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ON  METHYLATED  SPIRIT. 
ON  THE  USE  OF  ALCOHOL  MIXED  WITH  PYROXYLIC  SPIRIT 
FOR  CERTAIN  PHARMACEUTICAL  PREPARATIONS. 
By  J.  F.  Macfarlan,  of  Edinburg. 
[Our  readers  are  no  doubt  generally  aware  of  the  difficulties  thrown  in 
the  way  of  employing  alcohol  in  Great  Britain,  by  the  excessive  excise 
duty  imposed  on  all  alcoholic  liquors,  which  has  rendered  the  English 
manufacturing  chemist  unable  to  compete  with  the  foreign  chemist  in  cer« 
tain  articles.  Recently,  the  "Board  of  Inland  Revenue"  have  granted  the 
right,  on  taking  out  a  license,  to  use  alcohol  after  it  has  been  mixed  with 
one-ninth  of  its  weight  or  bulk  of  pyroxylic  spirit  or  wood  naphtha,  which 
addition,  whilst  it  wholly  unfits  the  alcohol  for  use  as  a  beverage,  does  not 
materially  interfere  with  its  employment  in  the  arts  as  a  solvent.  This 
amelioration  is  attributed  to  a  favorable  report  by  Dr.  Hoffman  and  Profs. 
Redwood  and  Graham,  to  whom  the  subject  was  referred  by  government. 
It  is  but  natural  that  pharmaceutists  should  seek  to  derive  their  share  of 
benefit  from  the  new  measure,  and  the  following  remarks  on  the  application 
of  this  "  Methylated  Spirit"  in  the  production  of  ether  and  chloroform, 
which  we  extract  from  a  long  article  on  the  subject  in  the  Pharmaceutical 
Journal  for  January,  1856,  show  an  attempt  in  this  direction. — Editor.  Am. 
Jour.  Pharm.] 
In  the  arts,  ether  has  come  into  very  extensive  use,  especially 
in  the  new  and  beautiful  art  of  photography;  and  the  question 
is,  whether  ether,  prepared  from  the  methylated  spirit,  will 
answer  the  different  purposes  for  which  it  has  been  used  equally 
well  with  that  prepared  from  pure  spirit  of  wine  ? 
There  is  no  difficulty  in  the  preparation.  The  same  process 
as  is  in  use  for  making  ether  from  alcohol  suffices  to  make  it 
from  the  methylated  spirit,  and  accordingly  it  has  been  prepared 
at  our  laboratory  in  the  same  apparatus,  and  in  the  same  manner. 
But  when  prepared,  the  question  returns,  What  is  it  ?  Is  it  the 
ordinary  sulphuric  ether  ?  does  it  contain  an  admixture  of  methyl 
ether?  and  if  it  does,  what  effect  has  that  admixture  upon  it? 
If  an  attempt  be  made  to  answer  the  first  question  by  a  refer- 
ence to  flavor,  it  will  be  difficult  to  do  so,  for  the  flavor  does  not 
differ,  or  differs  very  slightly  indeed,  from  recently-made  ether 
from  alcohol,  and  the  specific  gravity  may  be  made  quite  the 
same.  In  appearance  and  acting  there  is  absolutely  no  differ- 
ence. Its  solvent  powers  appear  to  be  the  same  ;  and,  doubtless, 
it  will  be  largely  employed  in  all  those  operations  in  chemistry 
and  pharmacy  in  which  ether  has  hitherto  been  used.  Again, 
