PRODUCTION  OF  ALCOHOL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.  67 
worth  one  million  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars,  estimated  to 
be  about  one-fourth  the  whole  amount  made  in  the  United 
States.  This  estimate  makes  the  total  average  product  of  the 
U.  S.  to  be  one  hundred  and  eightj.four  thousand  barrels, 
worth  over  seven  millions  of  dollars.  This  estimate  includes 
alcohol  made  for  commercial  purposes,  for  the  manufacture  of 
burning.fluid,  and  that  purified  for  making  domestic  brandy  and 
other  liquors,  and  for  exportation  for  the  same  purposes. 
In  Cincinnati  the  manufacture  of  alcohol  has  fallen  one-half 
since  1858,  when  it  reached  its  maximum.  This  is  partly  owing 
to  the  falling  off  in  the  foreign  demand,  which  was  large  in  1858, 
but  owing  to  a  protective  tariff  it  has  been  nothing  since. 
Whisky  is  produced  from  corn,  rye,  barley,  middlings,  (re- 
fuse from  wheat  in  making  flour,  )  and  oats,  the  proportion 
being  about  eighty  per  cent,  of  corn,  the  remaining  twenty  per 
cent,  equally  divided  between  the  others. 
About  one  million  one  hundred*and  twenty  thousand  dollars 
capital  is  invested  in  the  stills,  fixtures  and  business  of  the 
whisky  distillers,  the  product  of  which  finds  a  market  in  Cin- 
cinnati. 
In  the  manufacture  of  alcohol  the  capital  invested  in 
Cincinnati  is  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars. 
The  most  notable  impurity  is  the  grain  or  fusel  oil. 
It  has  been  as^ed  me  whether,  for  the  purpose  of  manufac- 
turing alcohol  for  burning  fluid  of  high  hydrometer-proof  and 
yet  comparatively  low  alcoholic  strength,  it  could  not  by  dis- 
tillation in  the  presence  of  a  small  proportion  of  sulphuric  acid, 
be  contaminated  with  enough  ether  to  heighten  its  proof  with- 
out showing  by  hydrometer  its  real  alcoholic  strength.  This 
query  I  cannot  answer,  but  think  it  one  worthy  of  investigation. 
It  is  estimated  that  until  the  introduction  of  illuminating 
coal-oils,  by  far  the  largest  proportion  of  the  common  alcohol 
produced  was  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  burning  fluid. 
Since,  however,  the  largest  proportion  is  employed  under  the 
name  of  pure  and  proof  spirit  in  the  manufacture  of  domestic 
brandy,  gin,  etc. — Proc  American  Pharmaceutical  Association^ 
1860. 
