248 R, Marloth, Ph.D., M.A.— On [June 29, 



may tberefrom draw the conclusioD, that very little, if any at all, 

 adulteration of brandy takes place in our canteens, — adulteration at 

 least in the restricted sense of the word as we use it out here, alluding 

 only to the addition of health-destroying materials. 



Although the brandies which I have analysed did not contain any 

 artificially added poison, I cannot consider them to be a harmless 

 drink. Harmless I mean of course without regard to the effects 

 which the alcohol itself has on the consumer. The majority of the 

 samples contained a considerable amount of fusel-oil, agreeing in 

 this respect with those which have been examined by the Excise- 

 ofl3.cer. 



To prevent any misunderstanding, I may be allowed to consider 

 in greater detail this unpleasant body, the fusel-oil. 



The alcoholic fermentation is often described as the splitting 

 up of sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid, effected by the action 

 of some living vegetable cells, commonly called the " yeast." Bu:^ 

 this is a very rough and incomplete definition of the process, which 

 is not at all such a simple one. On the contrary it is a very com-- 

 plicated matter, the attempt to explain which has given rise to many 

 theories, and which is yet far from being fully understood. We 

 know that whenever such fermentation takes place a considerable 

 number of other chemical substances are formed, 94 per cent, only of" 

 the sugar present in the liquid is — as Pasteur has shown — trans-- 

 formed into alcohol and carbonic acid, the other six per cent, supplies 

 the material for the formation of the accompanying substances. The 

 principal by-products are glycerine, succinic acid, som3 compound 

 ethers, as for instance acetic ether and several other alcohols. In 

 chemical language the name alcohol comprises a whole class of 

 substances which are composed according to a similar formula. The 

 five first members of this series are the methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl 

 and amyl-alcohols. 



Speaking generally however of "alcohol" we always mean the- 

 second of the series, the ethyl-alcohol, just as we use the word 

 " salt " in a specific sense, although there are thousands of different 

 salts known to the chemist. 



There seems to be a widespread opinion, that the nature of alcohol 

 differs according to the material it is made from. That is a 

 misunderstanding of long establii^hed facts. The alcohol is exactly 

 the same in all the fermented and distilled liquors, chemically and 

 physically. It is the ^ame substance that men are eager to produce> 



