Supplement to ^'Nature," Octobei' lo, 1907 



SUPPLEMENT TO - NATURE." 



DENATUBED ALCOHOL. 

 Dcnalitrcd or Industrial Alcohol. By Rufus Frost 

 Herrick. Pp. x+516. (New York : John Wiley and 

 Sons; London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1907.) 

 Price 175. net. 



THE tax-gatherer, nowhere a persona grata, by 

 some strange irony of circumstance finds that 

 one of the most convenient modes of raising revenue is 

 to tax that which, proverbially speaking, maketh glad 

 the heart of man. Nevertheless, this fact rather de- 

 tracts from his general unpopularity than adds to it, 

 at least with all right-thinking ' communities. For 

 alcohol, unlike certain much-advertised pens, is not an- 

 unmitigated boon and a blessing ; there are some 

 people, indeed, who, if they had their way, would tax 

 it out of existence altogether. 



Without entering on the vexed question as to 

 whether alcohol, in its manifold forms, is or is not of 

 alimentary value, it is universally agreed that if 

 articles of food and drink are to be taxed at all, 

 human nature being what it is, there is no more con- 

 venient substance by which to raise a revenue than 

 the spirit of wine. But the industrial value of alcohol 

 is hardly less important than its potable value. It is 

 the starting-point in the manufacture of a great 

 variety of useful and beneficent products, and it has 

 special merits as a fuel and as a solvent. The tax- 

 galherer-in-chief, that is the Chancellor of the E.x- 

 chequer, of every civilised State is, therefore, con- 

 fronted with the problem how to raise a due amount 

 of revenue from alcohol without hampering or 

 crippling' those industries which need alcohol in their 

 manufacturing operations. This countrv was the first 

 to attempt to settle this difficulty by introducing the 

 system of what is called " denaturing " the alcohol, 

 that is, so treating it as lo render it practically worth- 

 less as an article of drink without materially impairing 

 its application to industrial purposes or materially in- 

 creasing its cost to manufacturers. The effective solu- 

 tion of the problem is by no means an easy matter. 

 An efficient denaturant must fulfil certain necessary 

 conditions. In the first place it must render the 

 spirit nauseous, even when used in comparatively 

 small quantity. Secondly, it must not be capable of 

 being easily removed by distillation or by mechanical 

 or chemical treatment; next, it must be capable of 

 ready and certain detection, even if present in verv 

 small quantity; and, lastly, it must not affect the 

 industrial value of the spirit. The ideal denaturant 

 has not yet been found, but by general consent of all 

 who have studied the question (and it has been in- 

 quired into and reported upon by the revenue authori- 

 ties of nearly every country), the method suggested 

 by the late Mr. George Phillips, and first adopted in 

 Great Britain about half a century ago, has been found 

 in practice to be on the whole the most convenient and 

 suitable. It consists in adding to the spirits a certain 

 quantity of wood-naphtha, or crude methyl alcohol, 

 which, if containing a sufficient quantity of the asso- 

 NO. 1980, VOL. 76] 



ciated pyroligneous products, renders the alcohol prac- 

 tically unpotable, except perhaps to the hardened dip- 

 somaniac, who, like Person, will drink even ink if it 

 into.xicates, and who, to the extent that he is a curse 

 to himself and society, must be treated by special 

 means. .Alcohol thus denatured, although not wholly 

 released from revenue control, can be supplied for in- 

 dustrial use free of duty and without any charge to 

 the user beyond the cost of " methylation." 



With the spread of manufacturing industry, 

 especially of chemical and pharmaceutical products, 

 and in consequence of the increasing stress of com- 

 petition, it was but natural that this question of the 

 relations of alcohol to industry on the one hand, and to 

 the revenue on the other, should be the subject of 

 frequent inquiry, and for some years past an agitation 

 was kept simmering in this country to effect the 

 relaxation of the .conditions under which duty-free 

 alcohol may be employed in industry. It culminated in 

 a departmental inquiry, and a considerable body of 

 evidence was accumulated which had the unlooked-for 

 result of entirely disproving the allegation that the 

 attitude of the revenue authorities was in the least 

 degree answ'erable for the position in this country 

 of those industries which are concerned with, or are 

 dependent upon, the use of alcohol. .At the same time, 

 the inquiry was not only of benefit to manufacturers 

 in this country by opening their eyes to the real 

 causes which aflected their industries, but resulted 

 in some substantial concessions to them. For although 

 the contentions on which they originally based their 

 demands were hardly supported by such evidence as 

 they were able to adduce, it was found that the cost 

 of " denaturing " might be materiafly reduced without 

 risk to the rev-enue, and, what was of more import- 

 ance to manufacturers, that the Treasury could afford 

 to grant a considerable rebate to industrial alcohol. 

 It is too soon, perhaps, to draw conclusions as to 

 the operation of these concessions, or as to their 

 commercial effect. It is, however, quite certain that 

 if the results are not commensurate with anticipation, 

 the fault will not rest with the inland revenue authori- 

 ties. 



.All these matters are treated at length in the 

 volume before us, which is, if we mistake not, the first 

 treatise in our language on the subject to which it re- 

 lates. Of course, much has been written on the 

 methods of manufacture of alcohol, and Mr. Herrick's 

 book contains little on this point which is not already 

 familiar to distillers. Nor is it to be expected that 

 what he has to say respecting the value of alcohol as 

 an illuminant and as a fuel, or as a source of power, 

 contains much original matter. But his compilation 

 will be welcomed by all who are concerned in these 

 subjects, and especially by those mechanicians who are 

 interested in alcohol as a source of light and power. 

 Mr. Herrick has been at some pains to put together 

 all available information in the confident expectation 

 that his countrymen will not be slow to turn it lo 

 account. 



" It is the hope and belief of the author that we 

 Americans can solve for this country the probletn of 

 Denatured .Alcohol in such a successful manner that 



