906  Wood   Alcohol   No   Longer.  { ^  DeJembeJ!^92": 
hydroxides,  as  "methanol,"  "ethanol,"  "propanol,"  "butanol/'  etc.; 
methyl  hydroxide,  ethyl  hydroxide,  propyl  hydroxides,  etc. 
In  1906  after  a  vigorous  campaign  the  United  States  followed 
England,  France,  Germany,  and  other  European  countries  by 
enacting  laws  permitting  the  general  use  of  a  tax-free  domestic 
alcohol  for  industrial  purposes,  and  for  light,  heat,  and  power.  ^ 
This  law  has  made  us  a  self-contained  nation  in  regard  to  certain 
medicinals;  ether,  ethyl  chloride,  chloral  hydrate,  nitrous  ether, 
and  numerous  synthetics  may  be  mentioned  in  illustration.  To 
emasculate  alcohol,  as  it  were,  the  law  requires  that  tax-free  alcohol 
for  use  in  the  arts  and  industries  shall  have  first  mixed  with  it 
(under  close  supervision)  substances  which  "destroy  its  character 
as  a  beverage  or  render  it  unfit  for  liquid  medicinal  purposes."  On 
account  of  its  poisonous  properties,  difficulty  of  removal  from  the 
resulting  industrial  alcohol,  non-interference  with  many  of  the  in- 
dustrial purposes  for  which  the  denatured  product  was  intended, 
and  a  desire  to  avoid  the  destruction  of  the  methyl  alcohol  business, 
for  methyl  alcohol  was  cheap  at  that  time,  the  first  act  designated  it 
as  a  denaturant,  and  the  Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue  selected 
it  as  the  principal  one. 
Up  to  date  some  forty-one  formulas  for  "specially  denatured  al- 
cohol," to  be  used  for  designated  purposes  only,  have  been  authorized 
under  the  several  acts.  Five  formulas  for  "completely  denatured 
alcohol,"  which  may  be  used  for  light,  heat,  and  power,  have  been 
authorized.    One  of  each  of  these  has  been  revoked. 
The  control  of  the  former  class  (special)  is  so  complete,  in- 
volving as  it  does  the  moral  character  of  the  users,  that  little  danger 
attends  its  use.  One  formula  (No.  30)  allows  the  addition  of  as 
much  as  10  per  cent,  of  the  purest  methyl  hydroxide,  but  its  use  is 
restricted  to  general  chemical  and  physical  laboratory  purposes. 
The  latter  class  (completely  denatured)  promises  some  needed 
relief  for  the  liquid  fuel  shortage  and  may  consume  much  the  largest 
portion  of  denatured  alcohol.  That  means  denatured  alcohol  will 
become  even  more  common  that  it  is  now. 
Data  collected  prior  to  191 8  indicated  that  the  drinking  of 
liquids  containing  methyl  hydroxide  was  responsible  for  many 
deaths  and  acute  cases  of  blindness. ^    The  "deodorized"  methanol 
^  Act  of  Congress,  June  7,  1906;  amended  March  2,  1907;  Act,  October  3, 
1913- 
-  See  extensive  report  to  the  New  York  State  Factory  Investigating  Com- 
mission, 19 13,  by  the  author. 
