THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
SECOND SERIES, 
VOL. VIII.—No. II.—AUGUST, 1866 . 
PROHIBITION OP THE USE OP METHYLATED SPIRIT IN 
MEDICINE. 
Under tlie title of “A Bill to Amend the Laws relating to the Inland Rc^i 
venue,” there is a measure now before Parliament which, passed into law, will 
produce a very important influence on the state of pharmacy in this country. 
By its operation the trade in methylated tinctures, methylated sweet spirit of 
nitre, and other medicines made with methylated spirit, will be brought to a 
speedy termination. It may be important for those who have such preparations 
in stock to know that from and after the passing of this Bill any person who 
shall sell or have in his possession any medicine intended for internal adminis¬ 
tration, excepting ether and chloroform, in the manufacture, composition, or 
preparation of which methylated spirit has been used, will be subject to a 
penalty of one hundred pounds. This will very effectively settle the question 
which has been so much discussed, relating to the use of methylated spirit in 
pharmacy. The great and crying evil which has grown up since the introduc¬ 
tion of methylated spirit in 1855, and which has arisen from the unrestricted 
permission given by the Board of Inland Revenue for the use of methylated 
spirit as a substitute for spirit of winn in the preparation of medicines, will thus 
be removed, and we trust this will be accomplished without interfering with the 
benefits otherwise resulting from the employment of duty-free spirit in the arts 
and manufactures. In the introduction of the Act passed in 1855, for allowing 
spirit of wine mixed with wood-naphtha to be used for certain purposes duty¬ 
free, it was not contemplated that this spirit would receive any extensive appli¬ 
cation in pharmacy, and it was strongly urged by the chemical referees who 
reported upon the subject prior to the passing of the Act, that there ought to be 
some restrictions placed upon its use in medicine. Such restrictions, however, 
were not placed, and the evils that were then predicted as the inevitable con¬ 
sequence have been more than realized. The Board of Inland Revenue have 
become sensible of the error originally committed, and are .about to apply, we 
hope, an effectual remedy. The Bill relates to other matters besides that which 
immediately concerns us. Its title does not at all specifically indicate its purport, 
and it might have passed through both Houses of Parliament without our atten¬ 
tion having been drawn to it, but as a watchful eye is kept by the officers' and 
Council of our Institution upon all matters affecting the interests of the body 
they represent, this measure did not escape their vigilance. There are only two 
clauses in the Bill that relate to methylated spirit or in any way aflhct pharmacy, 
VOL. Tin. E 
