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UNIFICATION OF PHARMACOPŒIAS
846 UNIFICATION OF PHARMACOPŒIAS AN expert committee has been set up by the Interim Commission of the World Health Organisation to consider unification of pharmacopoeias. The first meeting, held at Geneva from Oct. 13 to 17, was attended by Prof. H. Baggesgaard Rasmussen (Denmark), Prof. E. Fullerton Cook (United States), Prof. I. R. Fahmy (Egypt), and Dr. C. H. Hampshire (Great Britain). Prof. R. Hazard (France) was prevented by illness from attending. The members were welcomed, in the name of the executive secretary, by Dr. R. Gautier, counsellor, who said that the duties of the committee would be to continue the work which had been begun by the technical commission of pharmacopo3ial experts of the League of Nations. Dr. Hampshire was elected chairman.
The committee accepted the general principles expressed in the interim report of the previous commission published in 1945, and approved the monographs contained therein, subject to consideration of any comments which might be received later. The intention that the recommendations of the committee should take the form of an international pharmacopaeia was approved, the scope to be limited in the first place to drugs considered essential in medical practice. It was understood that such an international pharmacopeeia could have no authority in any country until it had been adopted by that country. A list of 534 drugs was considered, and 244 were selected for immediate attention. It was decided that monographs on the drugs for which the committee on biological standardisation had provided standards should be included. Thirty draft monographs were completed, making with those in the interim report a total of seventy-two. The possibility of establishing an international procedure for naming new drugs at an early stage of their introduction, and the standardisation of surgical ligatures, sutures, and dressings were also discussed and reserved for future consideration.
In view of the volume of work to be undertaken and the necessity for widening the international basis of the work, the committee recommended that at least three additional members should be appointed and that a unified secretariat with specialised staff should be formed. ________________
CULTURE COLLECTIONS OF MICRO-ORGANISMS -
FOLLOWING a decision of the British Commonwealth Scientific Conference of 1946, a conference on culture collections of micro-organisms was held at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine between Aug. 5 and 8 ; it was attended by 28 delegates and 18
parts of the Empire. Mr. H. G. Thornton, D.SC., F .R.S.( Rothamsted Experimental Station), was elected chairman of the conference, and sessions observers from different
held under the chairmanship of Mr. N. E. Gibbons (National Research Council of Canada) and of Mr. W. 1. B. Beveridge, D.V.SC. (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research). In the United Kingdom few collections undertake to distribute cultures to general workers, but there are numerous small private collections that will supply cultures to an individual as a personal favour. In other parts of the Commonwealth only the non-distributing type of collection exists, and one of the problems discussed was the need to establish distributing collections overseas. The debate on this subject was lively and showed two clearly divergent views: the majority favoured small specialised collections with a national collection and coordinating centre in each country, but a vocal minority preferred greater centralisation in large collections in the United Kingdom. Recommendations were made that an organisation to be known as the British Commonwealth Collections of Micro-organisms should be established with a permanent committee and secretariat in London. To this organisation was allotted the task of making known to microbiologists the availability of cultures in existing were
where necessary, of helping to establish collections. To increase the usefulness of existing collections it is proposed to compile a directory of culture collections within the Commonwealth (with mention of the more important foreign and international collections) giving details of the kind of micro-organism maintained in each. Uniformity of page-size of catalogues of -the individual collections is advocated, so that these can be combined to make a comprehensive Commonwealth catalogue. The largest of these collections, the Medical Research Council’s National Collection- of Type Cultures, has not issued a catalogue since 1936, and as it will take some time to prepare a new detailed catalogue of its 3000 cultures the conference recommended that a short list of species maintained, without catalogue numbers or strain names, should be issued as soon as possible. Within the United Kingdom the National Collection of Type Cultures already maintains a large collection of bacteria and arranges for the distribution of pathogenic viruses and bacteriophages to suitable workers ; the Imperial Mycological Institute is building up a collection of fungi (other than animal pathogens), and will soon be, ready to distribute cultures. The conference thought that the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine should be invited to accept responsibility for a collection of medical fungi (based on Dr. J. T. Duncan’s private collection), and that similar invitations should be issued to the Botany School, Cambridge (fresh-water algae), the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth (marine algae), and the Institute of Brewing (yeasts). It was not possible to make recommendations, except in the most general terms, about collections of protozoa and plant viruses.
collections, and,
new
GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL AT the 172nd session of the council on Nov. 26, Sir Herbert Eason was re-elected president. The following names were restored to the register after penal erasure : Arthur Carr, Isaac David Clein, Gerald Green, Horatio Matthews, Louis Aimee Newton, Thomas Sylvester O’Neill, William Vincent St. John Sutton, and John McKay Young. The cases of Reubeit Den7ay, L.R.C.P.E. (1929),
adjourned
November, 1946, and of Bernard Maguire, m.B. N.u.i. (1927), adjourned from November, 1945, were reconsidered
from
and dismissed. The case of Joseph Anatole France Tobin, M.R.C.S. (1937), for convictions under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1920 had been adjourned from June, 1947, owing to his ill health. The president announced that the council considered the convictions against him to be proved but did not see fit to direct the erasure of his name. William Gray Hughes, M.B. Edin. (1918), was summoned to reply to charges under seven heads of giving misleading certificates. The council decided that though the substance of the charge had been proved, the summons to appear had been a sufficient warning to Dr. Hughes and his name would not he erased from the register. Kesaneth Graham Wrigley, z.n2.s.s.n. (1935), summoned to answer charges to do with obtaining drugs on false pretences, was found to be guilty of misdemeanour. Judgment was postponed for 12 months. The name ofJames Albert Seavers, M.B. N.U.I.- (1939), who had been convicted of indecent assault in August, was erased from the register. The cases of John Hollis Dr1.lmmond Lawrie, M.D. Edin. (1926), and Allara Gillies Foreman, L.R.C.P.E. (1946), were conducted in camera ; but the president announced that the council did not see fit to erase their names. In the case of Hugh Boyd Gillespie, M.B. Glasg. (1935), who had been convicted of driving while under the influence of drink, the council postponed judgment until November, 1949. Ralph Martin Case, M.B. Birm. (1934), was summoned in respect of two convictions under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1920. Judgment was postponed for two years. Consideration of the cases of John Matthew Campbell, Raymond Criswick Evans, Malcolm Andrew Graham-Yooll, William Hamilton, and Fredaic Syson was postponed.
.
The committee accepted the general principles expressed in the interim report of the previous commission published in 1945, and approved the monographs contained therein, subject to consideration of any comments which might be received later. The intention that the recommendations of the committee should take the form of an international pharmacopaeia was approved, the scope to be limited in the first place to drugs considered essential in medical practice. It was understood that such an international pharmacopeeia could have no authority in any country until it had been adopted by that country. A list of 534 drugs was considered, and 244 were selected for immediate attention. It was decided that monographs on the drugs for which the committee on biological standardisation had provided standards should be included. Thirty draft monographs were completed, making with those in the interim report a total of seventy-two. The possibility of establishing an international procedure for naming new drugs at an early stage of their introduction, and the standardisation of surgical ligatures, sutures, and dressings were also discussed and reserved for future consideration.
In view of the volume of work to be undertaken and the necessity for widening the international basis of the work, the committee recommended that at least three additional members should be appointed and that a unified secretariat with specialised staff should be formed. ________________
CULTURE COLLECTIONS OF MICRO-ORGANISMS -
FOLLOWING a decision of the British Commonwealth Scientific Conference of 1946, a conference on culture collections of micro-organisms was held at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine between Aug. 5 and 8 ; it was attended by 28 delegates and 18
parts of the Empire. Mr. H. G. Thornton, D.SC., F .R.S.( Rothamsted Experimental Station), was elected chairman of the conference, and sessions observers from different
held under the chairmanship of Mr. N. E. Gibbons (National Research Council of Canada) and of Mr. W. 1. B. Beveridge, D.V.SC. (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research). In the United Kingdom few collections undertake to distribute cultures to general workers, but there are numerous small private collections that will supply cultures to an individual as a personal favour. In other parts of the Commonwealth only the non-distributing type of collection exists, and one of the problems discussed was the need to establish distributing collections overseas. The debate on this subject was lively and showed two clearly divergent views: the majority favoured small specialised collections with a national collection and coordinating centre in each country, but a vocal minority preferred greater centralisation in large collections in the United Kingdom. Recommendations were made that an organisation to be known as the British Commonwealth Collections of Micro-organisms should be established with a permanent committee and secretariat in London. To this organisation was allotted the task of making known to microbiologists the availability of cultures in existing were
where necessary, of helping to establish collections. To increase the usefulness of existing collections it is proposed to compile a directory of culture collections within the Commonwealth (with mention of the more important foreign and international collections) giving details of the kind of micro-organism maintained in each. Uniformity of page-size of catalogues of -the individual collections is advocated, so that these can be combined to make a comprehensive Commonwealth catalogue. The largest of these collections, the Medical Research Council’s National Collection- of Type Cultures, has not issued a catalogue since 1936, and as it will take some time to prepare a new detailed catalogue of its 3000 cultures the conference recommended that a short list of species maintained, without catalogue numbers or strain names, should be issued as soon as possible. Within the United Kingdom the National Collection of Type Cultures already maintains a large collection of bacteria and arranges for the distribution of pathogenic viruses and bacteriophages to suitable workers ; the Imperial Mycological Institute is building up a collection of fungi (other than animal pathogens), and will soon be, ready to distribute cultures. The conference thought that the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine should be invited to accept responsibility for a collection of medical fungi (based on Dr. J. T. Duncan’s private collection), and that similar invitations should be issued to the Botany School, Cambridge (fresh-water algae), the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth (marine algae), and the Institute of Brewing (yeasts). It was not possible to make recommendations, except in the most general terms, about collections of protozoa and plant viruses.
collections, and,
new
GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL AT the 172nd session of the council on Nov. 26, Sir Herbert Eason was re-elected president. The following names were restored to the register after penal erasure : Arthur Carr, Isaac David Clein, Gerald Green, Horatio Matthews, Louis Aimee Newton, Thomas Sylvester O’Neill, William Vincent St. John Sutton, and John McKay Young. The cases of Reubeit Den7ay, L.R.C.P.E. (1929),
adjourned
November, 1946, and of Bernard Maguire, m.B. N.u.i. (1927), adjourned from November, 1945, were reconsidered
from
and dismissed. The case of Joseph Anatole France Tobin, M.R.C.S. (1937), for convictions under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1920 had been adjourned from June, 1947, owing to his ill health. The president announced that the council considered the convictions against him to be proved but did not see fit to direct the erasure of his name. William Gray Hughes, M.B. Edin. (1918), was summoned to reply to charges under seven heads of giving misleading certificates. The council decided that though the substance of the charge had been proved, the summons to appear had been a sufficient warning to Dr. Hughes and his name would not he erased from the register. Kesaneth Graham Wrigley, z.n2.s.s.n. (1935), summoned to answer charges to do with obtaining drugs on false pretences, was found to be guilty of misdemeanour. Judgment was postponed for 12 months. The name ofJames Albert Seavers, M.B. N.U.I.- (1939), who had been convicted of indecent assault in August, was erased from the register. The cases of John Hollis Dr1.lmmond Lawrie, M.D. Edin. (1926), and Allara Gillies Foreman, L.R.C.P.E. (1946), were conducted in camera ; but the president announced that the council did not see fit to erase their names. In the case of Hugh Boyd Gillespie, M.B. Glasg. (1935), who had been convicted of driving while under the influence of drink, the council postponed judgment until November, 1949. Ralph Martin Case, M.B. Birm. (1934), was summoned in respect of two convictions under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1920. Judgment was postponed for two years. Consideration of the cases of John Matthew Campbell, Raymond Criswick Evans, Malcolm Andrew Graham-Yooll, William Hamilton, and Fredaic Syson was postponed.
.