The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1896-07-18
WHO DISCOVERED ALCOHOL
"A Mystery of Science Which n
French Savnnt Has Tried to Clear

"A Mystery Of Science Which n
French savnnt Has Tried to Clear
Up,
Alcoholic beverages are as old as the
world; alcohol itself Is modern. Today
it is the best beloved and worst abused
of all chemical compounds. but the an
clients, who knew its uses as we'll as we
do, had no idea Of its existence. 1t has
been reserved for a French chemist, M.
Berthelot, to make an exhaustive his
torical inquiry into its discovery, but it
canno be said that he has completely
solved the mystery.
The very name OF alcohol, so far as 1T
is applied to the product of distillation
of wine, Is modern, Up to the end of
the eighteenth century the word, which
Is of Arabic origin, signiied any princi-
pie obtained by extreme pulverization or
by sublimation. For example. it was
applied not only to u alcohol, but also
to the powder of sulphate of anthony,
used for blackening the eyebrows, and
to divers other substances.
5 In the thirteenth, and even the four
tenth centuries. no author applied the
word to the products of vinous distilla-
ton. The term Spirits of Wine" or
ardent spirit" though more ancient,
was not any better known in the thir-
tenth century, for at this time the word
spirit was applied only to volatile
agents capable of acting on metals. AS
TO the name "eau-de-vie," this was ap-
piled during the thirteenth and four
teenth centuries to the elixir of life
it was under the name, of ardent q. e.,
inflammable) water" that alcohol made
Its first appearance.
According to B%erthelot, distilling APP
paratus was invented by the Egyptians
in the early centuries of the Christian
era. Their inventions were used by the
Greek alchamists n by the Arabian
Pharmacists. but there is no evidence
that any of these ever distilled alcohol,
though passages in the works of certain
Arabic authors have beer wrongly in
lterpreted to this effect.
Abdul CasiIn, for instance, a Moorish
physician of Cordova, who lived about
100. had a distillery and distilled in it.
for medicinal purposes, rose water, vim
egar and wine, but he made no distinc-
ton between the different products Of
distillation, though he recognized that
they were not simply water, as Aristotle
thought. The most ancient manuscript
that contains a precise indication in this
direction is one written in the twelfth
century. which notes that by mixing a
pure, strong wine with three parts of
Soat' 80 - .ai lIliidItiIlldDlG
water may be obtained that burns away
without consuming the matrix. More
precise directions still are given In the
Book of Fires" by Marcus Gracious,
written about 1900. In this it is recon-
mended that sulphur be added to the
wine to increase its inflammable prop
critics.
The first author whose name is posi-
lively known TIC speak of alcohol Is Ar
maud de V1lleneuve. who lived after the
composition of both receipts referred to
above. Ee is usually considered the dis
coverer-a dignity to which he never
himself laid claim. He speaks of it only
as a well known substance, and he ex-
ats its virtues as follows: Certain
moderns say that it is the permanent
water Chat is. the liquid that is incapa.
bic of solidificatiom; others call 1t water
of gold 1t prolongs life. and hence is
called 'eau-de-vie.' 1t should be kept in
vases of gold. When to it have been
communicated the virtues of
and sage. 1T exercises a favorable influ-
ence on the nerves."
From all of which we may conclude
that six centuries & the French chem
lists knew alcohol only as a servant and
not as q master.