632  Improved  Deniges  Test.  {AmseJp°tur'i92iarm' 
believes  he  will  yet  show  how  and  why  a  single  remedial  agent, 
destitute  of  toxic  qualities  and  mild  to  the  taste  and  smell,  as  is  the 
pith  of  the  sassafras  or  the  fruit  of  the  hawthorn,  may  stimulate 
a  life  process  that  may  change  abnormal  tissue,  excite  an  exhausted 
muscle,  soothe  an  inflamed  and  tender  surface,  or  through  some 
force  encourage  vitality  to  restore  health. 
IMPROVED  DENIG£S  TEST  FOR  THE  DETECTION  AND 
DETERMINATION  OF  METHANOL  IN  THE  PRES- 
ENCE OF  ETHYL  ALCOHOL.*,  \  2 
By  Robert  M.  Chapin. 
BIOCHEMIC  DIVISION,   BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY,   U.  S.  DEPART- 
MENT OF  AGRICULTURE,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 
The  examination  of  alcoholic  products  for  methanol  has  been 
a  problem  of  interest  to  many  chemists.  If  a  certain  few  published 
papers  are  consulted  the  matter  would  appear  to  be  rather  simple, 
at  least  from  the  qualitative  side.  But  a  thorough  survey  of  the 
voluminous  literature,  comprising  a  large  number  of  methods  with 
contradictory  comments  and  conclusions,  does  not  lead  one  to  un- 
dertake exacting  work  along  this  line  with  entire  confidence. 
One  of  the  most  recent  investigators,  Gettler,3  having  reviewed 
fifty-eight  existing  tests,  recommends  subjecting  the  sample  to  nine 
qualitative  tests,  sequentially  applied.  In  passing  it  may  be  noted 
that  his  eighth  test,  a  refractometric  one,  is  essentially  quantitative 
in  nature,  being  based  upon  a  numerical  difference  between  physical 
constants,  and  is  only  secondarily  of  qualitative  significance.  Also 
his  first  seven  tests  are  merely  tests  for  formaldehyde,  applied  after 
treating  the  sample  with  a  single  oxidizing  agent.  If  this  oxidizing 
agent  is  capable  of  producng  formaldehyde  from  any  substance 
other  than  methanol,  all  the  seven  tests  must  be  subject  to  a  com- 
mon source  of  error. 
*From  Jour,  of  Ind.  and  Engr.  Chem.,  June,  1921. 
1  Received  February  16,  1921. 
2  Published  by  permission  of  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture. 
*/.  Biol.  Chem.,  42  (1920),  311. 
