the collector at 11 cents per pound, under paragraphs 348, 349, 355, and 357 of the tariff act of July 24, 1897. The importers claim that the goods are dutiable under paragraphs 351 and 358 of said act, at 4 cents per pound, as wool of the third class.

The pertinent provisions of the tariff act are the following paragraphs:

349. Class one, that is to say, merino, mestiza, metz, or metis wools, or other wools of Merino blood, immediate or remote, Down clothing wools, and wools of like character with any of the preceding, including Bagdad wool, China lamb's wool, Castel Branco, Adrianople skin wool or butcher's wool, and such as have been heretofore usually imported into the United States from Buenos Ayres, New Zealand, Australia, Cape of Good Hope, Russia, Great Britain, Canada, Egypt, Morocco, and elsewhere, and all wools not hereinafter included in classes two and three.

351. Class three, that is to say, Donskoi, native South American, Cordova, Valparaiso, native Smyrna, Russian camel's hair, and all such wools of like character as have been heretofore usually imported into the United States from Turkey, Greece, Syria, and elsewhere, excepting improved wools hereinafter provided for.

352. The standard samples of all wools which are now or may be hereafter deposited in the principal custom-houses of the United States, under the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury, shall be the standards for the classification of wools under this Act, and the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to renew these standards and to make such additions to them from time to time as may be required, and he shall cause to be deposited like standards in other custom-houses of the United States when they may be needed.

The testimony taken at the hearing satisfactorily shows that the wools in question are "of merino blood," at least remotely, if not immediately. This fact of itself would bring them within the descriptive designation of the paragraphs under which they were classified. Moreover, as shown by the testimony of experts, the importation is found by comparison to be substantially the same as standard samples Nos. 25 and 31, which have been deposited in the principal customhouses of the United States, under the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury, pursuant to the provisions of said paragraph 352. These facts would seem to be conclusive of the correctness of the classification made by the collector.

The protest is overruled, and the collector's decision is affirmed.

2

(21346-G. A. 4473.)

Pearl scales.

Pearl scales dutiable as manufactures of pearl at 35 per cent ad valorem under paragraph 450, act of 1897, and not as parts of pocketknives under the provisions of paragraph 153 of said act.-Judicial affirmance of G. A. 4216.

Before the U. S. General Appraisers at New York, June 29, 1899.

In the matter of the protest, 43146 f-15995, of the Electric Cutlery Company, against the decision of the collector of customs at New York, N. Y., as to the rate and amount of duties chargeable on certain merchandise, imported per Germanic, and entered January 10, 1898.

Opinion by WILKINSON, General Appraiser.

The goods are pearl scales similar to those covered by G. A. 4216. They were assessed for duty as pocketknives at 40 per cent ad valorem and 5 cents each, under the following clause of paragraph 153, act of July, 1897:

Provided, That blades, handles, or other parts of either or any of the foregoing articles [viz, pocketknives] imported in any other manner than assembled in finished knives or erasers, shall be subject to no less rate of duty than herein provided for penknives, pocketknives * * * valued at more than fifty and not more than one dollar and fifty cents per dozen.

66

It is claimed that the articles should be classified as manufactures of mother-of-pearl, at 35 per cent, under paragraph 450," or under various other paragraphs.

In the decision cited, the Board sustained the claim that the merchandise was dutiable at 35 per cent under paragraph 450. This ruling, on appeal by the collector, was affirmed by the circuit court for the southern district of New York in re United States Express Company, May 15 ultimo, and the Government has acquiesced in the judicial decision. The court said, in part:

It further appears, however, that the articles in question are of the cheapest quality of pearl, are sometimes sold by the pound and in all sizes and shapes, and are used on fans and opera glasses for inlaying work, and for the handles of button hooks, corkscrews, and other articles; and inasmuch as in their present condition they are not necessarily a part of a knife handle, and would not necessarily be recognized as such, and are not in such a condition as to be part of a knife without being further advanced by filing, drilling, and trimming in order to adapt them to the shapes of the knife handles and to fasten them thereto, I think that the United States has failed to show that the goods are anything more than the material from which parts of pocketknives may be manufactured. This conclusion is strengthened by the decision in re John Russel (56 Fed. Rep., 221); in Worthington v. Robertson (139 U. S., 341), and United States v. Simon (84 Fed. Rep., 154).

Following G. A. 4216 and the judicial decision cited, we sustain the claim that the merchandise is dutiable at 35 per cent under paragraph 450, act of July, 1897.

(21347-G. A. 4474.)

Papaw milk.

Papaw milk exempt from duty as a crude nonedible drug under paragraph 470, act of 1894.-Judicial affirmance of G. A. 3687.

Before the U. S. General Appraisers at New York, June 30, 1899.

In the matter of the protests, 17962f, etc., of American Ferment Company, against the decision of the collector of customs at New York, N. Y., as to the rate and amount of duties chargeable on certain merchandise, imported per vessels and entered on dates as set forth in the schedule.

Opinion by WILKINSON, General Appraiser.

The merchandise covered by the protests is described in the invoices as papaw juice, papaw milk, papaya milk, dried papaya milk, succus papaya, or liquid papaya milk. It was assessed for duty as a medicinal preparation at 25 per cent, and it is claimed to be entitled to free admis. sion as a crude nonedible drug. The said products are obtained from the papaw melon, and are similar in character and condition to the so-called papaw milk covered by G. A. 3687.

In G. A. 747, the Board held that elaterium, an article similarly prepared for market, was not a crude drug; but this ruling was reversed by the circuit court for the southern district of New York (66 Fed. Rep., 251).

Following this judicial decision, the Board in G. A. 3687 sustained the claim that papaw milk was exempt from duty as a crude nonedible drug under paragraph 470 of the act of August, 1894. The case was appealed, but the circuit court for the southern district of New York affirmed the decision of the Board (91 Fed. Rep., 753), and the Government acquiesced in S. 20905.

Following the decisions cited, we sustain the claim that the merchandise is free of duty under paragraph 470 of the act of August, 1894, or under paragraph 548 of the act of July, 1897, as the case may be.

[Dissenting opinion by TICHENOR, General Appraiser.]

I must dissent from the conclusions of the majority of the Board in these cases.

The merchandise in controversy comprises 24 individual importations, covered by that number of protests made by 5 different importers, is described in the invoices as "papaw milk," "liquid papaya," "dried papaya milk," and as "Succus Papain," and is valued variously (in the invoices) at $2, United States currency, and at 13s. 6d., 14s., and 15s., sterling, per pound. Its variability in quality and commercial character and value is thus clearly apparent. Nevertheless the Board's finding and conclusion as to the condition and character of all the merchandise appears to be based upon the unsupported testimony of a representative of one of the protesting importers only, and

without the presentation to, or inspection by, the Board of a sample of any of the importations.

I am of the opinion that such evidence is not sufficient to overcome the reports as to the precise character of the merchandise made by the expert examiner in the appraisers' department, who had it before him in each instance, and who, as more particularly appears hereinafter, gave it careful examination, and is competent to determine its exact nature and commercial character. Even if the testimony of one interested witness was sufficient to establish the character of the importations of his own firm, it certainly would not be as to the importations of other importers, nor to establish a commercial usage, particularly respecting merchandise of such variable character. (Neuss, Hesslein & Co. v. United States, Treasury synopsis 17002.)

According to the United States Dispensatory (edition of 1894, pp. 1712, 1713, under the title "Papaya"), the milky juice of the papaw (Carica papaya) is obtained by scarifying the skin of the unripe fruit. The milk, upon standing for a few minutes, separates into two parts, an aqueous liquid and a white, somewhat coagulated pulpy mass. The aqueous portion contains an albuminous substance, to which the names Papain and Papayotin have been given. It further appears from the Dispensatory that

Papaya juice has a tendency to spoil by undergoing a butyric fermentation, but M. Woerts found that the addition to it of glycerin preserved it without interfering with its digestive power. Imported in this form, it is a thick milky liquid. As it occurs in commerce, papain is a grayish fine powder, which in appearance, odor, and taste strongly suggests pepsin. Recently it has been much used as an internal medi cine in dyspepsia and gastric catarrh, and as a local application for the destruction of false membranes, warts, tubercules, walls of old sinuses, and even epithelioma. Jacobi affirms (Therap. Gaz., Vol. II) that diphtheric membranes are dissolved in a few hours by the hourly application of one part papain to two parts each of water and glycerin. * * * Under the name of papayotin, papain or papoid the more or less impure ferment of the Carica papaya is put upon the market, and according to various authorities, it acts powerfully upon starch to convert it into maltose, emulsifies fat, and converts albumenoids into peptones.

It would thus seem that the milk or juice as obtained from the fruit, with the addition perhaps of glycerin for the purposes of preservation, is the only condition in which the article can be considered as a crude drug under the present tariff act. When in the form of powder, as here imported, it has clearly been advanced from a crude condition by some process, and, as appears from the United States Dispensatory, is used as a medicine in that condition.

It appears from the testimony, taken by me, of Dr. G. W. Jewett (who has been an examiner of drugs and medicines in the appraiser's department at this port for thirty-two years, and is a physician by profession), that the product of the papaw fruit (Carica papaya) has been

imported at this port in the form of milk or juice, of a cream-like consistency, in cans, also in dry pieces or fragments of a yellow brown or straw color, but that the greater proportion imported in recent years has been in dry pulverized form of a straw or cream color, or of a grayish-white color in the condition of an impalpable powder, and that in these latter forms it was, in his judgment, ready for medicinal use. As appears from his testimony, Dr. Jewett furnished me a sample, in the form of a yellowish powder, representing an importation by The Charles Roome Parmele Company, per St. Paul, April 26—or 22—1897 (protest 23442f); also a sample in the condition of an impalpable powder and nearly white in color, representing an importation by Samuel Godwin's Sous, per St. Paul, January 5, 1899-or December 30, 1898-(protest 47832f); also, that he furnished me a sample in liquid form in a bottle marked "Papaya juice, undried, glycerin added as a preservative," which he obtained from the American Ferment Company, of Jersey City, N. J., but which does not appear to be included in any of the importations in question.

These samples were submitted to the United States appraiser at this port for technical examination by a chemical expert in the laboratory connected with his department, and that officer reports in effect (1) that the two first-mentioned samples have undergone one or more processes of refining and are in condition for medicinal use, the clear papaya juice, having been first separated from the pulp and membranous or other tissues of the fruit, was concentrated, then alcohol or other similar precipitant was employed to separate the enzyme or ferment, called papain, from the residue of the papaya; and (2) that the liquid sample marked "Papaya juice, undried," etc., appeared to be the natural juice of the Carica papaya, to which glycerin had been added as a preservative during transportation and keeping, albuminous matters, other than papain, and protoplasmic and membranous tissue of the fruit, also free acids natural to the fruit, being present, and the amount of papain being hardly one-half of that used in the glycerin solution of dissolved papain prescribed for medicinal purposes.

The Board held in G. A. 633 that certain so-called "Carica papaya," "papain," "papayotin," or vegetable pepsin, in the condition of a grayish-white powder, was a medicinal preparation dutiable at 25 per cent ad valorem under the tariff act of March 3, 1883, and not at 10 per cent ad valorem as a crude drug advanced in condition by grinding, as claimed by the importers. It was also held by the Board, in G. A. 1853 and other decisions, that merchandise of similar description, prepared from the milky juice of the unripe fruit of the papaw tree, was dutiable, under the tariff acts of 1890 and 1894, as a medicinal preparation in the production of which alcohol was used. As appears from the Department's letter, dated May 11, 1899, to the collector of customs at New York, the merchandise was held to be so dutiable by the United States circuit court for the southern district of New York in its decision