572 
Editorial. 
(4m.  Jour.  Pharm„. 
1     Dee.  1, 1873. 
The  following  report  refers  to  the  action  of  the  Philadelphia  College  at  its 
meeting  held  October  2Lst : 
The  Committee  appointed  by  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  to  en- 
deavor to  bring  before  the  U.  S.  District  Court  a  case  testing  the  validity  of 
the  construction  of  the  Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue  as  to  what  consti- 
tutes the  "  style  or  manner  of  patent  or  proprietary  medicines  in  general,"  un- 
der Section  13th  of  the  Act  of  July  13th,  1866,  called  upon  the  U.  S.  District 
Attorney  to  learn  whether  such  a  case  could  come  before  the  Court  in  Novem- 
ber ;  having  ascertained  that  it  was  likely  that  the  Court  would  hear  the  case, 
they  with  their  attorney  waited  upon  the  Supervisor  of  Internal  Revenue  of 
this  city,  and  stated  the  wish  of  the  druggists  to  have  the  contest  of  opinion 
settled  by  judicial  exposition,  so  far  as  this  district  was  concerned. 
The  Supervisor  declined  to  go  into  Court  except  upon  a  suit  brought  against 
him  for  recovery  of  property  confiscated.  The  Committee  were  aware  that  in 
a  suit  instituted  in  this  way  no  decision  could  be  obtained  for  three  or  four 
months,  before  which  time  they  hoped  that  the  obnoxious  construction  of  the 
law  would  be  modified,  or  the  section  repealed. 
Robt.  Shoemaker, 
Chas.  Bullock, 
For  the  Committee. 
The  new  construction  by  Commissioner  Douglass  of  the  Internal  Revenue 
Law  has,  as  might  have  been  expected,  aroused  the  druggists  and  pharmacists 
throughout  the  country.  All  organizations,  as  far  as  heard  from,  are  unani- 
mous in  their  opinion  that  an  united  effort  should  be  made  during  the  approach- 
ing session  of  Congress  to  either  have  the  rulings  of  Commissioner  Douglass  set 
aside  by  legislative  action,  or  to  have  that  section  of  the  law  repealed  altoge- 
ther, which,  under  the  new  construction,  is  excessively  oppressive  and  vexa- 
tious to  the  druggists  and  to  the  public  at  large. 
The  Philadelphia  Drug  Exchange  has  passed  the  following  resolution  : 
That  the  proceedings  of  the  former  meeting,  together  with  the  report  of  the 
Committee  read  before  this  meeting,  be  embraced  in  a  circular,  to  be  issued  to 
the  druggists  throughout  the  United  States,  asking  their  co  operation  by  bring- 
ing all  the  influence  in  their  power  to  bear  upon  their  respective  Congressional 
representatives,  to  have  repealed,  at  the  next  session  of  Congress,  all  that  por- 
tion of  "  Schedule  C  "  which  refers  to  medicinal  preparations. 
The  pamphlet  has  been  issued  and  extensively  distributed  by  the  following 
Committee,  appointed  for  this  purpose:  William  Gulager,  Alexander  H.  Jones, 
Charles  Bullock,  Henry  H.  Rittenhouse  and  Benjamin  V.  Mein. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Louisville  College  of  Phar- 
macy, held  November  10th,  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions  were  adopted  : 
Whereas,  The  recent  construction  of  "Schedule  C"  of  the  Internal  Reve- 
nue Laws  by  Commissioner  Douglass,  addressed  to  Supervisor  Tutton,  of  Phil- 
adelphia, has  been  brought  to  our  notice  ;  in  consideration  of  the  high  autho- 
rity from  which  it  emanates,  and  of  the  great  confusion  of  the  whole  subject  of 
Btamp  duty  arising  out  of  this  decision,  manifestly  at  variance  with  the  opin- 
ions of  all  former  commissioners  of  Internal  Revenue  ;  and 
Whereas,  The  numberless  medicines  and  preparations  required  to  be  stamped 
in  accordance  with  the  said  definition  of  the  law,  render  it  next  to  impossible 
