750 
OUR SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER. 
strength of three ounces to the gallon. This is the regulation now in force, but 
we regret that this last Order, which was issued by the Board iu August, 1867, 
and came into operation on the 1st of October, 1867, was not brought under our 
notice, so as to enable us to put it prominently before our readers. 
Our attention has recently been directed to the subject in consequence of 
objections having been made by excise officers to many samples of methylated 
finish, which they have found to contain less of the resinous ingredient than the 
law requires. In thirteen samples of commercial finish, obtained from different 
localities, it has been found that only one contained the proper quantity of 
resin, while in twelve of them the quantity varied from 50 to 750 grains in the 
gallon. 
It is important to observe that persons selling this illegal finish, without hav¬ 
ing a licence for the sale of methylated spirit, are liable to a penalty of £50. 
There is reason to believe that a very large proportion of the methylated 
finish that has been supplied by manufacturers, and is now being sold by retail 
dealers throughout the country, is deficient in the amount of resin contained in 
it; and we recommend all those who are selling it without a licence to submit 
it to a simple test by which its composition may be determined. It may be sub¬ 
jected to a preliminary test by mixing it with about four times its bulk of water. 
If there be no precipitate or opalescence, it may be assumed that there is no 
resin present—that it is merely methylated spirit; if it becomes opalescent or 
there is only a slight precipitate, the quantity of resin is deficient; but if a 
white curdy precipitate is formed, it may be finish as defined by the excise, and 
this should be verified by evaporating to dryness a measured quantity, weighing 
the residue, and from it calculating the amount of resin in a gallon. 
It will be understood, of course, that those who have a licence for the retail 
sale of methylated spirit need not attend to the instructions of the Board of In¬ 
land Revenue as to the composition of their finish ; and, considering the small 
cost at which the licence is now supplied, and the advantage of being able to 
sell methylated spirit unmixed with resin, when required for burning or other 
purpose for which a resinous solution is not suited, it wall perhaps, in most 
cases, be considered that the most advantageous and satisfactory method of 
meeting the difficulty we have alluded to will be to take out a licence. 
OUR SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER. 
The large amount of space necessarily occupied in our present number by the 
official reports of the proceedings of the Society, has rendered it impossible to 
include much other matter that had been prepared for publication ; and as a 
change will be made in the size and frequency of publication of this Journal 
after the present month, we purpose giving a supplementary number on the 
15th of June, in which all matter standing over, together with the index, will 
be contained. 
