paper  on  "  Medicinal  Lithium  Carbonate,"  which  was 
offered  as  a  contribution  from  the  "  Pharmacopoeial  Research  Committee  of  the 
P. CP."  The  paper  was  very  interesting,  and  will  be  found  in  full  in  this 
Journal  (see  page  600).  The  discussion  which  followed  the  reading  was 
participated  in  by  Messrs.  Thompson,  Shinn,  Moerk  and  England. 
Mr.  Frederick  L.  Lewton  then  gave  a  talk  upon  Quebracho  and  its  uses, 
which  was  of  great  interest,  owing  to  the  speaker's  familiarity  with  the  different 
aspects  of  his  subject.  His  talk  was  illustrated  by  specimens  from  the  Phila- 
delphia Commercial  Museums  with  which  Mr.  Lewton  is  connected.  The  paper 
will  be  published  in  a  later  issue  of  this  Journal.  The  following  took  part  in 
the  discussion  :  Messrs.  Shinn,  Haussmann,  England,  Lowe  and  Kebler. 
The  next  paper  was  by  Mr.  Kebler,  upon  "Crystals  of  Sodium  Chloride  in 
Fid.  Ext.  Yerba  Reuma,  together  with  a  proximate  analysis  of  the  plant."  The 
paper  will  be  published  in  full  in  a  subsequent  number  of  this  Journal.  It 
proved  very  interesting  and  elicited  quite  a  little  discussion,  to  which  Profes- 
sors Remington  and  Moerk,  and  Messrs.  Kebler  and  England  contributed  much 
information.  Professor  Remington,  speaking  with  reference  to  the  high  ash 
content  of  the  plant,  which  included  17  per  cent,  of  sodium  chloride,  mentioned 
an  experience  of  Dr.  Squibb's  in  using  a  weak  percolate  repeatedly  in  manufac- 
turing F.  Ext.  Valerian,  and  which  finally  became  super-saturated  with  sugar, 
