QUALITY AND PURITY OF VEGETABLE DRUGS 37 



legal assay standard. Again, the micro-analyst may find the drug 

 mixed with 30 per cent, flour and yet it cannot be declared adulterated, 

 because the added material is harmless and because the assay deter- 

 mination will show it to be up to the declared and required standard. 

 In other words, the law permits adulteration, provided the label so 

 states. That is, it is perfectly legitimate to add sand, flour, starch, 

 nut shells and other harmless or inert substances to such drugs as 

 aconite, belladonna, hydrastis, strophantus, etc., provided it is so 

 stated on the label. There is no doubt that a sub-standard quality 

 clause is necessary, but it should, by all means, be so changed as not to 

 permit or encourage adulterations, even if of a harmless nature. There 

 are certain drugs which (unless sophisticated as above) cannot have 

 sub-standards, as chemicals generally, oils, alcohol, etc. But drugs 

 of vegetable origin may be wholly free from foreign admixture and yet 

 fall below the United States Pharmacopceial standard as determined 

 by chemical assay and other methods of testing, and it would no 

 doubt work unnecessary hardships to exclude these. 



The guaranty clause under the Federal law has often been wrongly 

 comprehended. To federal and state officials it signifies absolutely 

 nothing as far as such guarantee might be a guide or indication of the 

 purity or quality of the articles so guaranteed. Legally, in the enforce- 

 ment of the pure drugs law, the guaranty has been of importance. 

 Without it the responsibility would in all instances have to be fixed 

 upon those in whose possession the adulterated articles were found, 

 whether or not the possessors of such articles were in any wise blam- 

 able. The retail dealer who does not test his drugs as to purity or 

 who does not make sure that he is dealing with reliable wholesale 

 houses, should be punished if inferior or adulterated drugs are found 

 in his possession. The wholesale dealer and manufacturer who fails 

 to supply pure articles to the retail dealers should be doubly punished. 



According to a decision signed by the secretaries of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, of the Treasury Department and of Commerce, 

 the guaranty statement under the federal law was abandoned May 1st, 

 1916. The reasons for this decision are perhaps apparent without any 

 explanation. It is generally known that the guaranty statement was 

 misused by the unscrupulous and generally misunderstood by the 

 laity. Most of the laity were of the opinion that the guaranty state- 

 ment was an actual guarantee that the articles bearing such labels 

 were pure and wholesome. Others believed that the Department of 

 Agriculture had examined such articles and stood sponsor for their 

 quality and purity. This decision greatly simplifies the enforcement 

 of the federal pure food and drug act. 



