Rectified  Spirit. 
i  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\       Nov.  1875. 
RECTIFIED  SPIRIT. 
[Spiritus  Frumenti  Rectificatus.) 
BY  ADOLPH  W.  MILLER,  M.  D.,  PH.  D. 
[Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  Oct.  -ic^th,  1875.) 
Pure  rectified  spirit  does  not  appear  to  have,  so  far,  received  much 
attention  from  physicians  and  pharmacists,  though  it  possesses  certain 
merits  and  advantages,  which  eminently  entitle  it  to  a  more  careful 
consideration.  As  the  term  may  be  somewhat  unfamiliar,  or  may  sound 
indefinite  and  ambiguous  to  those  who  are  unaccustomed  to  the  liquor 
merchants'  phraseology,  it  may  be  as  well  first  to  define  the  title  of  the 
present  paper.  French  Spirit,  Sweet  Liquor  and  Rectified  Spirits  are 
synonyms  current  among  the  liquor  trade,  and  used  to  designate  pure 
rectified  whisky,  entirely  free  from  the  so-called  fusel  oils,  coloring 
matter  and  other  impurities.  It  is  obtained  by  slowly  percolating  the 
ordinary  raw  corn  whisky  or  high-wine  through  fresh,  crushed  pine  or 
maple  charcoal,  for  which  privilege  the  Government  exacts  from  the 
rectifier  an  annual  tax  of  $200.00.  The  more  dilute  the  spirit  is,  the 
more  readily  does  charcoal  absorb  and  retain  the  flavoring  bodies,  while 
strong  alcohol  will,  on  the  contrary,  redissolve  and  remove  them  from 
the  charcoal.  Rectified  spirit  is  reckoned  among  the  regular  stock  of 
the  wholesale  liquor  dealer.  It  is  generally  met  with  containing  ex- 
actly 50  per  cent,  of  absolute  alcohol  by  volume,  which  strength  is 
technically  termed  first  proof ^  or  100  degrees.  It  is  the  basis  used  by 
the  compounders  of  fancy  liquors  for  their  cordials,  bitters,  ratafias  and 
cremes^  the  diluent  of  their  pure  imported  brandies,  the  chief  ingredient 
of  domestic  gins,  brandies  and  rums,  as  well  as  one  of  the  main  com- 
ponents of  flavored  sweet  wines,  such  as  cherry,  blackberry,  ginger 
and  the  so-called  Lisbon  wine.  Incidentally,  it  may  be  remarked,  that 
rectified  spirit  is  much  better  adapted  for  the  preparation  of  bay  rum 
than  the  ordinary  diluted  alcohol,  which  is  occasionally  employed  for 
this  purpose. 
All  the  various  fusel  oils,  in  a  concentrated  form,  have  peculiarly  pen- 
etrating, oppressive  and  unpleasant  odors,  which  to  many  persons  are 
positively  disgusting.  They  frequently  bring  on  violent  attacks  of 
coughing,  and  they  are  also  apt  to  produce  headache,  vertigo,  nausea 
and  stupor.  Dr.  Franklin  B.  Bache,  in  the  "  Dispensatory,"  says  that 
amylic  alcohol  is  an  active,  irritant  poison,  an  assertion  in  which  all  the 
authorities  seem  to  agree.   Still,  it  is  on  these  very  bodies,  their  relative 
