The duty on secret medicines is regulated by the Stamp Act of 1804 as amended by the Stamp Act Amendment Act of 1812. The Act of 1804 was itself in part an amending Act and regulated the duties to be paid on paper, on books, on advertisements, and imposed _ad valorem_ duties on hats and proprietary medicines. The tax on proprietary medicines remains, but that on advertisements through and by which they continue to exist and flourish has gone the way of the duties on hats, and books, and paper. The Act of 1804 contained a schedule of medicines to the number of some 450. In the Act of 1812 this was replaced by a new schedule in which about 550 proprietary medicines were mentioned by name. The final clause of this Act, however, is expressed in very general terms, for it includes “all other pills, powders, lozenges, tinctures, potions, cordials, electuaries, plasters, unguents, salves, ointments, drops, lotions, oils, spirits, medicated herbs and waters, chemical and officinal preparations whatsoever, to be used or applied externally or internally as medicines or medicaments for the prevention, cure, or relief of any disorder or complaint incident to or in any wise affecting the human body,” if the person making or selling these various preparations claim to have any occult secret or art for making them or claim to have any exclusive right or title to make them, or prepares and sells them under the authority of letters patent, or if by public notice or advertisement, or by papers or labels on, or with, the enclosures, bottles, or cases in which the preparation is sold, the maker vendor, or proprietor recommend them as “nostrums, or as proprietary medicines, or as specifics, or as beneficial to the prevention, cure, or relief of any distemper, malady, ailment, disorder, or complaint incident to or in any wise affecting the human body.” The Inland Revenue returns show that during the last ten years the amount received by the State from the stamp duty on patent medicines so-called has increased from £266,403 10s. 3d. in the year ending March 31, 1899, to £334,141 19s. 2½d. in the year ending March 31st, 1908. The net receipts are the gross receipts after deducting repayments and allowances, but the aggregates of these deductions are small. The following table shows the net receipts in each of the ten years, and the average for the two quinquennial periods, 1899-1903 and 1904-1908:— TABLE SHOWING NET RECEIPTS FROM STAMPS ON “PATENT MEDICINES” FOR TEN YEARS, 1899-1908.