244 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



portions. This is clearly shown by its chemical formula, CH 3 OH. 

 But it is a dangerous poison, and numerous cases are on record of 

 deaths due to its being mistaken for ethyl alcohol. This mistake 

 occurs easily. A man asked a druggist for a bottle of good alcohol. 

 The druggist understood him to say wood alcohol. The customer 

 took his purchase home, drank it and died. Moreover, there is some- 

 thing particularly horrible about the action of wood alcohol. Numer- 

 ous instances are on record proving that the substance has a specific 

 effect on the optic nerve. After complete recovery from dangerous 

 doses of methyl alcohol, in the course of a few days, patients have 

 become totally blind. It is desirable that these facts should be as 

 widely known as possible, since denatured alcohol is required by law 

 to contain 10 per cent, of this poison. 



It is not too much to say that if we arrange all the liquids known 

 to us in the order of their general usefulness, water, which heads the 

 list of course, will be followed immediately by ethyl alcohol. Ethyl 

 alcohol is colorless and of an agreeable odor. It is an admirable clean- 

 ing agent, and a good antiseptic and disinfectant as well. It is an 

 ideal source of heat and power and is capable of being developed 

 into an ideal source of light. Ideal, because the products of its com- 

 bustion, carbon dioxide and water, both of which are normally present 

 in the air, are quite odorless and are harmless; ideal because, evapo- 

 rating quickly and completely if spilled, it is much cleaner than any 

 oil. It is an indispensable solvent in many chemical industries and is 

 the raw material from which important substances, such as acetic 

 acid (vinegar), the anesthetics ethyl ether and chloroform, the anti- 

 septic iodoform, and many other substances are made. It is the cheap- 

 est and easiest of all the alcohols to manufacture. 



Truly, it is unfortunate that to this list of advantages must be 

 added the fact that it is drinkable, for this last property is made to 

 justify so many restrictions that its application to these useful pur- 

 poses is badly hampered. Alcoholic beverages are generally acknowl- 

 edged to be unnecessary luxuries; therefore, by common consent, they 

 are heavily taxed in every civilized country. A quantity of alcohol 

 costing about 11 cents to make, namely, a ' proof ' or ' tax ' gallon, 

 pays an internal revenue tax of $1.10. The ' proof or f tax' gallon 

 contains about 50 per cent, by volume of ethyl alcohol, and about 

 50 per cent, water. The law reads in such a way that if the alcohol 

 happens to be stronger, or above ' proof ' as it is called, the number 

 of gallons of ' proof ' spirit which could be made from it is calculated 

 and the tax is paid on this computed quantity. But, on the other 

 hand, if the alcohol be weaker, i. e., below ' proof/ it is taxed as if it 

 were 'proof/ 



This term ' proof spirit ' had a somewhat curious origin which is 



