Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
February,  1920.) 
Methyl  or  Wood  Alcohol. 
127 
becomes  more  necessary  than  ever  to  understand  the  toxicology 
of  methyl  alcohol  and  its  behavior  in  the  body.  To  combat  an 
enemy  we  must  learn  to  know  its  mode  of  attack. 
Chemically,  the  difference  between  methyl  alcohol  (CHsOH) 
and  ethyl  alcohol  (CH3CH2OH)  is  not  striking,  though  the  methods 
of  preparation  are  dissimilar.  When  wood  is  subjected  to  destruc- 
tive distillation,  methyl  alcohol  is  one  of  the  products  formed. 
Ethyl  alcohol  is  derived  from  the  fermentation  of  grains  or  fruits. 
Wood  alcohol,  about  10  per  cent.,  may  be  added  to  ethyl  alcohol  to 
render  the  latter  unfit  for  beverage  purposes,  and  the  government 
has  ruled  recently  that  such  denatured  alcohol  must  bear  on  the 
label  a  special  warning  concerning  the  dangers  of^  methyl  alcohol. 
Elsewhere  in  this  issue  appears  the  report  of  a  case  of  wood  alcohol 
poisoning  thoroughly  studied  with  reference  to  the  symptomatology 
and  pathology.^  When  death  occurs,  there  is  usually  coma,  with 
death  from  respiratory  paralysis.  According  to  our  present  knowl- 
edge, methyl  alcohol  is  eliminated  slowly  from  the  body,  an  end- 
product  of  the  oxidation  in  the  body  being  form^ic  acid. 
Formic  acid,  HCOOH,  has  been  recognized  as  an  excretory  prod- 
uct of  methyl  alcohol  since  PohP  demonstrated,  in  1895,  that  intro- 
duction of  this  alcohol  into  the  stomach  leads  to  an  increased  output 
of  formic  acid  in  the  urine.  Hence  the  latter  affords  a  possible 
means  of  ascertaining  whether  or  not  wood  alcohol  has  been  taken 
into  the  organism.  A  mere  qualitative  test  for  formic  acid,  how- 
ever, will  not  suffice;  for  this  substance  has  been  known,  at  least 
since  1877,^  as  a  normal  constituent  of  the  urine.  Therefore  it  is 
essential  to  know  something  regarding  the  extent  to  which  fornfic 
acid  may  occur  in  the  urine  under  what  may  be  called  normal  con- 
ditions of  living.  According  to  Autenrieth,^  the  quantity  eliminated 
may  vary  considerably  in  different  persons,  though  it  tends  to  ex- 
hibit a  uniformity  in  an  individual  living  on  a  fairly  uniform 
diet.  The  figures  approximate  0.25  Gm.  a  day  as  an  illustrative 
average. 
When  methyl  alcohol  is  ingested,  the  output  of  formic  acid  in 
2  Harrop,  G.  A.,  Jr.,  and  Benedict,  E.  M. :    "Acute  Methyl  Alcohol  Poison- 
ing Associated  with  Acidosis,"  J.  A.  M.  A.,  Jan.  3,  1920,  p.  25. 
'  Pohl,  J.,  Arch.  f.  Exper.  Path.  u.  Pharmakol.,  31:  286,  1895. 
^  Thudichum,  Arch.  f.  d.  ges.  Physiol.,  15:  129,  1877. 
^  Autenrieth,  W. :  "Ueber  den  Ameisensauregehalt  des  Harns,  normaler- 
weise  und  nach  Eingabe  verschiedencr  Substanzen,  Miinchen."  Med.  Wehnschr., 
Aug.  I,  1919,  No.  31,  p.  862. 
