Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
August,  1901. 
International  Congresses. 
381 
who  serve  the  practical  and  mercantile  side  of  pharmacy,  and  one 
for  those  who  aim  higher  and  desire  to  devote  themselves  to  the 
scientific  objects  and  aims  of  the  modern  application  of  pharmaceu- 
tical knowledge  and  practice.  Other  delegates  argued  that  it  would 
not  do  to  aim  too  high  in  the  extent  of  erudition  and  too  far  in  the 
practical  domain  of  the  pharmacist,  as  also  that  the  professional  and 
social  standing  of  the  pharmacist  could  not  be  raised  by  mere  titles 
and  diplomas,  but  only  by  personal  qualification  and  character.  Aca- 
demic degrees  should  not  be  degraded  for  the  sake  of  professional 
vanity  and  convenience.  It  would  be  better  and  proper,  as  Messrs. 
von  Waldheim  and  Genevoix  stated,  to  be  conservative  and  not  to 
enter  upon  extravagant  experiments  in  regard  to  the  consonant 
position  and  requisite  attainments  of  the  practising  pharmacist. 
Professor  Cannizzaro  stated  that  in  Italy  the  government  had  been 
compelled  to  recede  from  its  too  high  requirements  at  the  pharma- 
ceutical examinations,  because  young  men  refrained  from  entering 
under  such  conditions  a  profession  with  so  limited  chances. 
Mr.  A.  von  Waldheim,  President  of  the  commission  for  the  elab- 
oration of  a  draft  of  an  international  pharmacopoeia,  appointed  by 
the  Congress  in  London  in  1 881,  had  performed  this  duty  and 
submitted  his  elaboration  to  the  Congress.  The  paper  contained  a 
historical  introduction;  232  drugs  and  preparations  had  originally 
been  proposed  to  be  incorporated  into  the  pharmacopoeia  ;  of  these, 
188  were  approved  by  the  commission,  but  further  propositions 
from  various  countries  carried  this  number  up  to  nearly  five  hun- 
dred articles.  Upon  further  consideration  and  voting,  293  articles 
were  accepted  and  adopted  in  the  draft;  of  these,  188  were  con- 
sidered as  indispensable  in  a  pharmacopoeia,  whilst  112  were  of  less 
consequence.  In  the  draft  the  former  ones  were  printed  in  larger, 
the  latter  ones  in  smaller  type,  and  on  the  margin  it  was  stated  in 
what  national  pharmacopoeias  they  are  contained. 
This  draft  and  its  principles  met  with  so  general  appreciation  and 
approval,  that  the  French  delegates  retracted  their  draft  presented 
to  the  Congress  in  St.  Petersburg,  in  1874. 
It  was  resolved  to  have  the  draft  of  Mr.  Waldheim  distributed 
for  consideration  and  further  suggestions  and  to  have  it  subsequently 
printed  and  published. 
The  question  of  the  limitation  of  pharmacies  in  proper  proportion 
to  the  number  of  inhabitants,  was  discussed  by  the  delegates  of  the 
