AmiS;MflB'}  The  Food  and  Drugs  Act.  107 
applicants  for  the  certificate  of  Registered  Pharmacist  can  do  rather 
than  what  they  are  able  to  memorize. 
(4)  That  pharmacists  themselves  must  share  in  the  work  of 
elevating  the  standards  of  pharmacy. 
If  we  are  clear  on  these  principles,  sincere  in  our  professions  and 
earnest  in  our  endeavors,  the  details  can  easily  be  worked  out, 
THE  FOOD  AND  DRUGS  ACT  IN  ITS  RELATION  TO 
PUBLIC  HEALTH. 
By  Charles  H.  UWau. 
The  responsibility  of  the  pharmacist  in  his  attitude  toward  fraud 
and  quackery  was  never  more  important  than  it  is  at  the  present 
time,  and  there  should  be  no  reluctance  on  the  part  of  the  members 
of  the  profession  to  serve  the  public  in  the  capacity  of  disseminators 
of  information  concerning  this  important  subject  which  is  every- 
where under  discussion,  the  Food  and  Drugs  Act. 
In  the  United  States  the  actual  control  of  the  quality  of  food  and 
drugs  within  any  given  State  is  a  power  of  the  State  and  not  of  the 
federal  authority,  and  owing  to  the  previous  absence  of  legislation 
controlling  interstate  commerce  the  authorities  within  the  individual 
States  (usually  the  Dairy  and  Food  Commissioner)  were  confined  to 
the  boundaries  of  these  States  in  bringing  prosecutions.  In  order 
to  control  the  sale  of  products  made  outside  of  the  State  and  shipped 
into  it,  the  seller,  often  an  innocent  victim,  had  to  be  proceeded 
against,  and  the  manufacturer,  the  real  offender,  was  secure  from 
any  punishment  as  long  as  he  remained  without  the  State. 
This  condition  of  affairs,  of  course,  worked  hardship  upon  per. 
sons  who  were  not  morally  responsible,  who  were  made  defendants 
in  criminal  prosecutions  and  were  compelled  to  resort  to  the  civil 
courts  for  redress,  which  was  usually  inadequate. 
On  June  30,  1 906,  by  the  passage  of  the  act  known  as  the  Food 
and  Drugs  Act,  which  went  into  effect  legally  on  January  1,  1907, 
this  condition  of  affairs  was  changed,  and  every  article  of  interstate 
commerce  is  now  subject  to  the  act,  the  rules  and  regulations  of 
which  have  occasioned  much  serious  thought  among  the  large  class 
of  manufacturers  of  products  which  come  within  its  scope. 
The  underlying  principles  of  the  act,  and  the  rules  and  regulations 
