292 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
various aspects of the question at issue. It began by pointing out 
that in both England and Germany the law had for a number 
of years permitted the use of methylated spirits in the arts, and 
gave a résumé of the reports of the committees on which the 
legislation was based. It then defined the several liquids known 
as ethyl alcohol, methyl alcohol, crude wood-naphtha, and refined 
wood-naphtha or wood spirits, and described a number of experi- 
ments made by the committee with mixtures of ethyl alcohol 
and refined wood-naphtha. The committee summed up its report 
as follows: 
“The final conclusion to which we are led is this: That by treating the mixt- 
ures of ethyl alcohol and wood spirits (in the proportion proposed in the bill now 
before Congress) with bone-black, filtering, adding a caustic alkali—as, for 
example, caustic potash—and then distilling with the aid of the Hempel tube, the 
principal product obtained is nearly free from methyl alcohol, and that the odor 
and taste of this product are not very marked. At the same time, even in the best 
product thus obtained, the odor and taste characteristic of wood-naphtha can be 
detected, though only with difficulty, by those who are unskilled in such matters. 
We believe that the method employed by us which gave the best product could be 
applied economically on the large scale, and a product fully as good as our best, 
if not better than it, might thus be obtained. 
“As regards the question whether the product obtained could be used for 
drinking purposes, that is difficult for the committee to answer satisfactorily. We 
have submitted our best specimens to some well-known dealers in alcohol and alco- 
holic beverages, and we learn that the purified product might easily be used in the 
manufacture of low-grade whiskies and rum, though all the gentlemen whom we 
have consulted on this point have unhesitatingly recognized the presence of the 
wood-naphtha in the best specimens. 
“Tt would appear from this that, while after the addition of the wood-naphtha 
to alcohol, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to separate the two perfectly 
and thus regenerate the pure alcohol, it is quite possible to get from the mixture 
a product which might be used in the manufacture of alcoholic beverages of 
lower order. 
“Tt is plain from the foregoing that, considering our experiments as final, it is 
impossible to purify the mixture containing wood-naphtha to a sufficient extent to 
make it palatable without the aid of distillation. Hence, apparently, it would 
be as difficult to carry on the process of purification on the large scale as to carry 
on the illegitimate manufacture of alcohol. This fact, in itself, might be a sufh- 
cient protection against fraud, though the committee does not feel competent to 
express a decided opinion on this point.” 1° 
* Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1883, pp. 62, 63. 
