768        Regulations  for  Prohibition  Enforcement.  {  Am.  jour.  Pharm. 
/  *  J  .     k.    December,  1919. 
Air.  H.  B.  Thompson,  attorney  for  the  Proprietary  Association, 
asked  that  whatever  modifying  substances  may  be  decided  upon  that 
these  be  such  as  will  not  interfere  with  the  nature  of  any  prepara- 
tion and  its  intended  use  and  not  incompatible  with  the  formula. 
Mr.  E.  C.  Brockmeyer,  attorney  for  the  National  Association 
of  Retail  Druggists,  stated  that  the  retailers  were  those  upon  whom 
the  great  responsibility  had  been  placed  by  these  laws  and  that  they 
must  very  largely  determine  the  intent  of  the  purchasers.  The 
assurance  of  this  active  association  in  cooperating  with  the  Govern- 
ment in  these  matters  was  guaranteed. 
The  Barbers  Supply  Dealers'  Association  was  represented  by 
Mr.  A.  Edlis  of  Pittsburgh,  who  read  a  statement  prepared  by  the 
Legislative  Committee  of  that  organization.  It  was  suggested  that 
the  Department  "should  carefully  investigate  all  applicants  for  per- 
mits to  purchase  non-beverage  alcohol,  and  that  some  method  be 
established  whereby  an  applicant  must  thoroughly  establish  that  his 
objects  are  legitimate,  other  than  by  the  bond  that  is  required  by 
law." 
Mr.  Wayne  B.  Wheeler,  attorney  for  the  Anti-Saloon  League, 
stated  that  it  was  not  the  intent  of  that  organization  to  interfere 
with  the  proper  use  of  non-beverage  alcohol  by  any  industry. 
In  the  general  discussion  that  followed,  it  developed  that  the 
Department's  experiments  were  limited  to  but  a  few  days'  trial  of 
tartar  emetic  as  a  modifying  agent  for  bay  rum,  that  no  determina- 
tion had  been  made  as  to  the  toxic  action  or  of  its  possible  systemic 
effect  as  a  cumulative  poison  and  that  no  announcement  of  its  use 
as  an  approved  denaturing'  agent  had  yet  been  promulgated.  The 
consensus  of  opinion  of  the  expert  chemists  and  technical  workers 
present  was  that  tartar  emetic  was  too  violent  a  poison  to  be  recom- 
mended for  such  purposes  and  untoward  results  would  likely  follow 
its  application  in  this  way. 
Dr.  Ettner,  as  chairman  of  the  committee  of  the  Perfumers' 
Association  that  had  been  appointed  to  make  a  special  study  of  this 
subject  advised  against  the  use  of  tartar  emetic  as  entirely  too 
Loxic  and  the  use  of  which  might  prove  a  continual  source  of  danger 
alike  to  the  manufacturers  and  the  unsuspecting  user.  His  com- 
mittee had  under  consideration  a  number  of  possible  modifying 
substances  and  experiments  not  yet  completed  suggested  that  sev- 
eral were  promising,  but  until  these  experiments  permitted  of  a 
definite  decision  it  was  unwise  to  express  a  conclusion. 
