74 
Editorial. 
(Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\    February,  1920. 
for  beverage  purposes.  The  list  consists  mainly  of  vehicles  for  the 
administration  of  disagreeable  medicines,  and  the  fact  that  their 
inclusion  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  or  Formulary  is  proof  of  such  general 
use  in  medicine  throughout  the  country  that  it  was  necessary  to  es- 
tablish standard  formulas,  makes  no  impression  upon  the  attitude 
of  the  commissioner.  By  further  injudicious  extension  of  authority 
this  list  might  be  extended  many  fold  by  the  inclusion  of  other  titles. 
It  would  appear  to  the  layman  that  the  plain  duty  of  the  enforcement 
officers  was  to  punish  every  violation  of  the  use  of  these  as  medicines 
and  not  to  take  a  course  that  will  detract  from  their  proper  use  as 
medicines. 
In  the  promulgation  that  tartar  emetic  must  be  used  as  a  de- 
naturant  for  bay  rum  the  commissioner  has  declared  what  we  be- 
lieve is  a  dangerous  precedent.  To  insist  that  such  a  toxic  substance 
as  a  soluble  salt  of  the  poisonous  metal  antimony  shall  be  added  to 
bay  rum  that  is  extensively  used  for  bathing  infants  and  invalids 
and  as  a  vehicle  for  applications  to  the  scalp  and  skin  is  laying  a 
multitude  of  death  traps  and  it  will  be  fortunate  indeed  if  serious 
accidents  do  not  occur  through  this  action.  We  urge  that  physicians 
and  especially  dermatologists  be  advised  of  this  medication  so  that 
they  may  select  some  other  vehicle  in  place  of  antimoniated  bay  rum. 
A  thorough  scientific  investigation  should  have  been  made  to  deter- 
mine the  effect  of  tartar  emetic  upon  the  skin,  hair  and  organs  of  the 
body.  The  chemical  analogy  existing  between  antimony  and  arsenic 
is  so  close  that  similar  chronic  poisonous  effects  and  depilatory  action 
may  be  anticipated.  ^ 
The  Departments  of  the  Federal  Government  are  not  working 
in  harmony.  The  Bureau  of  Chemistry  is  rightly  prosecuting  for 
adulterations  manufacturers  whose  medicinal  preparations  deviate 
from  the  standards  laid  down  in  the  U.  S.  P.  and  N.  F.  and  the  most 
vicious  form  of  adulteration  is  the  addition  of  a  poisonous  or  dele- 
terious substance.  The  U.  S.  P.  and  N.  F.  fix  the  legal  standards 
for  alcohol  and  for  compound  spirit  of  myrcia  and  if  these  are  sold  as 
medicines  "for  internal  or  external  use"  they  are  classified  under  the 
Federal  Food  and  Drugs  Act  as  drugs  and  must  comply  with  the 
"standard  of  strength,  quality  or  purity  as  determined  by  the  test 
laid  down  in  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia  or  National  Formu- 
lary official  at  the  time  of  investigation."  The  Pharmacopoeia  lays 
down  a  standard  for  alcohol  and  all  alcohol  sold  for  use  as  a  "drug" 
must  comply  with  that  standard.    The  National  Formulary  lays 
