EDITORIAL. 
315 
Yet  another  subject  is  the  large  number  of  Hospital  Stewards  thrown 
out  of  employment  by  the  cessation  of  the  war. 
In  visiting  Boston,  it  is  well  to  take  a  view  of  interesting  objects  on  the 
route,  and  to  vary  this,  going  and  coming.  One  course  of  special  interest 
is  that  by  the  Hudson,  taking  West  Point,  Catskill,  Lebanon  Springs,  &c, 
whilst  the  more  direct  routes,  by  Fall  River,  Stonington,  etc.,  have  their 
advantages.  The  apothecary  deserves  a  vacation,  and  the  hot  weather  of 
the  first  and  second  weeks  of  September  afford  a  fitting  season. 
On  the  Influence  of  the  Revenue  Law  upon  the  Practice  of  Phar- 
macy.— The  business  or  occupation  of  the  apothecary,  called  practical 
pharmacy,  is  the  art  of  preparing  and  dispensing  medicines.  Every  true 
apothecary  feels  it  a  duty  to  be  assured  of  the  good  quality  of  the  medicines 
he  dispenses.  This  he  does  by  purchasing  the  drugs  himself,  in  a  condi- 
tion to  be  judged  as  to  quality,  and  then  to  convert  them  into  medicines 
himself,  that  he  may  Jaiow  their  quality.  To  this  end  Colleges  of  Phar- 
macy have  been  established,  to  teach  the  art,  as  well  as  science  of  our 
business,  and  to  render  the  apothecary  a  maker  as  well  as  a  vender  of  medi- 
cines. The  interest  and  welfare  of  the  community  is  in  unison  with  the 
encouragement  of  this  idea,  and  Legislation  should  foster  it,  as  one  of  the 
means  conducive  to  public  health.  Is  then  the  apothecary,  who,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  requirements  of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  and  with  his  obligations 
to  the  medical  profession,  makes  the  medicines  he  dispenses,  for  the  quality 
of  which  he  is  at  least  morally  responsible, — is  he  a  just  subject  of  taxation 
as  a  manufacturer  ?  This  question  has  been  brought  home  to  some  of  our 
apothecaries  by  a  circular  from  the  U.  S.  Assessors,  requiring  them  to 
render  a  monthly  account  of  the  sales  of  articles  they  manufacture,  if  the 
aggregate  for  one  year  exceeds  $600,  excepting  only  those  preparations 
which  are  proprietary,  and  carry  a  stamp.  They  are  required  to  keep  are- 
cord  book,  which  will  exhibit  to  the  revenue  officers  the  varied  minutias  of 
their  business  so  far  as  preparing  medicines  is  concerned.  It  is  also  alleged 
that  the  tax  on  the  retail  manufacturer  is  laid  upon  his  amount  of  sales  at 
retail  prices.  This  must  be  an  error,  as  it  is  a  discrimination  against  the 
apothecary  as  a  manufacturer,  he  having  certainly  the  right  to  manufacture 
for  himself  at  the  same  rate  that  others  manufacture  for  him, — that  is  to 
say,  in  reporting  to  the  Assessor  he  is  not  bound  to  report  higher  prices 
than  he  could  go  into  the  market  and  buy  the  same  quality  of  articles  for, 
and  by  doing  which  he  would  avoid  the  tax  altogether. 
There  are  apothecaries  who,  in  connection  with  their  regular  retail  busi- 
ness, manufacture  quantities  more  or  less  considerable  of  perfumery,  mouth 
washes,  tooth  powders,  syrups  for  the  table,  liquid  rennet,  etc.,  and  some 
that  make  certain  pharmaceutical  preparations  for  other  druggists,  in  quan- 
tities that  render  them  liable  as  manufacturers.  This  class  is  few  in  num- 
ber, and  might  properly  be  taxed  in  this  connection  ;  but  to  compel  the 
regular  dispenser  of  medicines  to  keep  an  account  of  the  hundreds  of  petty 
