Progress  in  Pharmacy.  125 
was  reduced,  however,  in  the  Ph.  Germ.  II  to  592,  while  the 
edition  of  the  German  Pharmacopoeia  published  in  1890  contained 
the  least  number  of  titles  reported:  591. 
Ph.  Brit. — Sir  Donald  MacAlister,  the  president  of  the  General 
Medical  Council  of  Great  Britain,  in  a  recent  address  stated  that 
the  Pharmacopoeia  Committee  with  the  help  of  its  editors  had 
prepared  for  the  press  the  draft  of  four  large  sections  of  the  text 
for  the  new  British  Pharmacopoeia.  It  was  hoped  that  the  first 
proofs  might  be  ready  for  submission  to  the  committee  early  in 
the  new  year,  and  that  thereafter  the  work  that  still  remained  to 
be  done  would  be  rapidly  advanced.  (Brit,  and  Col.  Drug.,  1912, 
v.  62,  p.  467.) 
Ph.  Bclg.  III. — The  Journal  de  Pharmacie  d' Anvcrs  (1912, 
v.  68,  pp.  646-670)  reprints  the  proposed  supplement  to  the  Ph. 
Belg.  Ill  prepared  by  the  permanent  pharmacopoeia  commission. 
The  descriptions  are  provisionally  offered  so  that  pharmacists  may 
have  an  opportunity  to  present  criticisms.  The  provisional  text 
includes  descriptions  for  28  articles  ;  18  chemicals,  9  preparations 
and  1  drug-,  coca. 
Brussels  Conference. — A  reply  to  a  query  (/.  Am.  M.  Assoc., 
1912,  v.  59,  p.  2175)  calls  renewed  attention  to  the  Brussels  Con- 
ference and  the  international  treaty  on  uniformity  of  pharmacopoeial 
formulae  for  potent  medicaments  and  points  out  that  in  practically 
all  of  the  Countries  of  Europe  where  the  National  Pharmacopoeias 
have  been  revised,  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  have  been  close^ 
adhered  to.  The  total  number  of  compliances  with  article  1  of 
the  original  protocol  has  been  increased  from  129  in  1902  to  260 
in  1 9 10,  while  the  non-compliances  have  been  reduced  from  131 
in  1902  to  15  in  1910  ;  the  present  U.  S.  P.  being  responsible  for 
no  less  than  5  of  the  latter. 
Light  and  Drugs. — An  editorial  (/.  Am.  Med.  Assoc]  1912, 
v.  59,  p.  2160)  calls  attention  to  the  observations  of  Neuberg,  who 
found  that  nearly  all  types  of  organic  compounds  acquire  a  pro- 
nounced photosensitiveness  when  they  are  mixed  with  certain  in- 
organic 'compounds.  Iron  salts,  for  instance,  provoke  this  effect 
most  strikingly ;  and  the  phenomena  of  change  induced  by  the 
presence  of  such  sensitizing-  substances  fail  to  evince  themselves  so 
long  as  the  solutions  containing  them  are  kept  in  the  dark.  Many 
familiar  drug  preparations  represent  combinations  of  organic  corn- 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  1 
March,  1913.  / 
