THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 

MARCH,  1905. 
METHYL  ALCOHOL— WHAT  IS  IT  AND  WHAT  IS  IT 
GOOD  FOR? 
By  Dr.  H.  W.  Wiley, 
Chief  of  Bureau  of  Chemistry,  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture. 
When  wood,  especially  hard  wood,  such  as  oak,  hickory  and 
beech,  is  heated  in  closed  retorts  to  which  oxygen  does  not  have 
access,  many  products  result.  The  volatile  products  are  distilled 
and  consist  of  wood  tar,  creosote,  carbolic  acid,  acetic  acid,  acetone 
and  methyl  alcohol,  all  of  which  are  solid  or  liquid  bodies  at  ordi- 
nary temperature. 
There  are  various  gaseous  products  of  distillation  also  produced, 
many  of  which  are  combustible.  The  mixed  watery  distillate  which 
comes  over  is  known  as  pyroligneous  acid.  It  consists  of  water, 
acetic  acid,  methyl  alcohol,  acetone,  etc.  The  first  fraction  obtained 
by  distilling  the  crude  pyroligneous  acid  is  sometimes  known  as  wood 
spirit,  and  with  more  or  less  purification  is  used  largely  as  a  denatur- 
ing agent  for  ordinary  ethyl  alcohol.  The  taste  and  odor  of  this 
product  are  so  disagreeable  as  to  prevent  the  utilization  of  the  ethyl 
alcohol  with  which  it  is  mixed  for  potable  purposes.  Methyl  alcohol 
in  a  greater  or  less  degree  of  purity  can  be  secured  from  this  mix. 
ture  by  diluting  with  water,  which  throws  out  some  of  the  other 
liquid  products  which  are  then  separated,  and  the  residual  alcohol 
is  then  redistilled  over  lime  in  a  chambered  or  rectifying  still.  The 
spirit  thus  removed  is  filtered  through  charcoal  to  complete  the  rec- 
tification. Where  a  very  concentrated  methyl  alcohol  is  to  be  se- 
cured, several  redistillations  are  necessary.  Acetone,  although  it 
has  a  lower  boiling  point  than  methyl  alcohol,  cannot  be  completely 
separated  from  the  latter  even  by  repeated  distillation  over  lime. 
fioi) 
