ON  bschwege's  patent  wood  naphtha,  etc. 
71 
article  by  largely  diluting  it  with  water,  filtering  the  diluted 
spirit  through  large  cylinders  of  granulated  charcoal,  and  then 
distilling,  some  portions  of  the  first  and  last  runnings  being 
rejected.  It  is  finally  rectified,  and  sent  into  commerce  as  a 
nearly  absolute  spirit. 
Since  the  publication  of  my  former  paper,  I  have  made  many 
trials,  on  a  larger  scale,  of  the  pure  wood  spirit,  and  find  its 
solvent  powers  to  be  remarkably  similar  to  fermented  spirit,  so 
that  it  will  become  of  very  great  importance  in  those  arts  and 
manufactures  requiring  spirituous  menstruums,  free  from  any 
disagreeable  smell,  and  capable  of  dissolving  the  gums,  resins, 
oils,  alkaloids,  etc.,  etc.,  used  in  their  various  processes.  Ordi- 
nary crude  naphtha  was  formerly  almost  always  used  in  the 
making  of  French  polish,  and  for  dissolving  the  lac  used  in 
stiffening  the  basis  of  silk  hats,  and  in  the  manufacture  of 
spirit  varnishes  generally.  The  great  reason  for  naphtha  being 
so  extensively  used,  and  its  disgusting  odor  and  injurious  effects 
on  the  eyes  and  body  generally  being  submitted  to,  was  on 
account  of  the  enormous  price  of  fermented  spirit,  the  only 
other  solvent  that  was  at  all  available — the  price  of  naphtha  at 
this  time  being  about  nine  shillings,  and  fermented  spirit,  nine- 
teen shillings  the  gallon.  In  many  cases,  this  high  price  of 
fermented  spirit  operated  very  injuriously  upon  the  British 
manufacturers,  especially  in  cases  where  the  lower-priced  naph- 
tha could  not  be  used  on  account  of  its  abominable  odor.  This 
evil  became,  at'  length,  so  great,  that,  as  is  well  known,  the 
Legislature  wisely  permitted  methylated  spirit,  or  spirit  of  wine, 
duty-free,  to  be  used,  it  being,  however,  first  mixed  with  ten  per 
cent,  of  ordinary  naphtha,  in  order  to  render  it  unfit  for  use  as 
a  beverage,  and  thus  prevent  injury  to  the  revenue. 
Although  this  was  a  very  wise  and  liberal  measure,  and  a  great 
boon  to  many  arts  and  manufactures,  still  there  are  others  to 
which  it  is  of  no  service  whatever.  The  odor  of  ten  per  cent, 
of  ordinary  naphtha  is,  and  even  if  it  were  only  one  per  cent., 
would  be  quite  sufficient  to  effectually  shut  it  out  from  being 
used  in  perfumery,  in  making  the  various  flavoring  essences,  and 
the  finer  kinds  of  spirit  varnishes.  Piesse  says,  in  his  "  Art  of 
Perfumery,"  speaking  of  transparent  hard  soap, — "  Until  the 
