Am.  Joxir.  Pliarni.  ] 
Aug.,  1881.  j 
Editorial. 
42& 
other  standard  work  on  materia  medica,  it  differs  materially  from  tlie 
standard  of  strength,  quality  or  purity  laid  down  in  such  work. 
"  3.  If  its  strength  or  purity  fall  below  the  professed  standard  under 
which  it  is  sold. 
"  b.  In  tlie  case  of  food  or  drink. 
"1.  If  any  substance  or  substances  has  or  have  been  mixed  with  it  so  as 
to  reduce  or  lower  or  injuriously  affect  its  quality  or  strength. 
"  2.  If  any  inferior  or  cheaper  substance  or  substances  have  been  substi- 
tuted wholly  or  in  part  for  the  article. 
'•  3.  If  any  valuable  constituent  of  the  article  has  been  wholly  or  in 
part  abstracted. 
"4.  If  it  be  an  imitation  of  or  be  sold  under  the  name  of  another 
article. 
"5.  If  it  consists  wholly  or  in  part  of  a  deceased  or  decomposed,  or 
putrid  or  rotten,  animal  or  vegetable  substance,  whether  manufactured 
or  not,  or  in  the  case  of  milk,  if  it  is  the  produce  of  a  diseased  animal. 
"6.  If  it  be  colored,  or  coated,  or  polished,  or  powdered,  whereby  dam- 
age is  concealed,  or  it  is  made  to  appear  better  than  it  really  is,  or  of 
greater  value. 
"  7.  If  it  contain  any  added  i)oisonous  ingredient,  or  any  ingredient 
which  may  render  such  article  injurious  to  the  health  of  a  person  consum- 
ing it :  Provided,  that  the  State  Board  of  Health  may,  with  the  approval 
of  the  Governor,  from  time  to  time  declare  certain  articles  or  preparations 
to  be  exempt  from  the  provisions  of  this  Act;  and  provided  further,  that 
the  provisions  of  this  Act  shall  not  apply  to  mixtures  or  compounds 
recognized  as  ordinary  articles  of  food,  provided  that  the  same  are  not 
injurious  to  health  ami  that  the  articles  are  distinctly  labeled  as  a  mixture, 
stating  the  comi)onents  of  the  mixture." 
The  State  Board  of  Health  is  entrusted  with  the  execution  of  the  law,, 
and  is  charged  with  fixing  the  limits  of  variability  permissible ;  with 
supervising  the  appointment  as  well  as  the  discharge  of  public  analysts 
and  chemists,  and  with  preparing  rules  and  regulations  for  collecting  and 
examining  articles  of  food  and  drugs,  the  regulations  and  declarations  of 
the  Board  to  be  printed  in  the  statutes  at  large.  All  dealers  are  required 
to  sell  to  the  public  analyst  or  other  agent  a  sample  of  any  article  of  food 
or  drugs,  sufficient  for  analysis.  All  violations  or  obstructions  of  the  pro- 
visions of  the  act  are  regarded  as  misdemeanors  and  punished  with  a  fine 
not  exceeding  $50  for  the  first  offence  or  $100  for  each  subsequent  offence. 
A  sum  not  exceeding  $10,000  is  appropriated  for  carrying  out  the  provi- 
sions of  the  act. 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  effectiveness  of  this  law  depends  chiefly  upon 
the  manner  in  which  it  will  be  executed.  It  was  perhaps  a  s]»irit  of  cap- 
tiousness,  aggrandizement  or  mistaken  importance  through  which,  in 
Great  Britain,  many  dealers  have  been,  under  the  Adulteration  Act, 
annoyed  unnecessarily  and  unjustly.  The  law  referred  to  above  is  calcu- 
lated to  do  away  with  a  good  deal  of  this  annoyance,  since  it  is  to  be  pre- 
sumed that  prosecutions  will  be  instituted  only  upon  the  authority  of  the 
Board  of  Health,  supported  by  the  results  of  the  investigations  instituted 
by  the  analysts.  Personal  antagonisms  are  thus  almost  completely 
removed,  and  an  interpretation  of  the  law,  uniform  throughout  the  State, 
is  insured  as  far  as  the  executive  officers  are  concerned. 
We  believe  that  the  provisions  of  the  law  cover  those  "purely  vegeta- 
ble "  and  "innocent"  nostrums  containing  mineral  or  vegetable  poisons. 
Whether  it  can  interfere  with  those  quack  medicines  that  make  no  jpre- 
