350 
Editorial. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t    July  1,  1874. 
false  formula  or  recipe  to  accompany  such  medicine,  with  a  view  of  deceiving 
the  public,  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  liable  to  be  punished 
by  fine  and  imprisonment,  and  to  have  all  the  medicines  confiscated. 
"To  accomplish  the  proposed  legislation,  the  National  Medical  Association 
should  secure  the  co-operation  of  all  the  State  Societies  in  getting  petitions 
to  Congress  on  the  subject,  which  petitions  should  not  only  contain  the  names 
of  all  the  physicians  in  the  United  States,  but  also  the  names  of  all  the  State 
officers  in  each  State.  The  petitions  should  all  be  sent  up  at  the  same  time, 
and  be  presented  by  a  committee  appointed  by  the  National  Medical  Associa- 
tion. 
"The  object  of  the  law  is  not  to  wipe  from  existence  everything  in  the  shape 
of  patent  medicines,  but  to  correct  the  evil,  if  possible,  and  protect  the  inno- 
cent and  unsuspecting  from  being  imposed  upon." 
It  will  be  observed  that  this  plan  is  essentially  the  same  as  the  one  proposed 
on  page  90  of  our  February  number,  to  which  we  would  refer  the  reader  for 
some  further  observations. 
The  Enforcement  of  Pharmaceutical  Laws,  it  appears  to  us,  is  not  always  as 
strict  as  it  might  be.  It  is  possible  that  in  Philadelphia  nearly  all  legally  required 
to  do  so  may  have  been  registered,  but  there  appear  to  be,  in  some  localities,  such 
flagrant  violations  of  the  law  that  pharmacists  should  consider  it  their  duty  to 
furnish  sufficient  evidence  to  the  Pharmaceutical  Board  to  warrant  them  in  pro- 
ceeding against  the  violators.  The  following  letter,  received  from  Mr.  W.  R. 
Jones,  explains  itself: 
"The  so-called  law,  termed  'An  Act  to  Regulate  the  Practice  of  Pharmacy,' 
is  apparently  a  dead  letter  so  far  as  any  enforcement  of  the  law  is  concerned, 
while  all  law-abiding  members  of  the  craft  have  appeared  for  examination,  or  to 
pay  for  and  take  out  the  required  certificate,  others  have  neglected  and  refused 
to  do  so  ;  not  the  least  in  number  and  importance  are  the  grocers,  who  sell 
with  impunity,  and  with  a  full  notification,  from  the  board,  of  the  requirements 
of  the  law,  daily  violate  the  law,  with  no  one  to  punish  or  prevent.  In  justice 
to  those  paying  the  fee,  they  should  either  be  protected  by  the  enforcement 
of  the  law,  or  the  fee  refunded.  I,  for  one,  will  contribute  towards  a  fund  to 
bring  a  case  to  trial." 
Pills  of  Sulphate  of  Quinia. — In  relation  to  the  note  on  this  subject,  pub- 
lished on  page,  112  of  our  March  number,  Mr.  A.  Schreiber,  of  Tell  City,  Ind., 
informs  us  that  a  smaller  quinia  pill  can  be  made  by  using  a  mixture  of  equal 
parts  of  glycerin  and  muriatic  acid,  than  with  the  glycerin  alone  ;  Mr.  S.  has 
used  such  a  mixture  for  this  purpose  for  neveral  years. 
The  Stamp  Tax. — We  have  heretofore  endeavored  to  keep  our  readers  in- 
formed upon  the  action  taken  by  various  bodies  with  the  view  of  securing  the 
repeal  or  modification  of  section  13  of  the  Internal  Revenue  Law,  which 
had  become  burdensome  and  vexatious  in  consequence  of  a  decision,  dated 
September  9,  1873,  by  Commissioner  Douglas.  For  various  reasons,  a  repeal  of 
the  section  could  not  be  obtained,  and  the  efforts  of  the  Committees  were  then 
directed  towards  obtaining  such  a  modification  or  explanation  of  its  phraseology 
