JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS clause thus "warm as wool" and "strong as nylon" will not be misleading if the comparisons are in fact true, as they may well be. For pharmaceutical preparations this clause may be difficult to enforce because it would involve batches of experts for each side, and conflicting evidence, all of which would make it very difficult to have consistent deci- sions. In the U.S.A. the Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act imposes a close watch on all medical claims in advertising, and has resulted in hundreds of cases in which, however, it has been almost impossible for the judges to decide between conflicting expert evidence. The fourth definition is a simple one. It concerns the description of the place or country in which the goods are made or produced. Its purpose is, of course, to ensure that the public are not deceived by foreign goods masquerading as home produced, or by those with a foreign cachet which are in fact made in this country. This provision must be distinguished from that in the Merchandise Marks Act of 1936, which makes a declaration of the place of origin compulsory on imported goods which have been specially designated by Order in Council. This provision is rarely, if ever, used in respect of goods with no claim to foreign manufacture. If Melton Mowbray pies are not made there, but in London, the public will not necessarily be deceived. Far different, however, if the pies are made in Holland, but are not so marked--then an offence is caused. Similarly, the use of the English language may be false or misleading if the impression is given that the goods were produced in this country, when in fact they were made abroad. In India, cosmetics made locally but bearing only an English label with the name and address of a London finn led to a prosecution and to heavy fines. A false indication of the origin of goods, as in this Indian example, may be indirect, and this is a common form of false description. Most of the cases on this subject have concerned cigars, and especially the gay pictures which decorate their boxes. A box bearing a picture of a Spanish lady, or a map of Cuba, or even Spanish words, would be held to indicate that the cigars came from Havana, and so manufacturers who place such decorations on British or Jamaican cigars must also indicate clearly that the contents do not come from Havana. For that matter, even if only Havana tobacco is used, if the cigars are manufactured in this country, they must not be described as Havana cigars. Another instance of an offence under this clause is the placing of a tartan label on a bottle of spirits coming from Japan, which would lead a customer to suppose he was buying Scotch whisky. Of course, there are many articles bearing place names which can no longer be considered in any degree deceptive, although they are no longer made locally for example, Chelsea buns, Turkish delight, Epsom salts, French chalk, Worcester sauce. 218

THE MERCHANDISE MARKS ACT In some cases, however, the local origin still bears some significance, say London Gin, and then, if the product is made elsewhere, it must bear in words as equally conspicuous as the name of the product itself, the name of the place where it was actually made or produced. Sometimes a fancy name, which is also a place name, is used, e.g. "Pic- cadilly" for cigarettes, and here no offence is caused because it has never had any local signification. The use of French terms on perfumes may be offensive under the Act if the name and English address of the manufacturer are not clearly shown. A perfume made in this country by the English factory of a French company might bear a false trade description if the label omitted the English name and address, and thereby gave an impression of French origin. Under the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty the terms "port" and "madeira" may not be applied to any liquor or wine other than the produce of Portugal or Madeira. If one of these terms is falsely applied, it is a false trade descrip- tion and is treated as an offence under the Merchandise Marks Acts. Even evasive descriptions like "Tarragona Port" or "South African Port" are not allowed, although, of course, the description "Port Type" is now permitted. The fifth definition concerns the mode of manufacturing or producing goods. There is no need, of course, for any person to disclose his method of manufacture, but if he does choose to place such a statement on his goods it must be accurate. It is not enough for him to show that his product is just as good as if it had been made in the way he says it was. In a leading case on this point cigarettes were sold under a label bearing the words "guaranteed hand-made by experienced workmen." They were in fact made by machine and the manufacturer was merely being economical in using up old labels. The magistrate expressed himself satisfied that the machine-made cigarettes were as good in construction as if they had been hand made, but the divisional court on appeal held that it was a false description, and that the fact that they were as good as hand-made goods was no defence. This is an instance of the principle I have mentioned, that actual deception of the purchaser is not essential either to create or to prove the offence. A modern case, to which I shall refer again, concerned dilute acetic acid which was sold under the title of "non-brewed vinegar." The Courts held that "vinegar" means a product obtained by a process of double fermenta- tion the use of the term "vinegar" therefore implied a mode of manufacture, which was not in fact true in this case. As an extension of this rule it can be taken that a synthetic substance must not be described as if it were produced by a natural process. The sixth definition concerns the material of which goods are composed. In practice it has often been difficult to decide whether a variation between the description and the actual composition of the article is such as to make the description false in a material respect, i.e., substantially. The law holds 219