630  Methyl  Alcohol  and  Ethyl  Alcohol  { 
longer  dependent  upon  foreign  sources  for  such  drugs  as  can  be 
grown  in  our  climate. 
We  have  not  yet  reached  the  point  where  production  can  be 
made  on  the  pre-war  basis  as  to  cost.  In  some  of  the  earlier  work 
here  outlined,  belladonna  herb  and  root  cost  ten  dollars  per  pound, 
and  owing  to  labor  and  other  conditions  the  cost  is  still  high. 
There  are  numerous  advantages  in  the  home  source  of  supply 
for  drugs.  These  include  the  securing  of  a  higher  and  more  imi- 
form  quality  from  the  cultivated  plant,  and  the  fact  that  the  drug 
can  be  grown,  gathered  and  utilized  under  scientific  control. 
Many  problems  yet  remain  unsolved,  and  to  these  the  pharma- 
ceutical worker  may  well  give  his  attention. 
The  cultivation  of  drugs  should  continue  to  receive  the  fostering 
care  of  the  government,  the  manufacturer,  the  dealer,  and  the  dis- 
penser of  medicinal  preparations. 
Wherever  possible  the  standards  should  be  revised,  so  that  we 
may  reap  the  full  benefits  to  be  derived  from  the  American  grown 
supply. 
Research  Laboratory, 
Johnson  &  Johnson, 
New  Brunswick,  N.  J. 
METHYL    ALCOHOL   AND    ETHYL    ALCOHOL:  THEIR 
SOURCES,  MANUFACTURE  AND  USES.* 
By  H.  R.  French, 
methyi.  aecohoi/. 
As  Wood,  or  Methyl  Alcohol  is  in  such  strenuous  demand  to-day 
for  many  manufacturing  purposes,  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  is  the 
only  satisfactory  natural  source  of  the  methyl,  or  CH3  radical, 
for  the  manufacture  of  Methyl  Aniline  Dyes,  which  dyes  are  the 
principal  blue  colors,  the  manufacture  of  Methyl  Salicylate  or  arti- 
ficial Oil  of  Wintergreen,  and  the  manufacture  of  moving  picture 
iilm,  in  which  it  is  used  as  a  solvent,  I  will  treat  this  subject  first. 
The  destructive  distillation  of  wood  is  one  of  the  most  important 
of  industries.  Its  economic  importance  is  also  great,  as  wood  dis- 
tillation provides  for  the  utilization  of  wood  waste,  and  what  in 
*  Read  before  the  meeting  of  the  New  Jersey  Pharmaceutical  Association, 
Newark,  N.  J.,  June,  1920. 
