Am.  Jour.  Phaem.  ) 
Jan.  1,  1874.  f 
Editorial. 
43 
preparations  for  which  not  the  full  working  formula  is  given,  in  the  light  of  half 
or  full-blown  nostrums,  and  as  akin  to  quackery,  no  matter  what  their  real  or 
pretended  remedial  merits  may  be. 
The  Stamp  Tax. — A  large  number  of  petitions  have  been  presented  to  both 
houses  of  Congress,  asking  for  the  repeal  or  modification  of  the  Internal  Rev- 
enue Law  as  far  as  it  relates  to  the  stamping  of  medicines.  We  have  kept  our 
readers  advised  of  the  action  taken  by  the  various  pharmaceutical  bodies 
throughout  the  country  in  response  to  the  ruling  of  Commissioner  J.  W.  Doug- 
lass, as  contained  in  his  letter  of  September  9th,  1873.  Since  our  last  issue  we 
have  received  copies  of  resolutions  and  petitions  of  several  societies,  in  addi- 
tion to  those  mentioned  in  the  December  number,  all  of  which  agree  in  sub- 
stance with  those  previously  published. 
During  the  past  month  a  Committee  of  the  Philadelphia  Drug  Exchange 
had  an  interview  with  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  having  been  intro- 
duced by  Hon.  Leonard  Myers.  The  result  of  this  interview  of  course  cannot 
be  known,  since  the  Committee  will  doubtless  give  a  hearing  to  the  Officers  of 
the  Internal  Revenue  Bureau,  and  to  such  Committees  of  druggists  and  phar- 
macists desiring  to  be  heard  ;  and  we  would  therefore  urge  upon  our  readers  in 
all  parts  of  the  country  to  take  such  steps  as  will  bring  their  grievances  di- 
rectly before  the  proper  Congressional  Committee,  and  likewise  before  their 
Representatives  in  Congress  and  their  Senators. 
We  understand  that  there  is  no  probability  that  the  internal  taxation  will  be 
lessened  during  the  present  session  of  Congress  ;  but  the  members  seem  to  be 
favorably  disposed  towards  rendering  Section  13  of  the  Act  of  July  13,  1866, 
unmistakably  clear,  by  striking  out  the  last  portion,  commencing  with  "Noth- 
ing in  this  section  shall  be  construed,"  &c,  and  towards  modifying  Schedule 
C  so  as  to  include  only  patent  or  proprietary  medicines,  and  such  preparations 
for  which  any  proprietary  claim  to  merit,  composition,  preparation  or  quality  is 
set  forth.  This  would  leave  the  tax  where  it  was  intended  to  be  put  at  first, 
namely,  upon  proprietary  articles,  and  would  remove  all  uncertainty.  To 
accomplish  this  end,  every  pharmacist  can  contribute  his  mite  in  the  manner 
indicated  above. 
Charges  against  Pharmacists — On  page  88  of  our  last  volume  we  pub- 
lished an  account  of  the  Proceedings  of  a  Conference  of  Delegates  of  Medical 
Societies  in  Baltimore,  and  of  the  Maryland  College  of  Pharmacy,  which  grew 
out  of  charges  preferred  against  the  pharmacists  of  that  city.  Page  328  con- 
tains a  series  of  resolutions  adopted  by  the  Maryland  College  of  Pharmacy 
after  the  Committee  of  Medical  Societies  had  been  discharged.  We  have  since 
received  the  following  communication: 
Whereas,  A  preamble  and  resolutions  have  been  received  by  the  President 
of  this  Association,  purporting  to  come  from  the  Maryland  College  of  Phar- 
macy, arraigning  this  Society  in  unfriendly  terms  for  discharging  its  Committee 
appointed  to  confer  with  a  like  Committee  from  that  College  upon  certain 
alleged  grievances  and  differences  existing  between  the  two  ptofessions  of 
Medicine  and  Pharmacy;  and 
