17621. Adulteration and Misbranding of ether. IT. S. v. One Hundred %-Pound Cans of Ether. Default decree of condemnation, for- feiture, and destruction. (F. & D. 24075. I. S. No. 021189. S. No. 2297.) Samples of ether from the herein described interstate shipment having been found to contain peroxide, indicating deterioration, the Secretary of Agricul- ture reported the matter to the United States attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. On September 19, 1929, the said United States attorney filed in the District Court of the United States aforesaid a libel praying seizure and condemnation of one hundred }4 -pound cans of ether, remaining in the original unbroken packages at York, Pa., alleging that the article had been shipped on or about August 30, 1929, by the Ohio Chemical & Manufacturing Co. (from Cleveland, Ohio) in interstate commerce to New York, N. Y., from thence to Hoboken, N. J., and then reshipped to York, Pa., and charging adulteration and mis- branding in violation of the food and drugs act. Analysis of a sample of the article by this department showed that the ether contained peroxide. It was alleged in the libel that the article was adulterated in that it was sold under a name recognized in the United States Pharmacopeia, and differed from the standard of purity as determined by the test laid down in said pharmacopoeia, since it contained peroxide. Adulteration was alleged for the further reason that the article fell below the professed standard under which it was sold, namely: (Label) "The exceptional purity of this Ether * * * The exclusion of air by carbon dioxide prevents the oxidation of ether to * * * peroxides by atmospheric oxygen." Misbranding was alleged for the reason that the above-quoted statements from the label were false and misleading. On August 20, 1930, no claimant having appeared for the property, judg- ment of condemnation and forfeiture was entered, and it was ordered by the court that the product be destroyed by the United States marshal. AETHTJB M. HYDE, Secretary of Agriculture.