Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
December,  1913.  J 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
563 
and  Prof.  J.  A.  Koch,  of  Pittsburgh.  The  chief  address,  at  the  gen- 
eral meeting  held  on  September  17th,  was  by  Prof.  Alexander 
Tschirch,  who  discussed  the  enzymes  and  their  importance  in  pharma- 
cognosy. 
This  Congress  was  the  first  to  be  held  after  the  formation  of  the 
International  Pharmaceutical  Federation,  and  there  is,  therefore,  no 
reason  to  be  surprised  at  the  fact  that  it  was  from  many,  if  not 
from  all,  points  of  view  more  successful  than  any  of  the  ten  Con- 
gresses which  preceded  it. 
As  might  have  been  expected  the  subject  of  international  stand- 
ards and  the  development  of  uniform  methods  of  assay  were  dis- 
cussed at  length  in  several  communications,  and  steps  were  taken  to 
provide  for  an  international  pharmacopceial  bureau  to  compile  com- 
ments and  criticisms  along  the  lines  suggested  by  Prof.  Tschirch 
and  to  further  develop  uniformity  in  the  standards  and  requirements 
of  the  several  National  Pharmacopoeias.  The  trend  of  the  discussion 
on  this  and  related  subjects  is  well  reflected  in  the  papers  and  abstracts 
published  in  British  pharmaceutical  journals  and  the  following  will 
serve  to  illustrate  the  interest  shown  by  the  delegates  present.  (See 
also  this  Journal,  pp.  496,  534). 
Compiling  a  Pharmacopoeia. — Boldingh  and  Schoorl :  The  mono- 
graphs of  a  pharmacopoeia  should  be  succinct  and  clearly  subdivided, 
the  tests  for  identity,  impurity,  and  adulteration  to  be  specially  men- 
tioned and  printed  in  distinctive  type;  the  order  in  which  groups 
of  reactions  are  given  should  be  the  same  in  all  monographs ;  the 
number  of  reagents  should  be  limited,  replacing  by  others  where  pos- 
sible inconvenient  reagents  (as  H2S  and  CS2  by  Na2S  and  chloro- 
form) ;  they  should  also  place  in  the  first  rank  the  observation  of 
physical  characters,  the  determination  of  physical  constants,  such  as 
melting  and  boiling  points,  rotation  power,  and  refractive  index,  and 
the  microscopical  examination  of  crystals. — Chem.  &  Drug.,  1913, 
v.  83,  p.  488. 
Alcohoiic  Strength. — van  der  Wal,  G.  H. :  Discussed  the  desira- 
bility of  adopting  a  uniform  degree  of  alcoholic  liquids  for  the  prep- 
aration of  medicinal  substances  expressed  in  percentage  by  weight. 
The  author  recommended  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  decide 
on  an  international  table  of  mixtures  of  alcohol  and  water,  per- 
centages to  be  stated  in  weight,  this  table  to  be  published  by  the 
International  Pharmaceutical  Federation. — Chem.  &  Drug.,  19 13, 
v.  83,  p.  400. 
