440 
International  Congresses. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharna. 
I  September,  1901. 
lated  ?  Is  is  compatible  with  the  public  interest  to  protect  such  remedies  by 
patent  rights  and  trademarks  ? 
(5)  Can  the  manufacture  and  the  dispensation  of  organo-therapeutic  prepa- 
rations be  retained  in  the  hands  of  the  pharmacist  ?  In  what  way  can  the 
quality  of  these  products  be  controlled  and  guaranteed? 
(6)  What  methods  are  the  best  for  bacteriological  investigations  of  potable 
waters  ?    Are  the  present  methods  sufficiently  reliable  ? 
The  chairman,  Professor  Ranwez,  opened  the  Congress,  August  14, 
1897,  by  a  brief  review  of  the  history  of  the  general  Pharmaceutical 
Society  of  Belgium,  just  celebrating  its  fiftieth  anniversary,  and 
introduced  the  discussion  on  the  first  two  questions,  stating  that 
they  had  occupied  the  consideration  of  the  preceding  congresses  as 
well  as  that  of  Applied  Chemistry  held  at  Paris  in  1896.  The 
various  speakers  agreed  in  the  desirability  of  attaining  to  uniform 
methods  of  the  standardization  of  potent  drugs  and  chemicals.  It 
was,  however,  admitted  that  by  the  adoption  of  a  strict  dosimetric 
and  pharmaco-dynamic  system  the  pharmacist  might  be  reduced  to 
a  mere  dispenser  of  ready-made  factory  products.  Attention  was 
also  called  to  the  fact  that  in  a  number  of  important  drugs  it  was 
not  the  principal  alkaloids  or  glycosides  that  constitute  their  thera- 
peutical value,  but  the  total  amount  of  active  principles  contained 
therein,  as  also  that  not  a  few  vegetable  drugs  were  subjected  to 
prevailing  variations  in  climate,  soil,  moisture,  their  handling  in 
preparation  for  the  market,  and  that  there  were  cases  of  exemption 
from  general  rules  and  principles  in  standardization. 
Ultimately  the  recommendation  was  adopted  "  that  the  respective 
authorities  should  require  a  uniform  percentage  of  active  important 
principles  in  medicinal  preparations." 
Question  3  was  briefly  discussed,  particularly  in  regard  to  the 
practice  of  pharmacy  by  physicians  and  other  unqualified  persons 
associated  with  proprietors  of  pharmacies. 
The  limitation  of  the  number  of  pharmacies  in  proportion  to  the 
population  was  considered  by  most  speakers  as  unnecessary  for  the 
interest  of  the  public  and  the  pharmacist,  provided  that  there  is 
adequate  provision  for  proper  education  and  qualification.  Under 
these  conditions  limitation  was  held  by  most  speakers  to  be  a  retro- 
grade step  in  every  respect. 
A  brief  discussion  on  pharmaceutical  education  and  examination 
added  nothing  new  to  the  deliberations  on  this  subject  by  the  pre- 
vious congresses. 
