■^°juiy!^i92o:}     Alcohol:  Its  Relation  to  Science,  Etc.  473 
the  smallest  strain  on  one's  credulity,  and  which  is  simplest  and  lies 
nearest  at  hand.  It  is  simpler  and  less  erratic,  and  altogether  more 
convincing,  in  view  of  all  the  facts,  to  postulate  isomerism  as  the 
explanation  of  the  differences  between  certain  natural  and  artificial 
food-stuflfs,  rather  than  to  guess  at  the  existence  of  new  substances 
which  nobody  has  yet  isolated,  or  even  detected,  and  about  which 
nobody  knows  anything  whatever.  For  nobody,  observe,  knows 
anything  about  vitamines,  but  only  about  butter,  lean  meat,  fruits, 
yeast,  and  so  forth.  Hence  it  is  likely  that  the  most  fruitful  hypo- 
thesis will  prove  to  be  that  of  biological  isomerism  rather  than  that 
of  "vitamines." 
ALCOHOL:  ITS  RELATION  TO  SCIENCE  AND  INDUSTRY.* 
By  W11.UAM  L.  Crounse. 
In  this  presence  it  would  be  a  waste  of  words  to  undertake  to 
emphasize  the  importance  of  alcohol  in  pharmacy.  I  feel,  however, 
that  in  view  of  the  extraordinary  events  of  the  past  year  and  the 
conflict  of  counsels  as  to  the  policy  the  drug  trade  should  pursue  in 
protecting  itself  against  the  hazards  incident  to  the  enforcement  of 
the  unprecedented  provisions  of  the  Volstead  Act,  I  am  justified 
in  appealing  to  you  to  do  your  bit  in  securing  for  alcohol  the  official 
recognition  to  which  it  is  entitled  as  the  most  essential  chemical 
raw  material  known  to  industrial  science. 
The  man  in  the  street  is  apt  to  consider  distilled  spirits  solely  as 
the  means  of  producing  a  condition  of  more  or  less  delightful  exhil- 
aration, with  a  dark  brown  taste  the  morning  after.  To  the  extreme 
prohibition  enthusiast  all  forms  of  spirits  are  anathematized  as  the 
Demon  Rum.  But  few  persons  outside  the  circle  of  those  who  ac- 
tually employ  alcohol  in  science  and  industry  appreciate  its  indis- 
pensable character,  or  realize  that  if  its  supply  were  cut  off  thousands 
of  manufacturing  plants  would  cease  operations,  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  men  and  women  would  be  thrown  out  of  employment  and 
the  science  of  medicine  relegated  to  the  dark  ages. 
While,  therefore,  the  law  of  the  land,  which  we  all  cheerfully 
obey,  requires  that  adequate  safeguards  shall  be  thrown  around 
the  use  of  alcohol  to  prevent  its  diversion  to  beverage  purposes, 
*  Address  delivered  at  the  meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Associa- 
tion, Washington,  May,  1920. 
