Common parlance classification made tartaric acid a medicine, with the specific medicinal entry prevailing over a general chemical entry.

Tartaric acid was treated as a medicine for sales tax classification because its identity had to be determined by common parlance and its actual commercial use, not merely by scientific description. The material showed that it was sold through medicine dealers and used as a saline purgative with medicinal effect, so it fell within the specific medicinal entry applicable for the period. Although it could also be regarded as a chemical in a broad sense, the specific entry prevailed over the general chemical entry, fixing the commodity's tax classification as medicine.

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Issues: Whether tartaric acid was classifiable as a medicine or as a chemical for sales tax purposes.

Analysis: The commodity had to be understood in the sense in which it was known to persons dealing with it and in the medical world, not merely by its scientific description. The material showed that tartaric acid was sold to dealers in medicines and was used as a saline purgative with medicinal effect. Although it could also be regarded as a chemical in a broad sense, the existence of a specific medicinal entry for the relevant period meant that the specific classification governed over the general chemical entry. The purpose of sale and the common parlance understanding supported treatment of the commodity as a medicine.

Conclusion: Tartaric acid was rightly treated as a medicine and not as a chemical.

Ratio Decidendi: For sales tax classification, a commodity must be classified according to its common parlance understanding and specific commercial use, and where it falls within a specific entry, that specific entry prevails over a broader general entry.

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