290 
Methyl  Alcohol. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharru 
<.       June,  1901. 
During  1898-1899,  Kuhnt,  MacCoy  and  Michael,  Moulton,  Hol- 
den,  Gifford,  Patillo,  Callan  and  others  report  cases  of  blindness  from 
the  drinking  of  "  methyl  alcohol." 
In  February,  1899,  Hiram  Wood  reports  in  the  Ophthalmic 
Record,  six  cases  of  total  blindness  caused  by  the  substitution  of  an 
essence  of  ginger  for  other  alcoholic  drinks. 
As  long  ago  as  June,  1877,  Viger  published  an  account  of  a 
similar  case  in  V Annee  Medicate. 
The  symptoms  of  a  typical  case  are  as  follows :  about  an  hour  after 
drinking  severe  headache,  vomiting,  excessive  sweating,  dilation  of 
pupils  and  delirium. 
In  twenty-four  hours  the  delirium  and  other  symptoms  have  dis- 
appeared but  total  blindness  remains. 
The  sight  gradually  improves  during  the  next  two  months,  but 
eventually  permanent  loss  of  sight  results. 
A  large  dose  of  wood  alcohol  taken  upon  an  empty  stomach  has 
been  known  to  cause  death  after  several  hours,  while  complete  re- 
covery has  been  reported  when  but  a  small  dose  was  taken. 
On  March  6th,  at  Crisfield,  Maryland,  a  man,  after  drinking  a 
large  quantity  of  an  essence  of  ginger,  was  taken  violently  ill  and, 
though  given  careful  treatment  in  a  Baltimore  hospital,  subsequently 
became  entirely  blind. 
On  April  1 9,  1900,  a  man  at  Circleville,  West  Virginia,  drank  some 
essence  of  peppermint  and  essence  of  lemon  in  lieu  of  whiskey  or 
brandy.  Although  experiencing  almost  total  blindness  during  the 
next  few  days,  his  sight  gradually  grew  better. 
On  September  6th,  at  Fawn  Grove,  York  County,  Pa.,  the  drink- 
ing of  some  essence  of  ginger  resulted  in  the  death  of  two  men  and 
total  blindness  of  another. 
The  essences  causing  the  trouble  in  these  last  mentioned  places, 
Crisfield,  Md.,  Circleville,  W.  Va.,  and  Fawn  Grove,  Pa.,  were  all 
manufactured  by  one  firm  and,  samples  having  been  obtained,  they 
were  subjected  to  analysis,  the  results  being  published  by  H.  P. 
Hynson  and  H.  A.  Brown  Dunning  in  the  Pharmaceutical  Review  of 
February,  1901,  p.  54. 
They  obtained  a  distillate  of  the  samples  and  made  comparative 
tests  with  a  mixture  containing  75  per  cent.  Columbian  spirits  and 
25  per  cent,  ethylic  alcohol,  which  led  them  to  conclude,  that  the 
distillate  was  a  similar  mixture. 
