3/8 
Compounding  and  Dispensing. 
(Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\     August,  1909. 
ing  Board  is  hereby  empowered  to  employ  an  analyst  or  chemist 
expert,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  examine  into  the  so  claimed  adul- 
teration and  report  upon  the  result  of  his  investigation,  and  if  said 
report  justifies  such  action,  the  Board  shall  duly  cause  the  prosecu- 
tion of  the  offender  as  provided  in  this  law.  Whoever  violates  any 
of  the  provisions  of  this  Act  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and 
upon  conviction  shall  be  fined  a  sum  not  exceeding  one  hundred 
dollars,  or  undergo  an  imprisonment  not  exceeding  ninety  days,  or 
both. 
Sec.  2.  All  laws  or  parts  of  laws  inconsistent  herewith  are 
hereby  repealed. 
Approved — the  25th  day  of  May,  A.D.  1897. 
Daniel  H.  Hastings. 
You  will  say  a  most  exact  and  comprehensive  enactment. 
There  is  an  important  distinction  observable  between  the  Drug 
and  Food  Acts  respecting  labelling.  In  the  latter  Act  Section  3 
provides  that  it  shall  not  apply  to  mixtures  or  compounds  recognized 
as  ordinary  articles  or  ingredients  of  articles  of  food,  if  each  and 
every  package  sold  or  offered  for  sale  be  distinctly  labelled  as  mix- 
tures or  compounds  and  are  not  injurious  to  health. 
Attorney-General  Elkins  in  an  opinion,  reported  5  District 
Reports  104,  respecting  a  mixture  compounded  of  coffee  and  a 
certain  amount  of  chickory,  rye,  wheat,  or  peas  and  labelled  "  Best 
Rio,  Prime  Rio,  French  Rio,"  and  the  like,  with  the  additional 
words  "  coffee  compound,"  declared  this  was  to  be  considered  an 
adulteration  within  the  meaning  of  the  Act  and  was  not  protected 
by  the  label,  on  the  theory  that  such  an  article  was  not  coffee  and 
that  the  label  "  coffee  compound  "  was  not  indicative  of  the  actual 
fact,  and  further  that  coffee  so  adulterated  is  not  an  ordinary  article 
of  food  and  therefore  not  exempt  from  the  penalties  of  the  law. 
Although  the  label  may  in  some  cases  protect  the  manufacturer 
and  vendor  of  foods,  it  will  not  save  the  manufacturer  and  vendor  of 
drugs.  There  is  no  such  provision  in  the  Pure  Drug  Act  and  no 
matter  what  label  is  placed  on  the  article,  if  it  fails  to  conform  to 
the  standard  pharmacopceial  preparation  it  will  be  deemed  an 
adulteration. 
The  question  may  be  raised  that  the  article  is  not  a  pharmaco- 
pceial substance  and  that  the  Act  strictly  applies  only  to  such  as  are 
mentioned  in  the  several  authorities  cited  and  thereby  a  possible 
means  of  evading  the  law  be  afforded. 
