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EDITORIAL.  285 
any  one  time,  nor  exceeding  in  aggregate  cost  value  the  sum  of  $300  per 
annum." 
This  clause,  if  adopted,  will  settle  the  vexed  question  as.  to  the  right  of 
apothecaries  to  dispense  liquors  for  medicinal  use,  and  compels  them  to 
demand  a  physician's  prescription  when  a  sale  is  to  be  effected.  The  in- 
convenience to  the  people  in  legitimate  emergencies,  arising  from  the  ne- 
cessity of  getting  a  prescription,  will  no  doubt  occasion  much  complaint ; 
but  after  considering  the  whole  subject,  and  the  evils  arising  from  the 
grant  of  a  right  to  retail  liquors  to  apothecaries,  to  be  regulated  by  their 
own  judgment  of  the  necessity  of  the  case,  we  are  willing  to  submit  to  this 
inconvenience  rather  than  make  tippling  shops  of  our  pharmacies.  Be- 
sides, the  apothecary  may  now  keep  and  sell  this  class  of  remedies  with- 
out being  compelled  to  take  out  a  license  as  a  liquor  dealer. 
Thirdly,  The  commission  recommend  an  important  change  in  the  pro- 
viso of  exemptions  among  stampable  articles  under  Schedule  C  of  the 
present  law,  viz  : 
"Provided,  Thatmothing  in  this  act  contained  shall  apply  to  any  un- 
compounded  medicinal  drug  or  chemical,  nor  to  any  medicine  compounded 
according  to  the  United  States  or  other  national  pharmacopoeia,  or  of 
which  the  full  and  proper  formula  is  published  in  any  of  the  dispensatories 
now  or  hitherto  in  common  use  among  physicians  and  apothecaries,  or  in 
any  Pharmaceutical  journal  now  issued  by  any  incorporated  College  of 
Pharmacy,  and  not  sold  or  offered  for  sale,  or  advertised  under  any  other 
name,  form  or  guise  than  that  under  which  they  may  be  severally  denomi- 
nated and  laid  down  in  said  pharmacopoeias,  dispensatories  or  journals 
as  aforesaid  ;  nor  to  medicines  sold  to  or  for  the  use  of  any  person,  which 
may  be  mixed  and  compounded,  for  said  person  according  to  the  written 
receipt  or  prescription  of  any  physician  or  surgeon.  But  nothing  in  this 
proviso  shall  be  construed  to  exempt  from  stamp  duty  any  and  all  medi- 
cinal articles,  whether  simple,  or  compounded  by  any  rule,  authority  or  for- 
mula, published  or  unpublished,  which  are  put  up  in  a  style  or  manner  simi- 
lar to  that  of  patent  or  proprietory  medicines  in  general,  aud  advertised 
in  newspapers  or  by  public  handbills  for  popular  sale  and  use  as  having 
any  special  proprietory  claim  to  merit,  or  to  any  peculiar  advantage  in 
mode  of  preparation,  quality,  quantity,  price,  use  or  effect,  whether  such 
claim  be  real  or  pretended." 
The  changes  are  intended  to  circumscribe  the  books  considered  as  au- 
thorities for  exempting  formulas,  and  especially  cutting  off  "  formularies 
and  text  books,"  and  to  define  clearly  what  is  intended  by  a  proprietary 
article,  showing  that  a  mere  change  in  the  wording  of  a  label  may  convert 
a  free  article  into  a  stampable  one.  To  illustrate  this  point,  cod-liver  oil 
is  instanced.  Any  one  may  put  up  cod-liver  oil,  and  speak  of  it  as  pure 
and  carefully  prepared,  and  may  state  that  it  is  used  in  affections  of 
the  chest,  with  the  dose  ;  and  also  that  it  is  carefully  made  or  prepared  by 
A.  or  B.,  and  it  is  stamp  free.  But  if  the  same  oil  is  put  up  with  labels 
stating  it  to  be  X.  or  Y.'s  celebrated  cod-liver  oil  for  the  cure  of  con- 
sumption, &c,  &c,  prepared  by  a  peculiar  process,  that  renders  it  better 
than  other  oils,  etc.,  then  it  becomes  proprietory  and  is  stampable.  We 
t..ink  this  is  as  it  should  be,  and  hopejthe  recommendation  will  become 
