SELECTED ARTICLES 
ART. XLI. — ON THE RECTIFICATION OF ALCOHOL. 
By M. Soubeiran. 
The difficulties experienced in procuring large quantities of 
highly rectified alcohol, and the loss which accompanies the 
processes commonly employed, have induced me to undertake 
some researches upon these processes. I have obtained satis- 
factory results, by which science will be somewhat benefited; 
for, it is well known to what extent a higher or lower degree 
of rectification modifies the solvent properties of alcohol, and 
hence, many researches have been abandoned or have afforded 
no results, from the difficulty of obtaining easily and abundant- 
ly this liquid in a high state of concentration. 
The rectification of alcohol of commerce, or of 86°, by sim- 
ple distillation, without the assistance of any foreign substance, 
is the most common mode in use, in the laboratories of phar- 
maceutists; and I can declare this to be the only method to 
which we can have recourse, when we wish to preserve the 
original sweetness of the alcohol; and it is this which should 
be employed in pharmaceutical preparations. This preference 
is not necessary when rectified alcohol is to be obtained for 
chemical operations. 
It is known that Baume, by successive distillations, and by 
dividing several times the products, could not obtain alcohol 
above 92.6°: which he called highly rectified alcohol. 
Those substances destined for the rectification of alcohol, to 
be suitable for the purpose, should unite, to the condition of a 
strong affinity for water, that of not effecting any alteration in 
the alcohol. I first used the sulphate of soda, but with bad sue- 
