The Falls City tribune., 1910-07-01
GREAT BOON TO mankind
DIR. MoRsMAN DISCUSSES THE
ALCOHOL QUESTION.
Its Uses and Abuses Its Legiti-
mate Uses Various Kinds
of Alcohol Products.


about alcohol that has not been al
ready said. Volumes have been writ
ten about IL. 1t has been denounced
as the greatest enemy to mankind,
but in reality 1t is II of the great
est Blooms that nature has given to
man. 1t IS customary for fanatics TO
pronounce it useless, but few of
these fanatics realize how much we
woule miss alcohol If it We're taken
away. 1t is one of the important
cogs in the worlds wheels.
Like opium. it Is a benetieent thing
rightly used, but when abused it be.
comes a terribly destructive agent
whose ruthless track is marked by
crime, disaster, disease and death.
Alcohol as an agent enters into
the manufacture of many articles of
daily use and its indirect products
are very numerous. From the stand
point Of the physician, 1t is a drug
of great value, "A medicine and not n
beverage. | use the term alcohol
in The broad sense, including all al
coholie "liquorsn-beer. wine. whis-
key, brandy. etc. Alcohol Is the one
element in all that is of medicinal
value, Alcohol can be made from
any grain or fruit that contains sug-
ar or starch which Is IA glucose pro-
dueing substance.
The alcohol thus produced is COM
monty called grain alcohol and is
technically named, ethyl alcohol. be-
cause 1t contains the radical ethyl.
Wood alcohol is methyl alcohol and
is poisonous. Denatured alcohol,
sometimes called %methylated spirits,
is grain alcohol with wood alcohol or
a methyl compound added to it. II
is also unsafe to use internally. The
grain alcohol pays a heavy tax and
every manufacturer and dealer who
handles 1t must pay a license. The
government permits denatured alco-
hol to be made and sold without tax
or license, but ~infliets a heavy penal
~ ON any one who uses or sells Ii for
internal or external use on man
or beast, and that penalty applies to
all medical or other compounds. The
government has nothing to do with
wood alcohol. II pays no tax. Ii
costs just as much to make it as it
does TO make grain alcohol. The price
wood alcohol and denatured alcohol is
about the same. Both are used for
burning and for technical purposes.
Painters and paint makers use de-
natured alcohol for dissolving shellac
and other gums. Wood alcohol can
be used for the same purposes. but
II ~evaporates more readily, which is
a slight objection. Wood alcohol is
a little the best for burning. making n
hotter flame. There is little choice
AithA nv ~ TAI INC NtiAtlAli-
ed alcohol. of which so much was
expected, has not crowded out wood
alcohol.
The word alcohol. when used with
out qualification means always grain
alcohol. 1t has that meaning in all
medical, pharmaceutical, and other
scientific works, and since the pure
food law, in all legal language. but
1t Is in fact a general term. Like
the word acid" in chemistry ii COW
ers a certain class of compounds.
There are many acids gases. liz.
uids and solids. Some of them would
not be recognized as acids by the
ordinary obseryer-so in this case
there are many aleohols, Glycerine is
alcohol, Fusel oil is an alcohol and
carbolic acid is phenyl alcohol, but
as | said before, the word alcohol as
the name of a single substance means
ethyl or grain alcohol. Ii alone car
be used in medicines and liquors. Al
cohol a be OF any strength. The
terms, proof and percentage" in
dicates the alcoholic strength of {
liquid but are badly mixed by the
public. The government uses thu
term proof and a liquid containin,
one half or fifty per cent alcohol, /,
proof or 100. While all medica
and pharmaceutical books reckon b,
percentages, no alcohol is 100 pc
cent pure. Absolute alcohol, al
expensive product, the highest mad,
contains SO per cent pure alcohol. OF
ficial alcohol is 94.9 per cent, bu
ordinary alcohol, as sold"commercial
alcohol, is a little less than that.
Alcohol is an almost universe
i