Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
February,  1920.) 
Editorial. 
73 
with  established  scientific  facts  or  common  sense  and  some  that 
border  on  the  ridiculous  and  that  such  should  appear  in  the  statutes 
of  the  Federal  Government  is  certainly  not  creditable  to  the  Amer- 
ican law  makers.  These  but  accentuate  the  need  for  a  broader- 
minded  statesmanship  that  will  solicit  the  advice  of  those  whose 
experience,  ability  and  actual  knowledge  qualifies  them  as  safe 
advisers.  The  tendency  has  been  to  pass  acts  of  Congress  that  the 
proponants  have  not  even  been  able  to  explain  and  to  leave  entirely 
too  much  to  the  "regulations  to  be  framed"  by  a  department  or  an 
official.  As  a  result  there  has  developed  a  marked  trend  toward 
interpreting  the  law  and  interpolating  sentences  and  clauses  therein 
by  the  departments  and  the  regulations  are  in  some  cases  viewed 
as  the  law  to  the  exclusion  of  the  intent  of  Congress.  It  is  time  that 
Congress  found  itself  again  and  assumed  its  prerogative  as  the  law- 
making body  and  framed  its  acts  in  language  that  is  clear  and  ac- 
curate and  leaves  no  doubt  that  the  sole  duty  of  a  department  is 
the  enforcement  of  tne  provisions  in  accordance  with  the  law's 
intent. 
No  sound  explanation  has  as  yet  been  given  as  to  the  meaning 
of  the  words  "unfit  for  use  for  beverage  purposes"  as  used  in  this 
Act  in  connection  with  medicinal  preparations  of  the  U.  S.  P.  and 
N.  F.  or  the  Homeopathic  Pharmacopoeia,  or  to  medicines,  toilet, 
medicinal  and  antiseptic  solutions  and  flavoring  extracts.  The 
attempt  of  the  regulations  to  interpolate  does  not  clarify  the  wording 
of  the  act.  The  development  of  the  art  of  pharmacy  has  been  to 
make  pharmaceutical  j^eparations  pleasant  and  their  efiicacy 
quite  often  is  traced  to  palatability  that  makes  the  medicine  so 
inviting  that  it  will  be  taken  regularly  and  retained.  This  has  been 
the  trend  of  modern  medicine  and  it  is  inexplicable  that  Congress 
should  have  been  ignorant  of  this  or  that  it  aimed  to  destroy  rather 
than  "promote  the  development"  of  medicine  and  pharmacy. 
The  purpose  of  the  law  is  evidently  to  exempt  the  use  of  alcoholic 
liquors  as  medicines  or  when  used  in  the  preparation  of  medicines  so 
as  to  comply  with  the  provisions  of  the  Amendment. 
The  Commissioner  has  exercised  the  authority  vested  by  de- 
claring in  the  regulations  that  eighteen  of  the  preparations  of  the 
U.  S.  P.  and  N.  F.  are  held  to  be  fit  for  beverage  purposes.  Further, 
that  while  distilled  spirits  and  wines  may  be  used  in  their  manufac 
ture  these  preparations  may  not  be  used  or  disposed  of  except  in  th 
manufacture  of  other  preparations  or  medicines  which  are  unfit 
