1 8  Denaturing  Bay  Rum  and  Toilet  Waters,  {^'"jar 
only  such  a  scant  investigation  the  Department  should  persist  in 
further  advocating  the  addition  of  tartar  emetic  in  this  quantity 
as  a  modifying  agent  for  this  class  of  toilet  preparations. 
We  note  a  published  statement  that  the  Department  has  de- 
cided that  "No  application  to  use  non-beverage  alcohol  in  the  manu- 
facture of  bay  rum  without  regard  to  alcoholic  content,  or  of  toilet 
waters  containing  less  than  50  per  cent,  of  alcohol,  will  be  approved 
by  the  Internal  Revenue  Bureau,  after  January  16,  1920,  unless 
same  are  modified  by  the  addition  either  of  one-fourth  grain  of 
tartar  emetic  to  the  fluid  ounce  or  a  satisfactory  quantity  of  some 
other  modifying  agent  to  be  suggested  by  the  manufacturer,  who  in 
presenting  the  suggestion  to  the  Bureau,  shall  submit  sufficient  data 
to  satisfy  the  officials  of  its  efficiency.  The  requirement  placing 
the  burden  upon  the  manufacturer  to  make  the  necessary  tests 
of  the  modifying  agents  proposed  as  alternatives  is  made  necessary 
because  of  the  small  technical  staff  at  the  disposal  of  the  Bureau." 
For  more  than  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  antimony  has  been 
recognized  as  a  poisonous  metal,  and  all  its  salts  as  active  poisons. 
Its  close  relation  chemically  to  arsenic  and  the  analogy  between 
the  symptoms  produced  by  arsenic  and  antimony  have  long  been 
recognized.  It  is  not  safe  to  rely  upon  the  probability  of  emesis 
to  eliminate  tartar  emetic,  as  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  at  times 
there  may  be  a  complete  absence  of  vomiting  or  only  a  slight  nausea, 
but  the  toxic  action  of  the  drug  may  later  be  exhibited  in  other  ways 
than  by  vomiting  and  diarrhea.  Paralysis  as  well  as  direct  action 
on  the  heart  and  respiration  and  convulsions  are  among  the  symp- 
toms that  have  been  recognized,  even  from  moderately  small  doses, 
and  as  little  as  one-third  of  a  grain  is  recorded  as  having  caused 
death.  Even  when  applied  externally  it  has  been  known  to  pro- 
duce local  irritation  and  pustular  eruptions. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  the  continuous  external  application 
of  a  toilet  water  so  medicated  may  produce  chronic  antimonial 
poisoning,  nor  is  it  at  all  certain  that  such  use  would  not  have  a 
deleterious  action  upon  the  hair  as  well  as  the  skin. 
It  is  inexplicable  that,  in  the  light  of  recent  experience  and  the' 
numerous  deaths  resulting  from  the  use  of  poisoned  whiskey  sub- 
stitutes, a  department  of  the  government  should  propose  the 
use  of  such  a  toxic  agent  for  the  denaturing  of  toilet  waters  for  the 
purpose  of  preventing  their  possible  consumption  for  alcoholic 
beverages. 
