24 
Indian Forest Records. [Vol. IV. 
uniform quality as tliat distilled through acetic acid, though the 
colophony was a little less bright and of deeper colour. The 
process seemed at first sight too costly to be used on a commercial 
scale. The problem of recovering methylated spirit from the 
dilute distillate would entail the creation of a separate column still 
in the turpentine factory, while the addition of methylated spirit, 
if it were not to be recovered, would make the distillation too 
expensive. Besides a current of steam would also have to be intro¬ 
duced to distil turpentine oil. 
At this stage it struck the writer that instead of distilling 
turpentine with water, it might be possible to use dilute spirits 
with some prospect of success without altering the present plant. 
Thus, though the processes as worked out on a laboratory scale 
could not be satisfactorily tested on a commercial scale without 
proper machinery, yet it appeared possible that the methylated 
spirit process could be adapted to the existing plant without much 
trouble. This proved to be the case and the yield by this process 
was IT' 6 per cent. The oil was washed with water and filtered. 
It gave the following results on fractional distillation : — 
Begins to boil ...... 140°—145° C. 
Below 160° C. . . . . . . 43-3 per cent. 
Below 167° C.53 
From these figures it is clear that the quality of the oil obtained 
by both the processes is uniform. 
Besides the methylated spirit could be used over and over again 
in the present method of water distillation, by occasionally in¬ 
creasing its strength by the addition of strong spirit. In the case 
of steam distillation its use is only possible when a separate still for 
recovering the spirit is made available. 
(iii) Commercial Experiments with Spirit Distillation at Bhowali 
and Allahabad. 
The methylated spirit process was tried on a large scale both 
at Bhowali and at the Allahabad Exhibition. TVith 5 gallons of 
commercial methylated spirit, 50 maunds of crude resin were success¬ 
fully put through the stills at Bhowali, while at Allahabad with 
about 3 gallons of spirit about 40 maunds of crude resin was simi¬ 
larly treated. TJnder continuous working the quantity of methy- 
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