The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1904-11-30
Not Only Whisky, but Various
Preparations AduIterated With
Wood Alcohol.
MANY DANGERS DESCRIBED
Hundreds Known TO Have Been Killed
or Rendered Blind In Last Few
Years by lts Use In Flavor.
inss, Witch Hazel, Etc.

| IlSk III tuth Nit5 tiS fuSAstni PsVtNo"sSt
realized the dangers that threatened
the public from the substitution u
wood alcohol for grain alcohol. One
grave peril lies in the fact that wood
alcohol Is sometimes used instead OF
grain alcohol In various household
preparations.
The useof wood alcohol In the manu-
facture and adulteration Of potable
spirits is sufficiently alarming. bar this
IL by no means the extent Of it's use as
an adulterant.Not only have prepara-
tions intended for use In the arts. as
varnishes. or fer external use. as
witch hazel. been made with wood al
cohoi as an ingredient. but even medl-
clnal or fiavoring agents, such az es-
sence of Jamaica ginger, lemon. pep
permint. &c. intended for internal use
have been found 10 contain Il.
Eye specialists Of this country and
OF Europe agree In ascriblng many
cases OF total or partial blindness to
wood alcohol, which had unknowingly
been taken In the form OF liquors,
medicinal remedies. flayorlng essences
or used externally in the for moi with
hazel and bay rum and as linlments
and for alcohol rubs.
Wood alcohol Is known to the chem
list as carbInol and methyl, more popu-
larly known under the name OF pyro-
lgneous spirit, pyroxyiic spirit. wood
alcohol and wood naptha. 1t occurs
as one OF the ingredients OF crude
wood vinegar, the fluid product of the
destructive distillatIon of wood.
Purified wood alcohol Is thin.
colorless fluid. greatly resembling
grain alcohol In taste and smell, but
obtained from wood vinegar. Uupuri-
fed. It has a rank and offensive odor
and flavor. II is only within the past
seven or eight years that cheap deodo-
rized wood alcohol has been placed on
the market, and It Is only during the
same period that the alarming record
OF death and blindness resulting from
It's use has been made.
Before that time the unpurified
product possessed so offensive an odor
and taste that even the most inveterate
drunkard was unable to stomach It.
The purified wood alcohol is known
under various names. and owing to the
fact OF It's close similarity In taste
and smell to grain alcohol. and to its
comparative cheapness-wood alcohol
untaxed retalls at so cents gallon,
grain alcohol taxed retails at $2.6o-it
Is very largely substituted for grain
alcohol.
Unhappy the deodorizing process de-
stroys none OF the poisonous properties
of wood alcohol, and. while differing
little in appearance, taste and smell
from grain alcohol, 1t is under certain
conditions a deadly poison.
Poisoning by wood alcohol manifests
itself in two forms-that of acute
poisoning and that Of chronic poison
Ing. According to researches by
Jeffroy and Servereaux,
Birch Hirschfield, Holden Hunt. Pohl
and others the symptoms of the acute
form are in general similar to those
observed in cases Of poisoning by
grain alcohol excepting that the action
Of wood alcohol is produced more
slowly and the duration Of the intoxi-
cation is more prolonged. The coma
caused by wood alcohol continues for
a very much longer time than does
that caused by grain alcohol.
The investigations Of Butler and
Wood have demonstrated that, in many
Instances no marked poisonous symp-
IONS are noticed until twenty-four
hours, or longer, after the last number
of doses, usually small drinks, had been
.aken. Indeed, 1t may be set down as
4 rule that except In persons exhibiting
IN idiosyncracy against wood alcohol
,r unless large dose of the poison be
trunk within few hours, not only
nay the severe abdominal symptoms
ind the collapse OF the heart and ner-
gous system be postponed but even
he fatal termination has in some in
stances been delayed for several days.
Although physiological experiments
would seem to show that the consump-
ion of wood alcohl in large quantities
has similar effect on animal life to
hat of grain alcohol when taken in ex-
,ess, yet It Is gathered from the OBJ
,ervations by doctors Of those suffer-
-. tro,,, tha ac,,fa Horna NJ xrnod alco-