Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
December,  1909.  j 
International  Congresses. 
s«3 
ing  about  greater  uniformity  in  the  different  pharmacopoeias  is  being 
continued  by  the  establishment  of  an  international  commission 
(secretariat),  which  is  to  be  a  means  of  communication  between 
the  committees  engaged  in  pharmacopceial  revision.  Eight  of  the 
leading  countries  have  already  agreed  to  contribute  to  the  support 
of  this  commission.  The  United  States  Government,  not  controlling 
the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia,  has  not  agreed  to  contribute,  but 
I  was  informed  that  the  United  States  Pharmacopceial  Convention 
would  be  entitled  to  full  participation  if  it  would  assist  and  that  it 
would  be  formally  invited  to  do  so.  It  is  believed  that  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  commission  will  be  completed  within  a  few  months  and 
that  there  will  be  a  meeting  of  the  members  at  Brussels  next  year 
in  connection  with  the  decennial  international  congress  on 
pharmacy. 
SIXTEENTH    INTERNATIONAL    MEDICAL  CONGRESS 
I  arrived  at  Budapest  August  27,  and  August  28  attended  the 
meeting  of  the  committee  of  the  international  union  for  the  pro- 
tection of  child  life. 
The  Sixteenth  International  Medical  Congress  was  formally 
opened  August  29,  when  addresses  of  welcome  and  responses  from 
delegates  of  various  governments  were  delivered.  There  were  no 
other  general  meetings  except  the  concluding  one  and  five  lectures 
on  general  interest. 
The  work  of  the  congress  was  done  in  twenty-one  sections.  I 
registered  in  the  section  of  pharmacology  and  therapeutics,  which 
had  nine  meetings.  Nearly  a  hundred  papers,  all  strictly  technical, 
were  read  before  this  section.  I  presented  two  papers :  one  prepared 
with  Doctor  Seidell  on  pharmacopceial  preparations  of  the  thyroid 
gland,  and  one  with  Mr.  Taveau  on  the  pharmacological  action  of  a 
number  of  choline  derivatives. 
A  discussion  of  special  interest  to  the  division  of  pharmacology 
was  one  on  the  new  Hungarian  Pharmacopoeia,  the  first  copy  of 
which  was  shown  at  the  meeting.  There  were  also  interesting  dis- 
cussions on  the  claims  made  for  certain  proprietary  medicines.  The 
papers  presented  covered  nearly  every  phase  of  pharmacology  and 
therapeutics  and  in  nearly  every  case  were  based  upon  the  experi- 
ments or  observations  of  the  readers ;  among  the  latter  were  many 
of  the  leading  authorities  on  their  subjects  in  the  world. 
The  congress  adjourned  September  4 ;  the  next  meeting  will  be 
in  London, 
