Amjine!']9Pofrm-}  Methyl  Alcohol.  289 
and  activity  from  methyl  alcohol  as  I  did  with  grain  alcohol  in  a 
series  of  parallel  exhaustions ;  indeed,  the  resins  so  obtained  could 
not  be  told  from  one  another.  In  fact,  I  think  the  question  of  per- 
mitting the  use  of  £ure  methyl  alcohol  for  such  operations,  the 
making  of  solid  extracts  and  similar  preparations  in  which  the  sol- 
vent is  completely  removed  from  the  finished  article,  to  be  well 
worthy  of  thought  and  study  by  our  Pharmacopceial  Revision  Com- 
mittee, for  such  use  would  greatly  cheapen  the  cost  of  many  drugs 
without  impairing  their  efficiency  at  all. 
METHYL  ALCOHOL  IN  PHARMACEUTICAL 
PREPARATIONS. 
By  E.  Fui^erton  Cook. 
The  question  recently  raised  concerning  the  justifiable  use  of 
methyl  alcohol  in  preparations  for  internal  or  external  use 
has  been  prominently  brought  before  the  manufacturer  and  phar- 
macist and  it  is  desirable  that  some  conclusion  be  reached. 
At  the  request  of  Professor  Kraemer  some  of  the  more  recently 
published  journals,  those  of  I90i,have  been  reviewed  for  reports  in 
favor  or  disfavor  of  its  use,  and  abstracts  are  submitted  from  those 
which  add  to  the  literature  on  the  subject. 
The  communication  from  Mr.  Frederick  T.  Gordon,  published  in 
the  American  Druggist,  of  February  25,  1901,  is  prominent  among 
those  in  favor. 
In  almost  none  of  the  unfavorable  criticisms  does  there  seem  to 
be  a  discrimination  in  the  use  of  the  terms  "  wood  alcohol  "  ai  d 
"purified  methyl  alcohol,"  and  this  is  unfortunate,  as  Mr.  Gordon 
has  said,  since  the  commercial  wood  alcohol  cannot,  at  any  time,  be 
considered  a  rival  of  ethyl  alcohol  in  preparing  pharmaceutical 
preparations. 
We  must,  however,  accept  all  evidence  obtainable,  and  carefully 
determine  its  value,  and  with  that  end  in  view  the  following  are 
presented  : 
Dr.  A.  G.  Thompson  (Pharmaceutical  Review,  Feb.,  1901,  51), 
as  early  as  1897,  reports  an  instance  which  came  under  his  observa 
tion,  of  complete  blindness  caused  by  the  drinking  of  an  essence 
of  ginger. 
