PROPOSED IMPOSITION OF DUTY ON PURIFIED WOOD-SPIRIT. 
3 
never exceed tlie interest on the invested fund, treating donations and sub¬ 
scriptions for the present as capital, and we think such a rule should be 
rigidly adhered to; but we feel assured the attainment of that object will be 
advanced rather than retarded by the present action. Whatever brings a be¬ 
nevolent fund under notice advances it, doubly so if notice be attracted by the 
benefits it confers on those for whom it was instituted. The invested capital 
now amounts to about [£7000. A subscription of even 5s. a year from every 
member and associate of our Society would soon make the necessary increase, 
but a subscription of lialf-a-guinea woukj, give to the subscriber not only the satis¬ 
faction of contributing to the relief of others less fortunately placed than himself, 
but the power also to direct that relief by his vote on the day of election. We 
may draw attention to the revised code of regulations for the distribution of the 
Benevolent Fund, published in January last, page 360, Yol. VI., 4 Pharma¬ 
ceutical Journal,’ and it is particularly necessary that on this, the first occasion 
on which the members and associates of the Society generally, and all sub¬ 
scribers of lialf-a-guinea to the fund will be called to exercise their right of 
voting, they should make themselves acquainted with the mode of proceeding. 
As to candidates, there can be little doubt that the drug trade, which seldom 
affords opportunities for large accumulations, has left some of its members 
(who are our members also) stranded on the shoals of adversity, to whom an 
annual grant of £30 will be a comfort in their declining years; and we may 
fairly anticipate, that although in the infancy of the Society no such cases have 
presented themselves, they will arise hereafter. Time, which consolidates the 
body corporate, tells differently on individuals. We should be prepared for all 
eventualities, and let it never be forgotten that one of the chartered duties of 
the Pharmaceutical Society is to provide a fund for the relief of its necessitous 
members and associates, their widows and orphans. 
PROPOSED IMPOSITION OF DUTY ON PURIFIED 
WOOD-SPIRIT. 
Allusion has been made on former occasions in this Journal (see Vol. IV., 
N. S., page 244, etc.) to the purification of Wood Spirit by Eschwege’s process. 
This process, which consists in passing the spirit largely diluted with water 
through a succession of tubes filled with coarsely granulated charcoal, was patented 
a few years ago, and specimens of wood naphtha, purified by means of it, were 
exhibited at the International Exhibition of 1862, labelled 44 Potable Naphtha.” 
The subject has attracted a good deal of attention, not only on account of the 
apparent facility with which pyroxylic spirit may be thus obtained in a great 
state of purity, by a process which seems to be applicable to operations on a 
large scale, and which is represented as inexpensive, but also because it has 
been thought that by similar means methylated spirit might be purified so as to 
frustrate the object of the Legislature in allowing the use of such spirit duty-free. 
The purification of methylated spirit, however, is illegal, and the vigilance of 
the excise officers, with the powers they possess, may be sufficient to protect 
the revenue against any fraudulent attempts in that direction. But there is 
at present no law against the purification of wood spirit, and if, as has been 
stated, this naphtha can be purified so as to render it potable and almost undis- 
tinguishable in flavour and effects from spirit of wine, may it not be expected 
that it will find its way into some of the cheap spirituous beverages ? In its 
crude or partially purified state, wood spirit or methylic alcohol has long been 
known as a volatile liquid, possessing many of the properties of spirit of wine, 
and especially the property of dissolving resinous substances, for which it has 
