The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-11-28
NEEDS
REFORMING
Death in the Methylated
Spirits Sold.
IA MENACE TO HONOLULU
Druggists Organ Points the Danger
of the Free Sales in
Hawaii.

The police records show that in the
past few weeks a half dozen or more
men and women have died of drinking
methylated spirits or wood alcohol
The coroner's jury in the case of the
victims of old man Silva's vile decoc-
tions after certifying to the cause of
death said:
And further, in view of the indis-
putable evidence which has been adj
duced in this case to show that methy
lated spirits, wood alcohol, Columbia
spirits and like poisons are being sold
freely in such quantities at the several
drug stores in the city of Honolulu as
to be a public menace, and that for the
public safety it is imperative that some
stringent measures be adopted to pro-
tect the health and welfare of the
community at large.
Therefore, we, the undersigned cor
oner's jury, do recommend that the
Government issue such regulations as
will make the said poisons, known as
methylated spirits, wood alcohol and
Columbian spirits scheduled as poisons,
the sale of which is regulated by stat
ute"
| The following from the Druggists
Circular concerning the toxic effects of
wood alcohol or methyl alcohol COM
pared with ethyl or pure alcohol is in
teresting when it is remembered tnae
druggists here are allowed by law &c
sell wood alcohol to anyone but may
sell pure alcohol only on a physicians
certificates:
| ITO begin with, there is no question
whatever as to the extremely danger
Gus character of unpurified methyl al
cohol (wood spiriD. 1t is capable of
producing serious disturbance in small
doses; and in addition to the danger to
life is the chance of destroying the
sight. In our last issue we mentioned
two cases in which vision was seriously
impaired by only inhaling the vapor
in quantity. and in this one report is
made of total blindness following its
internal use. A popularity of this ac-
ton is that the patient RECEIVERS sight
for time, but eventually the optic
nerve suffers partial or complete
atrophy.
$50 much for the unpurified. Now
for the purified article. In discussing
4 the matter several years ago, we re
ferred to the following case reported b.
Drs. Cecil MacCoy and F. NJ. Michae
in the Medical Record
"A young man who was conva
llescing from measles surrepttiousl.
drank about two ounces of methyl al
8 lcohol, the article being highly purifie'
l-probably the best quality obtainabl
in the market. Two hours after h
took a similar quantity mixed with su
gar and water. and eluding the nurs
made his way to a hay loft, where
thoroughly intoxicated, he slept 70
about ten hours. On awakening h
L sought his bed, suffering from violen
emesis and gastric pain. Twenty-fou
lhours afterward he complained of tota
loss of sight and examination Shove
double optic neuritiS with congeSte
Iretina. About a week after, lack @
vision still persisting, the patient com
lplained of visual hallucination:
Eventually he became able to distin
guish light and shadow and large oh
jects held near his eyes, but had re
manned without further improvement
when the report was made, two and
half months after the occurrence
e airy kind of wood alcohol there is dan
n ger even in exposure to it's vapor, an
the purified may not be free from thi
risk, so far as we know at present, a
it has produced the result noted abov,
with these facts in view he woul
be rather a bold man who would ur
dertake to experiment with wood a
cohol to determine it's relation to graf
alcohol in point of harmfulness. An
even were it settled that it could be s
purified as to render it no more harm
l. full than grain alcohol one would haN
to remember that there would alway
=. be uncertainty as to this purificatio
having been fully accomplished. Wit
he ordinary alcohol we have no parall
* risk.
The facts we have presented carr
their own argument
lnANtN RnNNNAal