642 
Editorial. 
r  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
^     October,  1919. 
used  for  any  length  of  time  blindness  inevitably  ensues  and  the  con- 
tinued use  can  only  result  in  death. 
Collectors  should  use  every  means  at  their  disposal  to  make 
known  to  the  public  the  dangers  of  either  external  or  internal  uses 
of  completely  denatured  alcohol.  Wherever  collectors  or  revenue 
agents  in  charge  hear  of  a  misuse  of  completely  denatured  alcohol, 
a  most  thorough  and  careful  examination  should  be  made  imme- 
diately and  all  the  facts  fully  reported  to  the  commissioner  for  the 
infliction  upon  the  responsible  parties  of  the  ultimate  penalties  pro- 
vided by  law. 
J.  H.  Call  an, 
Acting  Commissioner. 
(Additional  matter  to  be  printed  on  labels  affixed  to  wholesale  or 
retail  packages  of  completely  denatured  alcohol.) 
Treasury  Department,  Office  of  Commissioner  of  Internal 
Revenue,  Washington,  D.  C. 
To  Internal  Revenue  Officers  and  Others  Concerned: 
In  view  of  the  grave  and  extended  abuses  of  the  use  of  com- 
pletely denatured  alcohol  reported,  it  is  deemed  necessary  to  print 
upon  the  labels  affixed  to  wholesale  and  retail  packages  a  further  and 
more  specific  warning  as  to  its  use  than  is  shown  on  the  present  re- 
quired label. 
In  addition  to  the  present  matter  on  the  labels  there  will  be  re- 
quired on  all  new  labels  hereafter  the  printing  in  large  letters  in  red 
ink  under  the  skull  and  bones  symbol,  the  word :  Poison,  and  at  the 
bottom  of  the  label  there  will  be  printed  the  following  statement : 
"  Completely  denatured  alcohol  is  a  violent  poison.  It  cannot  be 
applied  externally  to  human  or  animal  tissue  without  seriously  in- 
jurious results.  It  cannot  be  taken  internally  without  inducing  blind- 
ness and  general  physical  decay,  ultimately  resulting  in  death." 
Until  the  present  stocks  of  labels  are  exhausted  this  additional 
matter  may  be  affixed  to  the  containers  on  a  separate  label  pasted 
above  the  present  required  label. 
J.  H.  Callan, 
Acting  Commissioner. 
Approved  August  30,  1919: 
Carter  Glass, 
Secretary. 
