AmMSh,T9ho5.rm'}  The  Use  of  Methyl  Alcohol.  119 
With  the  enactment  of  the  legislation  provided  for  in  these  bills 
the  important  group  of  alcohol-using  industries  will  be  placed  on  an 
equal  footing  with  those  of  foreign  countries;  manufacturers  will 
find  an  increased  demand  for  their  products,  and  the  consuming 
public  will  obtain  better  goods  at  lower  prices. 
I  hope  that  careful  consideration  will  be  given  to  the  facts  re- 
ferred to  in  this  paper,  and  that  all  the  branches  of  the  chemical  and 
drug  trades  will  give  these  bills  their  continued  and  active  support 
in  view  of  the  far-reaching  results,  as  outlined  in  this  paper,  which 
would  follow  the  passage  of  these  alcohol  bills. 
THE  USE  OF  METHYL  ALCOHOL  AND  THE  REDUC- 
TION OF  THE  INTERNAL  REVENUE  TAX  ON  ALCO- 
HOL. 
The  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  held  on  Tuesday  afternoon,  Febru- 
ary 14th,  was  devoted  for  the  most  part  to  the  consideration  of  the 
questions  of  the  use  of  methyl  alcohol  and  the  desirability  of  the 
Government  reducing  the  internal  revenue  tax  on  ethyl  alcohol,  and 
providing  a  free  denaturized  alcohol  for  use  in  the  arts.  The  papers 
which  were  read  at  this  meeting  are  published  elsewhere  in  this  is- 
sue, and  some  of  the  letters  which  were  received  and  read  at  the 
meeting,  as  well  as  some  of  the  remarks  made,  follow. 
DR.  A.   R.  L.  DOHME 
wrote  as  follows : 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  would  serve  the  Government,  the 
general  public  as  well  as  the  manufacturer,  better  if  the  internal 
revenue  tax  upon  grain  alcohol  were  reduced  to  70  cents  a  proof 
gallon  as  proposed,  for  in  that  event  the  government  revenue  from 
alcohol  would  undoubtedly  be  increased  and  the  incentive  for  the 
substitution  of  the  dangerous  wood  alcohol  in  the  arts  and  in  bever- 
ages especially  would  be  eliminated.  There  exists  no  longer  any 
doubt  that  methyl  alcohol,  pure  or  impure,  is  a  poison  when  taken 
internally,  due  to  the  excellent  investigations  of  my  friend  Dr.  Reid 
Hunt,  formerly  of  our  staff  at  the  Johns  Hopkins  Medical  School, 
and  now  of  the  Government  service  at  Washington.  It  was  my 
opinion,  before  Dr.  Hunt's  paper  was  read  at  a  meeting  of  the  Mary- 
