44^ 



NA TURE 



[March 8, 1906 



importance is attached by the Islington magistrate to 

 the question of taste or flavour, and no limit is placed 

 by him upon the amount of chemical impurities which 

 whiskey may contain. Although there is scanty 

 reason to believe that the higher alcohols, furfural, 

 and compound ethers in the proportion in which they 

 exist in pot-still whiskey as ordinarily consumed are 

 injurious to health, yet. nevertheless, one cannot view 

 with complaisance a legal definition of whiskey which 

 allows the quantities of these substances to be un- 

 limited. The only safeguard which the public will 

 have will be their own taste. Thev have shown dis- 

 tinctly what tiny like in that nine-tenths of the 

 whiskey consumed to-day consists of a blend, with 

 more or less pot-still whiskey, of this same patent- 

 still whiskey, which is to be whiskey no longer, be- 

 cause technologically, if not chemically and dietetic- 

 ally, it diverges- too widely from the mediaeval and 

 sentimental "usquebaugh." 



Two further points in the judgment of the Isling- 

 ton police magistrate will be of interest to techno- 

 logists; the first is the absolute condemnation of maize 

 :is .1 constituent of the mash from which whiskey is 

 to be made. This is especially interesting because to 

 those cognisant of the literature of the subject this 

 question of maize as a constituent of brewing and 

 distilling mashes is by no means a new one. Although 

 precedent seems to be no justification at Islington, it 

 is a fact that maize was used as a constituent of dis- 

 tilling mashes previous to 1881. We choose this date 

 advisedly, because in 1SS1 the use of this same 

 opprobrious maize as a constituent of brewing mashes 

 was by the Free Mash Tun Act actually legalised. 

 Again, the Select Committee on bonded spirits was 

 fully cognisant of the use of maize in distilling mashes, 

 and in its report of 1891 had nothing to say against 

 this grain. Still further, in 1S9S the Beer Materials 

 Committee, after a most exhaustive inquiry, refused 

 to prohibit the use of maize. Lastly, the American 

 Pharmacopoeia, which includes whiskey as an official 

 preparation of alcohol, specifically states that it may 

 be made from maize. So far as we can gather, the 

 objection to maize is that it cannot be, or at any rate 

 is not, ripened in this country. 



The last point which we have space to consider is 

 the statement that, apart from taste and flavour, 

 patent-still whiskey has a different effect upon the 

 consumer from pot-still whiskey. It is true that the 

 therapeutic evidence at present at our command upon 

 this subject is somewhat scanty, but what there is 

 points to the conclusion that practicallv the only active 

 constituent in whiskey is ethylic alcohol, and that if 

 a given dose of whiskey differs otherwise than in 

 taste and flavour from a proportional amount of pure 

 ethylic alcohol equally diluted, this difference is due 

 entirely to the presence of certain compound ethers. 

 Now as a matter of fact, although patent-still 

 whiskey contains a smaller coefficient" of impurities 

 than pure pot-still whiskey, the ethereal moietv of the 

 impurities is approximately the same in both. At 

 any rate, the amount of compound ethers taken in an 

 ordinary dose of patent-still or blended whiskey so 

 nearly approximates to that taken in anv ordinary 

 dose of pot-still whiskey that no therapeutical differ- 

 ence is, a priori, to be expected between the two 

 beverages as consumed. The direct evidence we have 

 upon this subject bears out this a priori reasoning. 



Over and above the details which have been brought 

 to light in these whiskey prosecutions, everyone must 

 be struck by the curiousness of a legislation which 

 allows disputes of this kind to be decided in a police 

 court. During the past few years many special com- 

 mittees have sat upon subjects relating to the work- 

 ing of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, and not a 



NO. 1897, VOL. 73] 



few of them have specifically recommended either the 

 institution of a permanent court of reference for 

 these matters or at any rate that they should be laid 

 before some specially organised tribunal. It is 

 sincerely to be hoped that before long these recom- 

 mendations may be adopted. 



THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE. 

 / ~p HE relation between the University of London 

 A and the proposed new Royal College of Science 

 has been the subject of some discussion since the 

 publication of the report of the departmental com- 

 mittee on the college, described in our issue of 

 February 8 (p. 344). It is devoutly to be hoped, 

 however, that the consideration of this matter will 

 not divert attention from the essential point of the 

 committee's report, namely, " that it is desirable 

 that the new institution should be established imme- 

 diately, and that its organisation should proceed with- 

 out delay." Divergent views may be held as to the 

 nature of the connection between the University and 

 the new College, but there can be no two opinions 

 as to the follv of delaying the establishment of the 

 institute, as recommended by the committee, while 

 questions of control are being decided. 



The subjoined letter from Mr. C. McDermid, hon. 

 secretary to the British Science Guild, appeared in 

 yesterday's Times, and the plea of urgency contained 

 in it is endorsed in a leading article in the same 

 issue. 



I am directed by the executive committee of the British 

 Science Guild to request you to be good enough to give 

 publicity to the following expression of the views of the 

 committee on a matter of great national importance. 



The departmental committee on the Royal College of 

 Science has shown in its final report that a start can at 

 once be made to provide for the most advanced instruction 

 and research in several branches of applied science, which 

 all are agreed are imperatively necessary in the interests 

 of our national industrial progress. 



The danger of delay in giving effect to the recommend- 

 ations of the departmental committee is recognised by the 

 leaders in science and industry, who are largely repre- 

 sented among the members of the British Science Guild. 



The Government have signified their willingness to hand 

 over to a new governing body the present buildings of the 

 Royal College of Science and Royal School of Mines, the 

 new chemical and physical laboratories, which are 

 approaching completion, and some adjacent acres of land 

 on which to erect new buildings. In addition to this it is 

 understood that the Commissioners of the 185 1 Exhibition 

 will provide an additional building site, and that the 

 council of the City and Guilds of London Institute will 

 cooperate in the scheme. 



The Government are prepared to provide a yearly grant 

 about equal to the interest at i\ per cent, on one million 

 pounds sterling, and there is reason to hope that the 

 London County Council will vote an approximately 

 equivalent sum. In addition to this there is the munificent 

 gift of 100,000/. from Messrs. Wernher, Beit, and Co., 

 and the sum that it is expected will be provided for the 

 equipment of the new mining and metallurgical laboratories 

 as the central object of a national memorial to the late 

 Sir Henry Bessemer. 



In view of all these most favourable conditions the 

 executive committee of the Guild earnestly hope that 

 neither the question of the ultimate and final relationship 

 of the new institution to the London University nor any 

 other matter will be allowed to interfere with the 

 immediate appointment of at least an organising governing 

 body. This body might deal inter alia with the status 

 and qualifications of the professional staff required and ' 

 obtain detailed expert advice with regard to the new 

 buildings to be erected. 



Probably no more propitious time for founding a 

 college of the kind contemplated could be offered 



