September 5, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



129 



Wood naphtha, pyroxylic spirits, is the name given to the 

 impure commercial methyl alcohol. It is a very complex 

 liquid, contaiuing variable proportions of methyl alcohol, 

 acetone, methyl acetate and formate, allyl alcohol, aldehyde, 

 water, etc. The best commercial vpood naphtha contains 

 about 95 per cent of methyl alcohol, the common varieties 

 from 75 to 90 per cent, and sometimes going as low as 30 to 

 40 per cent. It has a very characteristic odor, and if taken 

 internally will generally produce nausea and other deleteri- 

 ous effects. Pure methyl alcohol, however, is free from 

 these objections. Cases may be cited from the English court 

 reports' and daily papers where pei'sons habitually drank 

 methylated alcohol without any other toxic effect than that 

 common to ethyl alcohol. 



The higher alcohols, propyl, etc., have a greater toxic 

 effect than ethyl alcohol. Brockhaus has recently personally 

 investigated the effects of propyl, butyl, and amyl alcohols 

 on the system. He found the disagreeable symptoms, giddi- 

 ness, nausea, etc., to increase with the molecular weights of 

 the alcohols, and anjyl alcohol itself proved to be a very 

 violent poison. According to the experiments of Rabuteau, 

 amyl alcohol is fifteen times as intense as ethyl alcohol, and 

 is even fatal in small doses. Amyl alcohol is one of the 

 chief constituents of fusel oil. 



An addition of 10 per cent of wood naphtha to ethyl alco- 

 hol lowers the boiling point of the mixture 3.3° C. (6° F.) 

 (Ure). 



Ethyl alcohol, spirits of wine, ordinary or grain alcohol, 

 is next to methyl alcohol in the ascending order of the 

 alcohol series, is the alcohol on which the internal-revenue 

 tax is levied, and is the alcohol with which most people are 

 familiar. It is a limpid, colorless liquid, of a hot pungent 

 taste, and has a peculiar pleasant smell. According to 

 Mendelejetf, absolute alcohol boils under the normal pressure 

 at 78.3° C. (173° F.), and has a specific gravity of 0.80625 at 

 0° C (32° F.) compared with water at its maximum density, 

 4° C. Dr. E. E. Squibb, of Brooklyn. N. Y., in 1884 ob- 

 tained alcohol of a specific gravity lower than that recorded 

 by any previous observer, viz., 0.80257 at 4° C, or 0.80591 

 at 0° C. compared with water at its maximum density. 

 Absolute alcohol, however, is comparatively unknown out- 

 side of chemists' laboratories. When we speak of alcohol, we 

 generally mean the liquid that contains from 90 to 95 per 

 cent by volume of absolute alcohol. 



Ethyl alcohol is miscible with water in all proportions, a 

 considerable evolution of heat and contraction in bulk taking 

 place on admixture. It is nearly impossible to remove the 

 last traces of water, owing to the tendency of alcohol to 

 quickly absorb moisture from the air. It is a powerful 

 solvent for fluid and solid bodies, both organic and inorganic. 

 It absorbs many gases with considerable avidity. As found 

 on the market, ethyl alcohol often contains traces of higher 

 homologues, of aldehyde and acetic acid, of volatile oils, of 

 various fixed impurities, both organic and inorganic, and is 

 more or less fixed with water. 



The tails or faints, as well as the still less volatile or 

 ordinary fusel oil, are mixtures of several alcohols and fatty 

 acid ethers, their relative quantities depending on the nature 

 of the materials used in mashing, belonging to the higher 

 series of alcohols, and consequently possessing greater toxic 

 effects. 



Propyl alcohol was discovered by Chancel in 1853 in small 

 quantities in fusel oil obtained in the manufacture of wine- 

 brandy. It resembles ethyl alcohol in its odor. It has a 

 specific gravity of 0.8198 at 0° C, and boils, according to 

 various observers, at from 96° to 98° C. The latter number is 

 probably the correct one, as the boiling points of the normal 

 alcohols increase 19.6° C. for every increment in composi- 

 tion of CH (Grimshaw and Schorlemmer). It is miscible in 

 all proportions with water, but, on the addition of easily 

 soluble salts, as calcium chloride, etc., it separates out from 

 aqueous solutions. Propyl alcohol is not used in the arts or 

 manufactures, but is chiefly employed in scientiflc research.' 

 It is toxically more active than ethyl alcohol; the dose is 

 from 3 to 4 grams per kilogram of the weight of the animal. 



Butyl alcohol occurs in varying quantities in several fusel 

 oils, and is especially found in the spirits from beet-root, 

 potatoes, and grain. It was discovered by Wurtz in 1852. 

 It is a somewhat mobile liquid, possessing a spirituous smell, 

 but at the same time a fusel-oil odor, resembling that of 

 syringa flowers. It boils at 108° to 109° C, and has a 

 specific gravity of 0.817 at 0*^ C. At ordinary temperatures 

 it dissolves in ten parts of water, and the greater part is 

 separated from solution on the addition of easily soluble 

 salts, chloride of calcium, common salt, etc. According to 

 Eabuteau, it is toxically four times as active as ethyl alcohol, 

 its dose being 2 grams per kilogram of the weight of the 

 animal. It has a toxic action on the heart and blood, pro- 

 ducing muscular trembling and in large doses convulsive 

 spasms. 



Amyl alcohol, so called by Cahours because it was chiefly 

 found in spirits obtained from bodies containing starch 

 (amylum), is commonly called potato spirits. It has been 

 found since to occur in all fusel oils. Amyl alcohol was for 

 a long time considered to be one distinct compound. Biot 

 first drew attention to the fact that this body possesses the 

 power of rotating the plane of polarized light to the left; 

 and Pasteur, in 1855, pointed out that the rotary powers of 

 different samples of amyl alcohol vary according to the 

 source from which they are obtained. From this he con- 

 cluded that the body termed amyl alcohol is a mixture in 

 varying proportions of an optically active and an optically 

 inactive compound. He succeeded in obtaining the two 

 modifications of the alcohol, and experiments of later inves- 

 tigators have established that they do not possess an identical 

 chemical constitution. Fermentation amyl alcohol is a 

 colorless, highly refracting liquid, possessing a burning taste 

 and a penetrating smell, boiling at 131° to 132° C, and 

 solidifying at — 21" C. Inhalation of its vapors produces 

 difficulty of breathing, coughing, headache, and giddiness.' 

 It kills rapidly, according to Dujardin-Beaumetz, in doses of 

 from 1.59 to 1.75 grams per kilogram of the weight of the 

 animal. Even in small doses it exerts a powerful effect, 

 bringing about intoxication and coma, producing at first a 

 violent excitement of the nerve centres, followed by depres- 

 sion of the sensitive and motive forces. 



Valerianic ether is a colorless liquid, having an irritating 

 taste, and an odor which has been compared to that of ap- 

 ples; it is met with in an extremely small proportion in 

 fusel oils. The same is true in regard to amyl acetate^ a 

 colorless liquid of a peculiar and irritating taste, of an odor 



* Roscoe and Scborlemmer's Ctiemistry. 



