io8 
Synthetic  Chemicals. 
/  A01.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I      March,  1900. 
Section  20  of  the  law,  however,  containing  the  penal  clause,  has 
also  a  proviso  which  makes  certain  exemptions  from  Schedule  B, 
and  at  the  same  time  extends  the  scope  of  the  law,  as  follows : 
"  Provided:  That  no  stamp  tax  shall  be  imposed  upon  any  un- 
compounded  medicinal  drug  or  chemical,  nor  upon  any  medicine 
sold  to  or  for  the  use  of  any  person  which  may  be  mixed  or  com- 
pounded for  said  person  according  to  the  written  recipe  or  prescrip- 
tion of  any  practising  physician  or  surgeon,  or  which  may  be  put  up  or 
compounded  for  said  person  by  a  druggist  or  pharmacist  selling  at  re- 
tail only.  The  stamp  taxes  provided  for  in  Schedule  B  of  this  Act  shall 
apply  to  all  medicinal  articles  compounded  by  any  formula,  published 
or  unpublished,  which  are  put  up  in  style  or  manner  similar  to  that 
of  patent,  trade-mark  or  proprietary  medicine  in  general,  or  which  are 
advertised  on  the  package  or  otherwise  as  remedies  or  specifics  for 
any  ailment,  or  as  having  any  special  claim  to  merit,  or  to  any  pecu- 
liar advantage  in  mode  of  preparation,  quality,  use  or  effect. " 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  first  paragraph  of  this  proviso  has  the 
effect  of  restricting  the  scope  of  Schedule  B ;  first,  by  exempting 
uncompounded  drugs  and  chemicals,  and,  second,  by  exempting 
compounded  preparations  when  prepared  by  direction  of  a  physi- 
cian. The  last  paragraph,  on  the  other  hand,  extends  the  scope  of 
Schedule  B,  by  applying  it  to  preparations  which,  though  not  patent, 
trade-mark  or  proprietary  medicines,  are  "  put  up  in  style  or  manner 
similar  to  proprietary  medicines  in  general." 
The  first  regulations  issued  by  the  Commissioner  of  Internal 
Revenue  in  execution  of  the  Act  made  no  attempt  to  define  what 
was  or  was  not  an  "  uncompounded  drug  or  chemical,"  the  ambiguous 
character  of  this  term  having  been  early  recognized.  In  fact,  this 
question  was  not  raised,  the  earlier  contentions  in  regard  to  the 
scope  of  the  law  having  been  mainly  with  pharmacists  and  pharma- 
ceutical manufacturers  over  the  interpretation  of  the  phrase,  "  put 
up  in  style  or  manner  similar  to  patent,  trade-mark,  or  proprietary 
medicines  in  general." 
Several  months  after  the  law  was  in  operation,  some  of  the  im- 
porters of  the  class  of  medicines  known  as  patented  synthetics 
made  a  move  upon  the  Internal  Revenue  Office,  claiming  exemp- 
tion for  their  medicines  as  uncompounded  chemicals,  and  rebate  of 
tax  upon  such  as  had  been  sold.  The  Commissioner  refused  to  so 
consider  them,  and  the  contention  was  taken  into  court  upon  a  sort 
