24  Act  of  1848;  Importation  Regulations.  {""^  S™' 
to  one  feature  contained  in  the  law  of  1848,  which  materially  limits 
if  it  does  not  negative  certain  portions  of  the  Act.  This  feature  reads 
as  follows : 
"  If  on  examination,  any  drugs,  medicines,  medicinal  preparations,  whether 
chemical  or  otherwise,  including  medicinal  essential  oils,  are  found  in  the 
opinion  of  the  examiner,  to  be  so  far  adulterated,  or  in  any  manner  deteri- 
orated, as  to  render  them  inferior  in  strength  and  purity  to  the  standard 
established  .  .  .  and  thereby  improper,  unsafe  or  dangerous  to  be  used 
for  medicinal  purposes,  a  return  to  that  effect  shall  be  made  upon  the  invoice, 
and  the  articles  so  noted  shall  not  pass  the  Custom  House,  unless,  on  a  re- 
examination of  a  strictly  analytical  character,  called  for  by  the  owner  or 
consignee,  the  return  of  the  examiner  shall  be  found  erroneous,  and  it  is 
declared  as  the  result  of  such  analysis,  that  the  articles  may  properly,  safely 
and  without  danger,  be  used  for  medicinal  purposes." 
"  In  case  this  report,  which  shall  be  final,  shall  declare  the  return  of  the 
examiner  to  be  erroneous,  and  the  articles  to  be  of  the  requisite  strength  and 
purity  according  to  the  standards  referred  to  in  the  next  preceding  section, 
the  entire  invoice  shall  be  passed  without  reservation,  on  payment  of  the 
customary  duties." 
All  chemists  and  medical  men  conversant  with  existing  conditions 
are  well  aware  that  it  is  impossible  to  determine  from  "  a  strictly 
analytical  character  "  whether  or  not  certain  drugs  are  "  improper, 
unsafe  or  dangerous  to  be  used  for  medicinal  purposes."  Chemists, 
furthermore,  are  not  as  a  rule,  qualified  to  pass  judgment  on  a  purely 
medical  question.  A  clause  of  this  character  virtually  negatives  the 
law  in  case  of  importations  sufficiently  large  to  warrant  the  consignee 
or  owner  to  have  an  examination  of  "  a  strictly  analytical  character  " 
made,  as  a  basis  of  action. 
THE  ACT   OF   1848  AND  REGULATIONS   ON  DRUGS 
IMPORTED  INTO  THE  UNITED  STATES  FROM  THE 
POINT  OF  VIEW  OF  THE  IMPORTER. 
By  W.  J.  Gesell. 
Before  the  Food  and  Drugs  Act  became  effective,  on  June  30, 
1906,  the  importation  of  drugs,  medicines,  medicinal  specialties, 
including  medicinal  essential  oils  and  chemical  preparations  used 
wholly  or  in  part  as  medicines,  was  regulated,  with  reference  to  their 
quality,  purity  and  fitness  for  medicinal  purposes,  by  Sections  2933 
