Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
January.  1907.  J 
The  Food  and  Drugs  Act. 
7 
acid  (S.G.  1-4)  and  distilled  water,  then  add  1  ex.  of  a  5  per  cent, 
solution  of  sodium  nitrite  in  water,  and,  after  rotating  the  liquid  a  few 
times,  set  it  aside  for  exactly  30  minutes,  stirring  it  gently  three 
times  during  this  interval."  The  solution  is  then  made  alkaline  and 
shaken  out  with  chloroform  in  the  usual  way. 
91  Fulton  Street,  New  York, 
THE  FOOD  AND  DRUGS  ACT,  JUNE  30,  1906,  AND  ITS 
EFFECT  ON  THE  COMPOSITION  OF  MEDICINE.1 
By  H.  W.  Wmy. 
The  food  and  drugs  act  introduces  for  the  first  time  into  this 
country  a  national  control  over  interstate  and  foreign  commerce  in 
foods  and  drugs.  The  importation  of  foreign  drugs  is  controlled  at 
the  ports  of  entry  under  an  existing  law  which  was  first  enacted  in 
1848.  This  law  not  having  been  specially  repealed,  I  believe,  under 
the  ordinary  construction,  remains  in  full  force  except  in  points  in 
which  its  provisions  are  in  conflict  with  thoses  of  the  new  inspection 
law.  Just  how  far  the  requirements  of  the  new  inspection  law  must 
be  read  into  the  old  law  is  a  matter  of  purely  legal  character  on 
which  I  have  no  opinion.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  applica- 
tion of  the  act,  in  so  far  as  drugs  are  concerned,  will  be  practically 
to  the  control  of  domestic  commerce. 
Two  standards  for  drugs  entering  into  interstate  commerce  are 
specially  noted  in  the  act,  namely,  standards  as  set  forth  or  indi- 
cated in  the  U.S.P.  and  the  N.F. ;  second,  standards  which  are 
placed  on  the  drugs  themselves.  Under  the  terms  of  the  act  it 
appears  that  any  drug  bearing  a  name  recognized  in  the  U.S.P.  or 
N.F.  shall  be  held  to  conform  in  strength  and  purity  to  the  stand- 
ards therein  established  or  indicated,  whether  they  are  marked 
U.S.P.,  N.F.,  or  not.  If  it  is  desired  that  these  drugs  shall  conform 
to  any  other  than  that  of  the  established  authorities,  this  standard 
must  be  plainly  stated  upon  the  label. 
Drugs  which  are  used  for  technical  purposes  are  evidently  not 
included  in  this  classification,  inasmuch  as  the  definition  of  drugs 
excludes  all  chemicals  and  all  drugs  ordinarily  so  used,  employed 
1  Read  at  the  Philadelphia  Branch  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Associa- 
ion,  December  12,  1906. 
