DENATURED ALCOHOL 255 



the detestable odor, and recently has permitted a reduction in the re- 

 quired amount of pyridine bases, substituting for it some benzine. 

 The experience of Germany indicates that pyridine, in spite of its dis- 

 advantages, is, on the whole, the best general denaturant known. 



In Austria-Hungary the standard denaturant is practically the 

 same as in Germany. In France it is much the same as in England — 

 to 100 liters of alcohol are added 10 liters of wood spirit which must 

 contain 25 per cent, of acetone and certain other impurities. Besides 

 this, other substances must be added, the nature of the second substance 

 varying according to the destination of the product. For instance, if 

 the alcohol is to be used for heating, the addition must be half a liter 

 of ' benzine ' ; if it is to be used for lighting, four per cent, of resin 

 must be added. 



We are to have our choice between the methods of France and of 

 Germany. According to Regulations USTo. 30 of the United States 

 Internal Eevenue and to circulars Nos. 680 and 686 issued by the 

 Treasury Department, alcohol may be denatured by adding to each 

 hundred liters of alcohol of not less than 180° proof, ten liters of 

 wood spirits and half a liter of benzine, or by adding to that quantity 

 of the alcohol two liters of wood spirit and half a liter of pyridine 

 bases. The wood spirit, benzine and pyridine bases, with which the 

 denaturing is to be done, must be ' approved.' " The methyl alcohol 

 submitted must be partially purified wood alcohol obtained by the de- 

 structive distillation of wood." " It must contain not more than 25 

 or less than 15 grams per 100 c.c. of acetone and other substances 

 estimated as acetone." ..." The benzine submitted for approval 

 must be a hydrocarbon product derived either from petroleum or coal 

 tar." " It must be of such character as to impart a decided odor to 

 ethyl alcohol when mixt [sic] with it in the proportion of one half 



8 This word benzine is sadly overworked. Spelled with an e, benzene, it is 

 the correct scientific name for a definite chemical compound of the composition 

 represented by the formula C 6 H 8 . Spelled with an i, benzine or benzin, it is often 

 used to mean benzene, toluene, xylene, mesitylene, or several other things obtained 

 from the distillation of coal, or a mixture of any two or more of these things. 

 More frequently it means any one of the score of substances obtained in the dis- 

 tillation of crude American petroleum before the temperature is high enough to 

 drive off what we call kerosene. That is to say, it may mean rhigolene, cymogene, 

 gasolene, or naphtha, petroleum-ether or ligroin, or a mixture of these. As these 

 are themselves mixtures, the confusion is worse confounded. Many, if not most 

 chemists, in an effort to avoid misunderstandings, adopted the German word 

 benzol to indicate that definite and important compound O e H 6 , but the relief was 

 for but a little while. Now benzol, too, has begun to be used in certain indus- 

 tries, as if it were synonymous with benzine or benzene. When one of these 

 three words is used it is impossible to tell immediately what is meant; the 

 meaning may be deducible later from the context, frequently it is not, as the 

 chances are almost even that the speaker himself does not know. It covers a 

 multitude of inaccuracies; perhaps that is why the word is so popular. 



