THE MEDICINE STAMP AND LICENCE. 
317 
All drugs named or contained in the book of rates subscribed with the name of 
Sir Harbottle Grimstone, Baronet, and mentioned and referred to by the Act of Tonnage 
and Poundage made in the Twelfth Year of the Reign of King Charles the Second, and 
in another book of rates, intituled “ An additional Book of Goods and Merchandise 
usually imported and not particularly rated in the Book of Rates, referred to in the 
Act of Tonnage and Poundage made in the Twelfth Year of the Reign of King 
Charles the Second, with Rules, Orders, and Regulations, signed by the Right Honour¬ 
able Spencer Compton, Speaker of the Honourable House of Commons, and mentioned 
and referred to by an Act made in the eleventh year of the reign of his Majesty King 
George the First.” 
All medicinal drugs whatsoever which shall be uttered or vended entire, without 
any mixture or composition with any other drug or ingredient whatsoever, by any 
surgeon, apothecary, chemist, or druggist, who bath served a regular apprenticeship, or 
by any person who hath served as a surgeon in the navy or army under any commission 
or appointment duly entered at the War Office or Navy Office, or by any other person 
whatsoever licensed to sell any of the medicines chargeable with a stamp duty. 
And also all mixtures , compositions or preparations whatsoever , mixed or compounded 
with, or prepared from medicinal drugs, medicated or chemical preparations or composi¬ 
tions or other ingredients, bearing different denominations, or having different properties, 
qualities, virtues, or efficacies, which shall be uttered or vended by any such surgeon , apo¬ 
thecary, chemist , or druggist as aforesaid, or by any such person who hath served as a sur¬ 
geon in the navy or army, under any such commission or appointment as aforesaid, the dif¬ 
ferent denominations, properties, qualities, virtues, and efficacies of which mixtures, com¬ 
positions, and preparations as aforesaid, are known , admitted, and approved of, in the pre¬ 
vention, cure, or relief of any disorder, malady, ailment, or complaint incident to, or in 
anywise affecting the human body [and wherein the person mixing, compounding, pre¬ 
paring, uttering, or vending the same hath not, nor claims to have any occult secret or 
art for the mix ing, compounding, or preparing the same], [nor hath, nor claims to have, 
any exclusive right or title to the mixing, compounding, or preparing, or to the vending 
of the same; and which mixtures, compositions, or preparations have not been, are not, 
nor shall hereafter be prepared, uttered, vended, or exposed to sale under the authority 
of any letters patent under the great seal], [nor at any time heretofore have been, now 
are, or shall hereafter be, by any public notice, advertisement, or by any written or 
printed papers or hand-bills, or by any labels or words written or printed and affixed to 
or delivered with any such packet, box, bottle, pot, phial, or other enclosure aforesaid, 
held out or recommended to the public by the owners, proprietors, makers, compounders, 
original or first venders thereof, as nostrums or proprietary medicines, or as specifics, or 
as beneficial, for the prevention, cure, or relief of any such distemper, malady, ailment, 01 
complaint as aforesaid. 
The law also requires that all persons who sell stamped medicines shall have 
a licence for doing so. This is provided by the Act already referred to, namely, 
42 Geo. III., the sixth section of which states that— 
Every owner, proprietor, maker, and compounder of, and every person in Great Britain, 
uttering, vending, or exposing to sale, or keeping ready for sale any such drugs, herbs, 
pills, waters, essences, tinctures, powders, or other preparations or compositions what¬ 
soever, used or applied or to be used or applied externally or internally as medicines or 
medicaments, for the prevention, cure or relief of any disorder or complaint incident to 
or in anywise affecting the human body, or any packets, boxes, bottles, pots, phials, or 
other enclosures aforesaid, with any such contents as aforesaid, subject to the duties 
herein before granted, shall annually take out a licence; aud that for and upon every 
licence so taken out by any such person who shall reside within the cities of London ot 
Westminster, the borough of Southwark, or within the limits of the twopenny post, or 
within the city of Edinburgh, there shall be charged a stamp duty of forty shillings ; 
and for and upon every licence so taken out by any other such person who shall reside 
in any city, borough, or town corporate, or in the towns of Manchester, Birmingham, or 
Sheffield, there shall be charged a stamp duty of ten shillings ; and for and upon every 
licence so taken out by any other such person residing in any other part of Great Britain, 
there shall be charged a stamp duty of five shillings. 
