AmMa°y,ri8P79arro  }    Apothecaries  and  Rectifiers  License.  267 
Chloramyl. —  Chloramyl,  the  name  given  to  a  mixture  of  chloroform,  i  lb  ,  and! 
nitiite  of  amyl,  2  drachms,  is  recommended  as  a  new  anaesthetic  by  Dr  G.  E. 
Sanford  in  the  "  Medical  Record  "  He  claims  for  it  a  trial  on  the  ground  of  its 
safety  as  well  as  efficiency,  the  amyl  antidoting  the  syncopal  action  of  the  chloro- 
form, while  not  modifying  its  anaesthetic  properties. — Proceedings  of  Medical  Society 
of  Kings  County. 
APOTHECARIES   AND    THE    RECTIFIERS'  LICENSE, 
In  some  sections  of  the  United  States  druggists  have  received  notice  from  the 
collectors  of  Internal  Revenue  that  they  could  not  lawfully  make  use,  upon  their 
premises,  of  an  apparatus  for  the  recovery  of  alcohol  necessary  to  the  manufacture 
of  chemical  and  pharmaceutical  preparations,  when  a  license  as  a  "  liquor  dealer " 
had  been  granted  to  said  druggist,  without  taking  out  a  "rectifiers'"  license! 
We  have  always  been  of  the  opinion  that  this  was  an  unjust  construction  of  the 
law,  oppressive  to  druggists,  and  not' within  the  intention  of  the  statute. 
Mr.  W.  W.  Heritage,  of  Philadelphia,  has  interested  himself  in  a  laudable  man- 
ner to  obtain  from  the  Department  of  In'ernal  Revenue  a  decision  in  the  premises. 
The  commissioner  has  taken  a  liberal  and  intelligent  view  of  the  subject,  and  we 
have  no  doubt  that  his  decision  will  meet  with  the  endorsement  of  all  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  merits  of  the  case. 
Treasury  Dept.,  Office  of  Int.  Rev.,  Washington,  April  21,  1879. 
The  last  clause  of  Section  3246,  Revised  Statutes,  as  amended  by  Section  5  of  the 
Act  of  March  1st,  1879,  reads  as  follows,  viz.: 
"Nor  shall  any  special  tax  be  imposed  upon  apothecaries  as  to  wines  or  spirituous 
liquors  which  they  use  exclusivelv  in  the  preparation  or  making  up  of  medicines." 
This  exemption  extends  over  the  entire  chapter  of  special  taxes,  so  that  an  apoth- 
ecary can  neither  be  required  to  pay  special  tax  as  liquor  dealer  for  selling  medici- 
nal preparations,  though  spirituous  liquor  or  wine  be  a  component  part  thereof,  nor 
be  required  to  pay  special  tax  as  a  rectifier  for  purifying  or  refining  or  in  any  man- 
ner treating  liquors  for  use  in  the  preparation  of  his  medicines. 
But  the  exemption  relates  only  to  medicinal  preparation,  and  the  apothecary 
therefore  is  not  exempt  from  the  liquor  dealers'  special  tax  if  he  sells  unmixed  dis- 
tilled spirits  (including  pure  alcohol)  or  wines,  though  he  sell  them  strictly  as  med- 
icine, and  even  upon  a  physician's  prescription. 
Many  apothecaries,  nearly  all,  perhaps,  are  compelled  to  hold  special  tax  stamps 
as  retail  dealers  in  liquors  to  comply  with  the  terms  of  the  law,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  meet  the  demands  of  their  customers  for  pure  liquors  for  medicinal  purposes. 
The  exigencies  of  their  business  also  require  them,  as  druggists,  to  keep  pharm- 
aceutical stills  or  distilling  apparatus. 
But  under  the  third  sub  division  of  Section  3244,  Revised  Statutes,  a  retail  dealer 
in  liquors  who  has  in  his  possession  a  still,  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  rectifier  and  a* 
being  engaged  in  the  business  of  rectifying. 
The  question  has  therefore  been  presented  whether  an  apothecary  holding  a  special 
tax  stamp  as  a  retail  dealer  in  liquor,  and  having  in  his  possession  a  still  for  use  in 
the  preparation  of  medicinal  compounds,  must  not  be  required  to  pay  the  recti- 
fiers' tax. 
After  careful  consideration,  the  conclusion  is  arrived  at  that  the  exemption  froua 
special  tax  accorded  to  apothecaries  by  that  provision  of  the  statute  hereinbefore 
cited  applies  not  only  to  the  sale  by  them  of  their  medicinal  preparations  or  com- 
pounds composed  in  part  of  distilled  spirits  or  wines,  but  also  to  any  and  all 
