702 
Editorial. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
November,  19 19. 
age  spirit  tax  of  $6.40,  and  likewise  vinous  spirits  that  are  pre- 
scribed as  medicines  or  as  vehicles  for  medicines. 
The  law  very  rightly  now  recognizes  these  "  liquors  "  as  medici- 
nal substances  to  be  prescribed  only  by  a  physician  who  holds  a 
permit  to  prescribe  liquors  and  is  duly  licensed  to  practice  medicine 
and  actively  engaged  in  the  practice  of  such  profession,  and  in  good 
faith  as  a  medicine  after  a  careful  examination  of  the  person  for 
whom  the  liquor  is  prescribed.  In  the  future  such  prescriptions 
will,  except  in  certain  emergencies,  have  to  be  written  on  official 
forms  supplied  by  the  commissioner,  serially  numbered  and  with 
stubs  on  which  copies  of  the  prescriptions  are  to  be  kept  and  re- 
turned to  the  commissioner.  Not  more  than  a  pint  of  spirituous 
liquor  to  be  taken  internally  shall  be  prescribed  for  use  by  the 
same  person  within  any  period  of  ten  days  and  no  such  prescrip- 
tion shall  be  filled  more  than  once. 
The  compounding  of  these  prescriptions  must  be  by  a  pharmacist 
who  has  a  permit  under  the  Act  and  "who  is  duly  licensed  under 
the  laws  of  his  state  to  compound  and  dispense  medicine."  Here 
we  have  a  Congressional  recognition  of  the  licensed  pharmacist  as 
the  only  person  to  compound  and  dispense  medicine,  a  principle  for 
which  pharmacists  have  long  contended. 
While  the  enforcement  of  this  law  is  left  with  the  Treasury 
Department  and  its  Bureau  of  Internal  Revenue,  it  is  apparent 
that  it  is  no  longer  merely  a  question  of  revenue  collection  that  is 
concerned.  This  Department  has  all  the  machinery  necessary 
and  many  years  of  experience  and  many  officials  and  employees 
trained  in  the  methods  of  the  distilling  and  wine  industries  and  so 
the  framing  of  regulations  and  the  carrying  into  effect  the  provisions 
of  the  National  Prohibition  Act  has  been  made  a  special  feature 
and  duty  of  the  Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue,  and  it  is  under- 
stood that  a  new  division  composed  of  Federal  Prohibition  Enforce- 
ment Officers  is  to  be  created. 
With  the  changes  which  time,  education,  and  the  advanced 
moral  tone  of  our  people  have  effected,  the  "  liquor  business  "  as  a 
merchandising  of  alcoholic  beverages  is  a  thing  of  the  past  and  the 
"liquor  dealer"  has  ceased  to  exist.  This  law  does  not  mention 
such,  but  makes  it  a  part  of  the  professional  duty  of  the  pharmacist 
to  dispense  alcoholic  medicines  in  accordance  with  regulations  which 
minimize  the  possibility  of  the  infraction  of  the  law.    It  also  recog- 
