466 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
carbonate of sodium, boil rapidly down to two fluid drachms, and drop in 
cautiously enough acetic acid to impart a faint acid reaction ; pour the liquor 
into a test-tube about three-quarters of an inch in diameter; add two drops of 
dilnted acetic acid, B. P., and one grain of nitrate of silver in half a drachm of 
water; then apply heat, and boil gently for two minutes. If the spirit is free 
from methylic alcohol the solution darkens, and often assumes transiently a 
purplish tinge, but continues quite translucent, and the test-tube, after being 
rinsed out and filled with water, appears clean or nearly so. But if the spirit 
contains only 1 per cent, of methylic alcohol the liquid turns first brown, then 
almost black and opaque, and a film of silver, which is brown by transmitted 
light, is deposited on the tube. When the sample is methylated to the extent 
of 3 or 4 per cent., the film is sufficiently thick to form a brilliant mirror. To 
ensure accuracy, the experiments should be performed by daylight. 
Lastly, I invite attention to the following facts:— 
A few weeks back a gentleman sent me for examination a specimen of some 
spirit of nitre which, wrote he, “ was sold to a customer of ours at 2s. 4 d. per 
pound, less 5 per cent, discount. Gravity, I understand, is ’850. Of course it 
can’t be done at the price and be right.” 
And right it was not, as the naphtha-like odour developed on shaking a few 
drops with tepid water and the fine mirror obtained on testing it conclusively 
showed. I have since examined ten other samples, of which four proved to be 
strongly methylated. It appears, then, that there are men among us—probably 
not a few—who do not scruple to violate the Excise law. How much longer the 
authorities will allow this to be done with impunity remains to be seen. 
Sheffield , December, 1868. 
The Chairman said this seemed a subject of some importance, for sweet 
spirits of nitre was adulterated with methylated spirit to a considerable extent, 
although of course a heavy penalty attached to the perpetrators of such a fraud. 
There was no doubt, however, that the spirits of nitre was sold at a price which 
would not remunerate the manufacturer if duty-paid spirit were used. 
Mr. Han bury asked whether it was considered that the law was sufficiently 
stringent, if put into force, to prevent the use of methylated spirit for making 
pharmaceutical preparations, such as the one under notice. 
The Chairman said there was no doubt about its use being illegal for any¬ 
thing but external use. 
Mr. Morson said its use was absolutely forbidden for making sweet spirits of 
nitre. 
I)r. Redwood said that methylated spirit might be used for making ordinary 
ether, and also for chloroform, because in these cases the product was practi¬ 
cally as good for ordinary purposes as that made with the best alcohol. In the 
case of sweet spirits of nitre, however, if methylated spirit was used, it not only 
contributed to the production of the ether, but also became the solvent of it, 
methylic alcohol with its impurities remaining present in the product. The 
authorities connected with the Pharmaceutical Society, and commissioners who 
originally advised with the excise officers of the Government previous to the 
introduction of the law which legalized the use of methylated spirit, protested 
from the first against its being allowed to be used for making sweet spirits of 
nitre, as well as other medicinal preparations where the spirit with its impuri¬ 
ties was retained as part of the product. It was, therefore, highly important, 
in the interests of pharmacy, that the existing state of the law should be main¬ 
tained to the fullest possible extent, and that they as a Society, and every in¬ 
dividual connected with it, should endeavour by every means to frustrate the 
attempts made to introduce the use of methylated spirit in the preparation of 
this and other substances intended for internal use. 
