REMOVAL  OF  ODOROUS  COMPOUNDS  PROM  ALCOHOL,  ETC.  39 
It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  the  permanganates  are  among  the 
most  powerful  oxidizing  agents  at  the  command  of  the  chemist; 
and  the  ease  with  which  they  furnish  nascent  oxygen  when 
merely  placed  in  contact  with  organic  matter,  has  led  to  their 
extensive  employment  as  disinfectants  and  deodorants.  The 
power  they  possess  of  destroying  disagreeable  odors  suggested 
their  employment  in  the  purification  of  alcohol,  and  some  years 
ago  a  patent  was  granted  to  Mr.  Atwood  for  a  process  in  which 
permanganate  of  potassa  was  the  agent  used  in  producing  a 
deodorized  or  cologne  spirit,  which  is  well  known  to  pharmacists 
as  Atwood's  alcohol.  The  article  used  by  Atwood  as  a  purifier 
is  not  the  true  permanganate  of  potassa  (KO,Mn207),  but  the  so- 
called  commercial  permanganate  of  potassa,  which  is  in  reality 
manganate  of  potassa  (KOjMnOa),  a  much  less  efi'ective  oxidizing 
agent  than  the  permanganate  of  potassa. 
In  the  following  experiments,  the  writer,  in  every  instance  but 
one,  used  the  officinal  permanganate  of  potassa  ;  and  the  materi- 
als worked  upon  were  unclean  alcohols  of  various  strengths,  ob- 
tained in  concentrating  the  percolates  in  the  preparation  of  some 
fluid  extracts  and  syrups.  Many  more  experiments  were  per- 
formed than  those  detailed  in  this  paper,  bufit  is  deemed  suffi- 
cient to  give  the  results  of  nine  experiments,  together  with 
samples  of  the  products.  One  of  Neynaber's  Pharmaceutical 
Steam  Stills,  of  one;  gallon  capacity,  was  employed  for  the  dis- 
tillations, and  five  pints  of  unclean  alcohol  were  used  in  each 
rectification,  with  100  grs.  of  permanganate  of  potassa. 
Exp.  1. — Five  pints  of  alcohol  were  obtained  in  following  the 
officinal  process  for  the  preparation  of  comp.  syrup  of  sarsapa- 
rilla.  By  the  accidental  passage  of  a  small  part  of  the  contents 
of  the  still  during  the  last  part  of  the  distillation,  the  distillate 
was  rendered  quite  unclean  and  tinged  with  a  brown  color  ;  it 
contained  70  per  cent,  of  alcohol,  and  was  strongly  contaminated 
with  the  mingled  odors  of  Rio  Negro  sarsaparilla,  guaiacum 
wood,  rose,  Alexandria  senna  and  licorice  root. 
Exp.  2. — The  five  pints  of  impure  alcohol  obtained  in  Exp.  1 
were  re-distilled  with  100  grs.  of  permanganate  of  potassa ;  the 
distillation  was  stopped  when  four  and  one-half  pints  of  distillate 
had  collected  in  the  receiver.    This  distillate  contained  84  per 
I 
