Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
July,  1909.  j 
Importation  of  Drugs. 
341 
dealer  might  be  placed  in  a  very  unpleasant  position.  Thus,  the 
proper  labelling  and  declaration  are  matters  of  the  greatest 
importance. 
There  are  several  points  in  connection  with  senna  siftings  and 
smilax  rhizomes  worthy  of  attention.  In  connection  with  senna  sift- 
ings numerous  importations  have  been  found  to  contain  an  excessive 
quantity  of  mineral  matter,  in  one  instance  as  much  as  35  per  cent. 
Smilax  rhizome  is  that  part  of  the  sarsaparilla  especially  directed 
by  the  U.S. P.  to  be  rejected  in  the  manufacture  of  sarsaparilla 
preparations.  It  has  been  maintained  by  some  that  it  would  be 
perfectly  proper  to  manufacture  U.S. P.  products  from  these  goods, 
and  to  show  to  what  extent  some  of  these  matters  are  carried  it 
may  be  said  that  there  has  been  submitted  only  recently  a  product 
labelled  "  Fluidextract  of  Senna,  U.S. P."  made  from  senna  siftings, 
and  "  Fluidextract  of  Sarsaparilla,"  made  from  rhizomes.  There  is 
no  question  whatever  that  products  manufactured  and  labelled  as 
indicated  above  are  in  violation  of  the  law. 
There  has  been  some  question  relative  to  the  use  of  such  words 
as  "  synthetic  "  and  "  artificial  "  in  connection  with  such  products 
as  balsam  Peru  and  oil  of  bitter  almond ;  that  is,  a  number  of  impor- 
tations have  been  invoiced  as  oil  of  bitter  almond,  oil  of  almond,  or 
bitter  almond  oil,  artificial.  These  shipments  upon  examination 
proved  to  be  benzaldehyde  and  inasmuch  as  both  benzaldehyde  and 
oil  of  bitter  almond  are  recognized  and  defined  in  the  U.S. P.,  it 
would  not  be  proper  for  benzaldehyde  to  be  imported  and  sold  under 
the  name  "  oil  of  bitter  almond  "  or  "  oil  of  almond,  artificial,"  but 
it  should  be  labelled  "  benzaldehyde." 
The  situation  in  connection  with  balsam  Peru  is  somewhat  differ- 
ent ;  there  have  been  various  importations  invoiced  as  artificial 
balsam  Peru  and  synthetic  balsam  Peru.  An  examination  of  the 
products  revealed  the  fact  that  the  articles  did  not  comply  with  the 
tests  prescribed  in  the  U.S. P.  for  balsam  Peru.  This  article  has 
been  represented  as  taking  precedence  for  medicinal  use  to  the 
genuine  product  in  the  country  of  production,  but  it  is  well  known 
that  this  imitation  balsam  Peru  is  restricted  in  sale  in  the  country 
of  production.  It  is  therefore  in  violation  of  Section  11  of  the  law 
and,  further,  inasmuch  as  it  is  clearly  an  imitation  article,  it  is  in 
violation  of  Section  8  of  the  law,  which  states  that  an  article  shall 
be  deemed  misbranded  in  case  of  drugs  first,  if  it  be  an  imitation  or 
offered  for  sale  under  the  name  of  another  article. 
