Am.  Jour,  Pharm.  | 
December,  1920.  ) 
Wood  Alcohol  No  Longer. 
905 
alcohol  in  America,  although  in  Europe  it  has  been  obtained  from 
peat  and  as  a  by-product  from  vinasse,  and  in  the  manufacture  of 
wood  pulp  by  a  soluble  sulfite  process.  The  numerous  synthetic 
methods  known  at  present  are  too  costly  to  be  practiced  on  a  com- 
mercial scale.  The  condensed  tarry  and  acid  products  distilled  from 
wood  are  subjected  to  partial  purification  by  distillation.  This 
crude  material,  about  80  per  cent,  pure,  is  then  usually  shipped  to 
centrally  located  refineries  in  tank  cars,  drums,  or  barrels  for  further 
purification  and  rectification. 
This  crude  wood  alcohol,  "wood  spirit,"  "wood  naphtha,"  a 
vile-smelling,  greenish  yellow  to  dark  brown,  nauseous  liquid,  is  a 
complex  mixture  containing  a  variety  of  impurities.  They  are  re- 
moved in  the  main  in  the  first  refining,  yielding  a  product  containing 
about  95  per  cent,  methyl  hydroxide.  In  1890  processes  for  greater 
refinement  were  put  into  operation,  so  that  about  1906  a  deodorized 
product  (97  to  nearly  100  per  cent.)  was  placed  upon  the  market  in 
the  United  States  under  such  names  as  "Columbian  Spirits,"  "Eagle 
Spirits,"  "Hastings  Spirits,"  "Colonial  vSpirits,"  "Manhattan 
Spirits,"  "Union  Spirits,"  and  "Lion  d'or;"  in  Canada  as  "green- 
wood spirits,"  and  "standard  wood  spirits;"  and  in  Germany  in 
191 2  as  "pro  spirit."  Technically  it  was  called  methyl  hydrate, 
carbinol,  methylic  alcohol,  methyl  hydroxide,  and  methanol.  The 
pure  substance  is  a  colorless,  mobile  liquid,  having  a  pure  vinous 
odor,  similar  to  that  of  pure  ethyl  alcohol,  and  possesses  a  burning 
taste. 
These  facts  of  names  and  their  meanings  are  not  known  by  all 
technical  men.  They  are  even  less  known  to  the  "man-of-the- 
street;"  but  the  layman  does  know  that  "alcohol"  is  the  stuff  which 
makes  drunk  come;  that  it  is  the  stuff  that  cheers  when  down- 
hearted ;  that  uncontrolled  it  has  been  a  curse  in  the  world ;  that  it  is 
the  "real  thing"  in  the  disguise  of  beer  or  light  wine,  which  formerly 
rested  him  when  the  arduous  day's  work  was  done.  So  when  he 
sees  the  can  or  vessel  with  the  label  "alcohol"  on  it,  and  as  he  knows 
"alcohol"  is  the  thing  that  gives  the  "kick,"  rest,  or  cheer,  without 
considering  the  qualifying  words  "wood,"  "methyl,"  or  what  not, 
he  is  going  to  take  it.  He  is  little  deterred  by  the  "poison"  label, 
for  he  has  a  more  or  less  similar  idea  from  the  pictures  of  intem- 
perance, and  still  he  drank.  Therefore,  the  term  alcohol  should 
cease  its  present  significant  use,  at  least  in  chemical  literature. 
Technically,  all  alcohols  should  become  known  as  "-ol"  bodies  or 
