Aw.  Josr.  Pharm.  J 
Dee.  1,  1873.  \ 
Editorial. 
565 
ion  was  had,  and,  although  the  discussion  was  conducted  with  courtesy  at  all 
times,  it  was  evident  to  all  of  the  members  of  the  Committees  that  the  position 
held  by  the  Commissioner  and  his  assistant  wa3  not  to  be  visibly  shaken  by  any 
arguments  that  could  be  brought  to  bear. 
The  discussion  soon  narrowed  down  to  the  point,  In  a  medicine,  what  con- 
stitutes similarity  in  style  to  a  patent  or  proprietary  medicine  ?  and  here  we 
found  the  Commissioner  more  ignorant  than  an  ordinary  country  school-boy. 
When  Chas.  Bullock  stated  that  such  common  officinal  articles  as  laudanum, 
paregoric,  castor  oil,  sweet  spt.  of  nitre,  sweet  oil,  &c,  &c,  were  largely  put 
up  by  wholesale  druggists  for  consumption  in  country  stores,  going  very  often 
in  sparsely  populated  districts,  where  physicians  could  not  be  called  readily,  he 
said  that  he  never  knew  of  the  medicines  mentioned  ever  being  sold  except  by 
physicians'  prescription,  and  he  had  an  opportunity  of  knowing.  Further 
on  in  the  discussion  a  member  asked  if  they  had  called  in  any  experts  to  con- 
fer with  them  in  regard  to  recent  decisions.  He  said  that  they  did  not  think  it 
at  all  necessary,  as  the  law  was  there  and  they  were  competent  to  decide  upon 
it.  He  accidentally  or  purposely  let  fall  the  remark  subsequently,  that  he  was 
a  Homoeopath,  and  never  took  any  of  the  medicines  himself.  Notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  the  only  surviving  member  of  the  original  committee  of  experts 
who  were  called  in  when  Sect.  13th  of  Act  of  July  13th.  1866— the  very  sec- 
tion about  which  there  is  so  much  trouble — was  present,  and  clearly  explained 
the  intention  of  the  framers  of  the  act,  he  still  was  unwilling  to  reverse  his 
decision  or  yield  one  inch. 
Each  member  of  the  Committee  protested  earnestly  against  being  required 
to  stamp  ordinary  retail  counter  sales  of  officinal  articles,  or  of  any  medicine 
the  formula  of  which  is  public  property,  and  they  claimed  that  such  articles  of 
materia  medica  were  exempt  under  Sect.  13th  of  the  Act  of  July  13th,  1866, 
which  plainly  says : 
Sec.  isT"  And  be  itfurthf.r  enacted,  That  no  stamp  tax  shall  be  imposed  upon  any  uncompounded 
medicinal  drug  or  chemical,  nor  upon  any  medicine  compounded  according  to  the  United 
States  or  other  national  pharmacopoeia,  or  of  which  the  full  and  proper  formula  is  published  in 
any  of  the  dispensatories  now  or  hitherto  in  common  use  among  physicians  or  apothecaries,  or 
in  any  pharmaceutical  journal  now  issued  by  any  incorporated  co  lege  of  pharmacy,  when  not 
sold  or  offered  for  sale,  or  advertised  under  any  o'her  name,  form  or  guise  than  that  under 
which  they  may  be  severally  denorrinaed  and  laid  ch  wn  in  said  pharmacopoeias,  dispensatories 
or  journals  as  aforesaid,  nor  upon  medicines  sold  to  or  for  the  use  of  any  person,  which  may  be 
mixed  and  compounded  for  said  person  according  to  the  wri  ten  receipt  or  prescription  of  any 
physician  or  surgeon.  But  nothing  in  this  section  shall  be  construed  to  exempt  Irom  stamp  tax 
any  medicinal  articles,  whether  simple  or  compounded  by  any  rule,  authority,  or  formula,  pub- 
lished or  unpublished,  which  are  put  up  in  a  style  or  manner  similar  to  that  of  patent  or  propri- 
etary medicines  in  general,  or  advertised  in  newspapers  or  by  public  handbills  for  popular  sale 
and  use.  as  having  any  special  propriefary  claim  to  merit,  or  to  any  peculiar  advantage  in  mode 
of  preparation,  quality,  use,  or  effect,  whether  such  claim  be  real  or  pretended. 
But  the  Commissioner  explained  that  "where  physic  and  physician  were  sup- 
plied to  the  patient  at  one  and  the  same  time,  as  was  the  case  where  labels 
were  used  giving  the  name,  dose  and  direction  of  the  medicine,  it  was  plain 
that  a  stamp  was  required."    This  is  wisdom,  indeed  ! 
He  ruled  that  it  was  not  necessary  to  call  it  B  s  Laudanum  or  C's  Castor  Oil 
to  render  it  liable  ;  but  the  dose  and  directions  were  sufficient  to  make  it 
etampable. 
We  were  not  prepared  to  hear  that  this  law  was  intended  to  advance  the 
interests  of  the  physician,  or  indeed  of  any  profession,  nor  interfere  with  what 
the  public  have  long  considered  their  right,  but  supposed  that  it  was  for  the 
purpose  of  raising  revenue  by  levying  a  tax  on  commodities  which  are  either 
articles  of  luxury  or  are  not  absolutely  necessities. 
It  clearly  is  not  the  intention  of  the  General  Government  to  gather  into  the 
treasury  of  the  United  States  pennies  that  are  wrung  from  the  suffering  and 
needy  poor;  for  it  is  upon  these  that  this  decision  bears  with  the  most  weight. 
There  was  one  glaring*  inconsistency  in  the  Commissioner's  position  that  was 
difficult  to  understand. 
