Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-11-18
PLENTY OF "MEAN" LIQUOR.
Much of IL Rank Poison, Says Chemist
Wiley.

III the man who said there was no
such thing as bad whisky, but that
there was good whisky and better
whisky. could see and taste some OF
the stuff that we are analyzing every
day he would admit that there Is stun
sold under the name Of whisky tnat
at least is bad. In fact, 1t Is little
better than rank poison and we oc.
casionally do run across stun tnat IL
Is no exaggeration to call poison.
These remarks were MADE rev
days ago by DR.. II. w. Wiley, chlel
of the bureau of chemistry OF the ag-
ricultural department, when ne was
In New York arranging for the IN
stallation Of the bureau OF analysis
for imported food and liquors at the
anpraiseTs stores. They are particu-
larly timely now in view Of the inves-
tigation being carried on by the city
authorities into the deaths OF several
persons in the "Stryker's Farm" neigh.
borhood which have been attributed
to the drinking Of poison sold as
whisky.
OF course the cases now under IN
vestigation are extreme ones. Inc
stuff which the victims Of the saloon
keepers greed drank, and from which
.hey died, has been found to have con-
tanned a large percentage Of wood al
cohol, put in no doubt to give tne
LIQUOR the bite" which Is so much
desired by some drinkers. Wood al
cohol is a deadly poison and only tne
most ignorant would use 1t to fortl1y
whisky. This stuff doubtless was
manufactured in quantities as requlr,
ed In the saloon keepers cellar, ano
has never entered into the markets
as commercial commodity. 1t Is
fact, though, that hundreds OF thous-
ands of gallons Of stuff, less poisonous
only in degree, are sold over the bars
in this country and in England as
whisky, and are drunk by persons
who think they are getting the pure
iuice of the grain. DR.. Wileys IN
yestigations in this country and those
of The London Lancet In England
have shown that many Of the popular
brands are not whisky at all.
In order to understand what Is
meant by this statement 1t Is necessa-
rv to understand what true whisky
is. DR.. Wiley has laid down a den-
milton for his food standards depart
ment which is generally accepted, potn
by scientists and the trade, as the true
one. 1t is as follows:
whisky Is the distilled product Of
TerIneUleu CclCdi biaiiiSt
in wood, in order to remove the great
er part Of the fusel oils, etc., pro-
duced during the distillation. WHISKY
should not contain less than 40 OF
more than 55 volume per cent. or al
cohol, and not more than 0.25 pei
cent. of total solids (extracts). the
content Of fusel oil should not exceed
OBS per cent. No artificial color other
than that derived from the wood In
which it is stored Is admitted III
whisky"
In order properly to age whisky, ano
no Iiuuor is entitled to be called whisky
unless 1t has been matured by age
according to this definition, 1t must be
stored for at least four years In 9
properly warmed and ventilated ware
house. Four years Is the minimum
recognized In the trade, but DR.. Wiley
declares that 1t Is seldom that WHISKY
that is less than six years old Is NJ
to drink. Proper aging, then Is ar
expensive process and one that re.
uuires large capital. 1t is estimated
that less than 25 per cent. Of the stun
sold over the average bar, and ir
MANY of the high class hotels, too
for that matter, has really been ma
tured by age.
Most of the stuff which masque-
rades as whisky is an artificial pro-
duct made by taking cologne spirits
or pure alcohol, known IN the traoe