Henry Billings Brown

“ We do not wish to be understood as holding that in no case will the scientific designation of an article be of value in fixing its proper classification for duties, but that in a case where the popular idea of an article and its actual use in the arts are so diametrically opposed to its scientific designation the latter should not prevail. ”

“ An acid is described by Webster primarily as 'a sour substance,' and chemically as 'one of a class of compounds, generally but not always, distinguished by their sour taste, solubility in water, and reddening of vegetable blue or violet colors;' giving also some other distinguishing characteristics. ”

“ To class saccharine as an acid because it imparts a reddish color to litmus paper is to make an accidental and occult property of the article dominate its well-known and popular quality of sweetness, for which it is exclusively used. In the Encyclopaedia Britannica flint is said to be 'a true acid, because, when it is heated along with soda or lime, it forms the new body commonly called glass, which is chemically a salt of silicic acid.' It would be little less, however, than an abuse of terms to classify flint as an acid for revenue purposes. ”