494 
Rectified  Spirit, 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\       Nov  1875. 
effect  that  when  alcohol  is  used  only  in  actual  need,  and  to  the  extent 
of  that  need,  there  is  no  inherent  tendency  towards  its  excessive  use 
subsequently  ;  that  its  tendency  to  inebriate  is  due  only  to  an  excess, 
though  in  perfect  health  every  drop  is  an  excess.  While  we  cannot  and 
dare  not  dispense  altogether  with  a  drug  of  such  inestimable  value, 
what  is  there  to  be  gained  by  running  the  unnecessary  risk  of  inculcat- 
ing a  taste  for  the  truly  fragrant  bouquets  of  choice  French  brandy,  or 
the  almost  equally  precious  old  Kentucky  Bourbon  ^.  We  can  well 
afford  to  dispense  with  this  meretricious  and  alluring  haut  gout  of  liquors, 
which,  even  in  their  purest  state,  are  but  too  apt  to  win  boon  compan- 
ions, ready  and  willing  to  follow  their  enticing  solicitations. 
The  economic  aspect  is  another  strong  point  in  favor  of  the  intro- 
duction of  plain  rectified  spirit  into  use  as  an  officinal  medicine.  Why 
should  the  poor  day-laborer,  suffering,  perhaps,  from  typhoid  fever,  or, 
it  may  be,  pulmonary  phthisis,  be  compelled  to  devote  his  entire  com- 
pensation for  two  or  three  days  of  hard  toil  to  the  purchase  of  a  bottle 
of  pure  imported  brandy,  when  the  value  of  an  equal  amount  of  pure 
spirit,  from  which  he  will  derive  quite  as  much  benefit,  can  be  earned 
by  him  in  as  many  hours  ? 
We  may  sum  up  as  follows  :  Rectified  spirit  is  almost  always  strictly 
pure,  while  the  more  expensive  liquors  invariably  contain  fusel  oils, 
and  very  frequently  other  impurities.  The  current  market  price  of  rec- 
tified spirit  at  present  is  from  f  1.25  to  $1.50  per  gallon,  that  of  fancy 
flavored  liquors  ranging  from  $2.50  to  $12.00.  While  the  taste  and 
odor  of  rectified  spirit  is  not  so  tempting  as  that  of  the  choice  cabinet 
liquors,  it  is  entirely  free  from  the  disgusting  smell  and  flavor  of  the 
ordinary  diluted  alcohol.  It  has  not  yet  been  established  that  therapeu- 
tically the  more  expensive  liquors  are  in  any  way  superior  to  rectified 
spirit,  or  that  their  physiological  action  presents  tangible  points  of  dif- 
ference. 
In  view  of  the  above  statements,  the  earnest  attention  of  the  next 
Committee  on  the  Revision  of  the  National  "  Pharmacopoeia "  is 
respectfully  invited  to  the  propriety  of  expunging  Spiritus  Frumenti  and 
Spiritus  Vini  Gallici  from  the  officinal  list ;  also  to  the  introduction  of 
Spiritus  Frumenti  rectificatus^  defined  as  grain  spirit,  freed  from  fusel  oil 
and  other  impurities  by  percolation  through  charcoal,  and  containing 
50  per  cent,  of  alcohol. 
The  two  officinal  wines  have  recently  again  been  shown  to  be  very 
largely  adulterated  abroad,  so  that  it  is  probably  impossible  to  obtain  in 
