ernor of Saratov issued an order to all pharmacists prohibiting its sale without a prescription under the penalty of 3,000 roubles."

Among the many requests of pharmacists to regulate the sale of different drugs the following story appearing in the Novy Mir is typical:

"Yaroslav-The local pharmacists have applied to the State Medical Board with a request to regulate the sale of eau de cologne, tincture of valerian and other similar sought for drugs. They found it necessary to take this step in view of the large demands for these drugs, which have sprung up since the prohibition decree went into effect."

PROHIBITION IN ICELAND

Iceland is the only place in the world which is experimenting with total prohibition. A law of 1909 forbidding the importation of all kinds of alcoholic beverages containing more than 24 per cent of alcohol became effective on January 1, 1912. But the sale of the beverages imported before this date was permitted until January 1, 1915. Consequently, the total prohibition can only be said to have existed since the last mentioned date. It is stated on the best of authority that just before the prohibition against importation became effective large amounts of spirits were brought into the country.

The law is very drastic in its many regulations. Persons who were allowed to dispose of the spirituous goods in their possession before January 1, 1915, were on that date subjected to a rigid police inspection. All the goods remaining unsold became the property of the State. Private persons having liquor in their possession on January 1, 1915, were not obliged to export it, but to state on their honor the kind of liquor and the quantity on hand. At the beginning of every year the same statement must be made until all the goods have been used up. If any one is suspected of illegal importation or sale, his premises may be searched, and if he cannot explain how he came into possession of liquor he is regarded as having transgressed the law which involves high fines, running from two hundred to one thousand kroner for the first offence, and for subsequent offences as high as five thousand kroner.

If a man is found intoxicated he must be brought before a court and is in duty bound to explain how he became intoxicated and from whom he obtained alcohol.

Especially drastic are the regulations in regard to ships calling at Iceland, in order to prevent illegal importation or smuggling.

Although the law has been in operation for such a short time, conditions in Iceland appear to be very much the same as those witnessed in our own prohibition states. The National Tidende

of Copenhagen contains this communication from Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland:

"Already more or less serious violations of the prohibition law have occurred in our city,' and the city judge has plenty to do with hearing cases and imposing fines on those guilty. Illicit places of sale have been discovered and different spirituous wares have been confiscated which the dealer in question is said to have obtained from vessels regularly plying between Copenhagen and Iceland. On the whole, it may be said that smuggling flourishes as never before and in view of the total lack of revenue service in Iceland this is simply a natural consequence of the prohibition law."

It is told elsewhere with some detail how vessels load up with spirituous liquors and by remaining outside territorial waters find no difficulty in landing the forbidden goods. In short, Iceland is undergoing precisely the same experience which invariably exists when a large part of the population is unfriendly toward prohibition. How far the population of Iceland is beginning to supply their own alcoholic drinks by some form of home production is not known.

THE SWEDISH SYSTEM OF "INDIVIDUAL CONTROL"

This method of control has been practised in the city of Stockholm since February, 1914, under the name of the Bratt System, and since the latter part of 1912 in Gothenburg under the name of the Andrée System. These systems, or modifications of them, have been introduced in numerous other Swedish cities. As a result of the beneficent influence of this control, a law of May, 1915, has made it mandatory in all sales of whiskey for the whole of Sweden. Before the control becomes operative the managers of the companies having a monopoly of the sale of spirits obtain information from the police, the courts, guardians of the poor and others in. regard to persons who should not be allowed to buy whiskey; the others, being over 21 years of age, are allowed to purchase, but only in certain quantities, for if full liberty of purchase existed it would only result in giving those an opportunity to obtain whiskey who should be deprived of it.

For the present, great care is exercised in determining the maximum quantity which may be bought. In Stockholm this amounts to one litre of whiskey every fifth day and in Gothenburg to eight litres per month. The reason why the limit has been kept so high is that it is necessary to proceed gradually in order not to drive people to resort to other alcoholic drinks.

But in spite of this large quantity and in spite of the fact that only by aid of the above-mentioned new law purchase from other places and foreign countries is excluded, this new system, which amounts to an individual license, has had a very wholesome influence. Since the introduction of the Bratt System in Stockholm cases of public intoxication have decreased by about one-third, although it has only existed for a year and a half and is still capable of a considerable amount of development. And while the corresponding system in Gothenburg has brought about a reduction in drunkenness offences of only eighteen per cent, the police of that city strongly emphasize that drunkenness has disappeared in a much

larger measure than the figures indicate as subsequent to the introduction of the system much greater space has been acquired in the places of detention so that a large number of persons are brought in who previously were left unmolested for lack of space.

In Stockholm every would-be purchaser receives a pass-book in which the quantity of each purchase is noted, while in Gothenburg certificates are distributed which must be brought along by the purchaser or his representative, and the quantity bought is entered in books at the place of purchase. In order to make control possible and effective each buyer is referred to a certain salesplace, which he must patronize.

To make the law fully effective it was necessary, furthermore, that those who were excluded from purchasing at the shops of the companies should be prevented from importing whiskey from abroad. Therefore, the law prescribes that no one may import whiskey from abroad except with the consent of the companies. Those who wish to avail themselves of the opportunity must apply to the companies who are in duty bound to order the goods from the firm the would-be purchaser selects.

Although great care has been exercised in preparing a "blacklist" of persons excluded from the privilege of buying whiskey in any quantity, the list for Gothenburg for October 1, 1912, contained the names of 2,252 persons; and on October 1, 1913, there were added the names of 1,190 persons. In Stockholm no less than 10,000 applications for passbook affording the privilege of buying whiskey of the companies were refused. To this should be added another large number of persons who have not made. such application as there was no possibility of obtaining it. Their number is estimated at from five to ten thousand and probably more. It should be distinctly noted that the method of individual control is applied only to distilled liquors as being responsible for the alcoholism the law intends to prevent. There is no effort to place fermented liquors under this kind of control; it is neither thought to be feasible nor desirable.

The Alcohol Commission of Norway favors the Swedish system of individual control, of which experimentations have already begun. It is a wholly new departure in temperance legislation, the success of which will be watched with much interest.