[Some epistemological outlines throughout the publications of the International Society for the History of Pharmacy].

The International Society, created in 1926 in Innsbruck, was originally strongly influ- enced by the German world, although it included some members from other nations, such as Eugène Humbert Guitard from France, and was designated only as the Society for the History of Pharmacy. Its international aspect, with a new name, was finally recognized officially after the Second World War. Early on, the Society published several documents dedicated to various subjects related to the history of pharmacy without a clear editorial orientation. This was changed post-war, in 1951, with the launch of "Publications of the Society" and of a journal. During these years the society was, however, still very focused on Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and the vast majority of works were written in German. In 1999, following new statutes, it was decided that the national societies would be the collective members of the Society and, at the same time, a newsletter appeared as an official organ and link between the International Society and members of the national societies. These publications as a whole have been the subject of an analytical treatment to examine the major orientations of history of pharmacy during a century. What were the subjects preferred by the authors, and what approach did they take to pharmaceutical history? What is the place of the social history of pharmacy and of drugs research? This conference tries to answer these questions by the analysis of the large corpus of publications of the International Society for the History of Pharmacy.