ON  METHYLATED  SPIRIT. 
153 
a  matter  of  sufficient  importance  to  call  for  the  utmost  attention 
in  examining  the  subject ;  and,  doubtless,  a  short  time  will  enable 
the  lovers  of  this  beautiful  art  to  obtain  the  full  benefit  of  the 
liberal  intentions  of  the  Government. 
Chloroform. — Whatever  difficulties  or  doubts  may  attend  the 
determination  of  the  fitness  of  the  methylated  spirit  for  the  pre- 
paration of  ether,  none  remain  regarding  its  employment  in  the 
preparation  of  chloroform.  At  first,  great  doubts  were  enter- 
tained as  to  whether  it  would  be  possible  to  purify  the  chloroform 
thus  prepared  so  as  to  render  it  fit  for  use  as  an  anaesthetic 
agent.  No  doubt  was  entertained  of  the  possibility  of  preparing 
it ;  for  not  only  did  the  chemical  composition  of  the  spirit  war- 
rant the  assuranqe,  but  chloroform  had  been  prepared  from 
pyroxilic  spirit  itself,  and  it  is  known  that  it  may  be  prepared 
from  various  other  things.  The  question  was,  Can  it  be  freed 
from  those  oils  which  contaminate  it  as  entirely  as  the  chloro- 
form made  with  pure  alcohol  ? 
In  whatever  way  chloroform  may  be  prepared,  it  is  a  definite 
compound — a  terchloride  of  formyl.  By  Dumas'  analysis  it  was 
found  to  consist  of  2  equiv.  of  carbon,  1  hydrogen,  3  chlorine, 
C2  H  Cl3.  The  materials  for  this  are  found  both  in  alcohol  and 
pyroxilic  spirit.  The  latter  being  C2  H4  02,  the  former  C4  HG  02, 
either  of  these,  when  distilled  along  with  water  and  chloride  of 
lime,  supply  the  materials  for  chloroform.  A  definite  compound 
being  thus  produced,  it  remains  only  to  see  that  it  is  purified  so 
as  to  render  it  safe  for  employment  on  the  human  frame.  The 
vast  amount  of  benefit  that  has  been  conferred  on  suffering 
humanity  specially  demands  this  attention  in  the  preparation ; 
and  had  it  been  found  impossible  so  to  purify  it,  nothing  would 
have  justified  the  use  of  the  methylated  spirit ;  alcohol  alone 
would  have  had  to  be  employed.  But  it  has  been  so  purified, 
and  the  specimen  now  on  the  table  will  bear  the  closest  examina- 
tion. The  chief  impurity  to  be  guarded  against  is  the  presence 
of  sundry  oils  formed  in  the  process,  and  which  rise  along  with 
*  .  it  in  the  first  distillation.  These  can  be  detected  in  two  ways : 
1st,  by  the  action  of  sulphuric  acid,  and  2dly,  by  the  flavor.  As 
to  these,  Muspratt  says  :  "  The  rectified  product  should  not  tinge 
oil  of  vitriol  when  shaken  with  it,  unless  in  a  very  trifling  degree. 
If  it  colors  the  acid  strongly,  or,  if  when  evaporated  on  the  palm 
