200 
Editorial. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  19 19. 
is  hereby  authorized  and  directed  to  prescribe  rules  and  regulations, 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  regard 
to  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  distilled  spirits  and  removal  of  dis- 
tilled spirits  held  in  bond  after  June  thirtieth,  nineteen  hundred  and 
nineteen,  until  this  act  shall  cease  to  operate,  for  other  than  beverage 
purposes;  also  in  regard  to  the  manufacture,  sale,  and  distribution 
of  wine  for  sacramental,  medicinal,  or  other  than  beverage  uses!' 
The  italicized  portions  as  well  as  the  context  of  these  quotations, 
make  it  clear  that  the  intent  of  Congress  was  that  distilled  spirits 
and  wines  were  to  be  available  for  medicinal  purposes.  It  would 
also  appear  that  Congress  recognized  the  need  of  distilled  spirits 
and  wines  in  their  pure  state  as  medicines  and  there  is  nothing  what- 
ever in  the  wording  that  would  indicate  that  these  must  be  "  de- 
natured "  so  as  to  render  them  unfit  for  medicinal  use  per  se. 
The  present  regulations  while  modifying  prior  decisions  only 
reaffirm  the  attitude  that  the  Department  had  assumed  that  pure 
alcohol  and  other  distilled  spirits  and  pure  wines  cannot  be  pre- 
scribed or  dispensed  for  medicinal  use.  This  decision  would  make 
the  procuring  of  such  after  June  30,  1919,  impossible  and  illegal 
even  on  prescription  and  the  regulations  evidence  the  purpose  to 
interfere  with  the  legitimate  practice  of  medicine  and  pharmacy 
despite  the  intent  of  Congress  as  shown  by  the  wording  of  the  acts. 
It  is  hard  to  reconcile  the  power  to  legislate  vested  by  the  Con- 
stitution solely  in  Congress,  with  the  assumed  authority  of  the 
executive  departments  to  abridge  or  abrogate  the  laws  or  modify 
their  evident  intent.  The  Food  and  Drugs  Act  named  the  Phar- 
macopoeia of  the  United  States  and  the  National  Formulary  as  the 
authority  for  the  standards  of  quality  and  purity  for  drugs  and 
defines  the  meaning  of  the  word  drug.  That  definition  and  the 
standards  fixed  by  the  authorities  named,  remain  the  law  of  the 
Country  until  rescinded  by  Congress  itself.  The  U.  S.  Pharma- 
copoeia accurately  defines  and  describes  the  legal  standard  for  alco- 
hol and  under  the  existing  law,  only  alcohol  of  the  U.  S.  P.  standard 
can  be  sold  or  dispensed  when  the  drug  alcohol  is  ordered.  The 
Internal  Revenue  Department  by  an  edict  now  sets  aside  this  author- 
ized and  legal  standard  and  decrees  that  even  "  on  a  physician's 
prescription"  U.  S.  P.  Alcohol  "must  not  be  dispensed"  unless 
first  denatured  (adulterated  within  the  meaning  of  the  Food  and 
Drugs  Act)  by  the  addition  of  a  foreign  poisonous  substance  and 
labelled  "  Poison."    Under  this  decision,  the  law  enacted  as  the 
