The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-02-11

come Dr. Simonson writes me further
| that o. later became entirely blind The
ginger vas made BY well-known whole
sale drug house Of Baltimore
Case = y B. d. aged thirty. Aueri-
can single. Of CircIeyille. ". Va. came TO
the same hospital IN April, 1900. He gave
u history OF going on about SIX sprees a
a year When ne could not get whisky
or brandy he drank drugs-as essence OF
/ cinnamon, peppermint. lemon, or hot
drops Sometimes he would 90 for q
month without drinking. then he would
! drink for i week at d time. He had
used tobacco continuously for seven years
by chewing. snufing. and smoking
His trouble began May. 1899. On
. "a Jurday he drank thee bottles OF CS-
Sence OF peppermint ard part of q bottle
Of essence Of lemon the next day he
ieIJ unrefved, sick, and stupid. and bis
. eyeSIght began % grow dim. The dimness
increased. ana by Wednesday he could
only distinguish light from darkness. TX
aninati0ns showed both nerves 10 he
atTophic. The fields were small and irrec4-
lar HIS vision vas See ~ each eye. His
held improved materially md the central
vision a little. being when ne left the
hospital, on June 6. Gee in the righl eye
and Ice in the left eye
he brought with him TO the hospital
about half OF enc Of the bottles Of pep
permint L was put UP by the same firm
( as The ginger bought in Crisheld.
Two Deaths in York County
In q daily paper OF September 8 I saw
/ an account of the death of two men Ct
I FaTn Grove. York county. Pa I wrote TO
DR.. & Hawkins. of that place. in hopes
that he could give me some details He
wrote me most interesting letter. giving
( an account Of the drinking of the sym2-
! toms manifested, including blindness in
one case and Of the death OF The TWO men
/ he volunteered further the name of the
4 manufacturer of the essence Of ginger
! drunk II was the same Baltimore firm
! as in the other cases. Later he obtained
+ quite large supply from the FaWn Grove
store. Samples in similar bottles and with
/ like labels were obtained from Hartford
county and other places.
y consulted Messrs. Hynson & West
cot, the well-known druggists OF Balti-
more. as TO the test for methyl alcohol.
They became interes ted in the matter and
kindly had Mr.. DunniGg OF their chem
istTy department. make an analysis. Mr.
HynsOn submitted an ana !ysis as made by
him
Following is the paper prepared by
Messrs. Hynson and DunnIng:
The serious, really sad results following
the drinking Of so-caIled essences Of pep
pernint and Jamaica ginger reported by
Dr. Harlan. must starIle that experienced
pharmacist and at once create in his mind
doubt regarding the quality Of the constit-
ueIts used in preparing these compounds.
since ii must have often come TO his bEowl-
edge that they have been used in large
quantities as stimulants, when prepared
according 10 the pharmacOpOeia. without
apparent injury
This positive knowledge Of phsr macists
So TO the proved comparative harmlessness
Of these popular domestic remedies, even
when taken in much larger quantities than
was used by the patients referred 10. quick
~ brings the conclusion that when they
are found TO possess toxic properties they
have been improperly made
Essence Of peppermint should be a
synonym for the I. s P spirit Of pepper
mint 10 per cent, by volume. solution Of
oil Of peppermint in ethyIic alcohol while
essence Of Jamaica ginger should be the
O. S p. tincture. ethylc alcohol. IN every
100 G c OF which is dissolved the oleores-
fnous matter of 200 grams Of ginger
AS stated BY DE- Harlan. We have at
his request and in TIE inusSsst Of better
and more honorable pharmacy, undertaken
TO prove in practical manner: First the
absence Of sufficient ethylic alcohol in the
liquids taken by the. unforunates cited;
secondly, that other products and ingredi-
ents than those authorized by the pharms-
cCpceia were used in their manufacture:
thirdly. that one of the constituents IS
metnyilc or wood alcohol
1t is proper Just here to say that ac-
quaintance with the value OF the ingredi-
ents entering into the pharmacopoeia
preparations and = knowledge OF the prices
al which these commercial products are
sold 10 grOcers and country merchants
would prejudice the case in the mind OF
any competent business man
Experiments With Ginger Product.
Through the kindness OF Dr. Harlan
and his friends we have been supplied suf-
fcient Of the ginger product nith which TO
experiment Not enough o. the pepper !
mint. however was ct hand 10 work upon
satisfactorily. yet the small quantity we
had plainly showed l. bore the same faint
as the ginger. differing from the latter,
however N the large amount Of eater
preseat-about % per cent-a quantity /
possible in the weak peppermint solution. (
but impossible with The ginger and eapsI-
cum preparation
It is quite natural We think. 20 sus- /
pect the presence OF methvIic alcohol 4
since It's peculiar toxic effects had been
noticed and because 10 the mercenary
manufacturer it is the logical substitute /
for ethyiic alcohol Every other solvent /
Of the kind IS prohibited by more notice /
able physical properties. excepting. }er-
haps. acetOne- and The absence OF rhis IS
proved BY the higher boiling point o. The
suspected product.
To the initiated the matter Of sepa-
rating and proving organic compounds
may appear as something to be easily eff
feof led. but 10 the chemist il offers many
suggests an immense amount
Of detail and requires much time, which I
Is rarely AT the command
Of the active pharmacist.
ms a preliminary We prepared, IS are
here exhibited. two distilla tes-one from /
the L. s p. tincture and one from an
equal quantity Of the suspected essence
The respective residUes from these are
worthy Of notice II viii be observed hat (
they are very different II appearance. IS
they are in taste. Capsicum is evidently
present in large quantities in the 'es- 7
sence.' being used to make il hot -yhen /
small proportion OF the more expensive !
ginger. Is used So far. however. We have !
not made critical examinations Of these /
Tesidues-
From the distiilate OF the suspected
essence We then secured by successive |
careful fTactiouations a product with a
Eyed boiling point. BY REPEATED expert
Intlt we found that 4 mixture represent
ing - per cent Of wood alcohol and . |
per cent eIhylic alcohol .ery nearly re
seuAies the first essence dtSrllate-
since the final product OF fractional
distillaticn bOiIs steadily at s. degrees
and has the characteristic c,lOr OF wood
alcohol, sc uuhssitatingiy pronounce IL !
10 be nothing more nothing less. Addi-
-iOnal evidences OF its identity are shown {
in It's ability 90 apidly reduce potassium
to reduce silver nitrate
after fcrmarcs have been formed by the