The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-16
DENATURED AND WOOD ALCOHOL ARE DANGEROUS Framers of Law Left Loop hole For Whiskey
 Substitute. USED CHIEFLY IN MAKING BLACKJACK" Many Now Resort to Mur- derous Beverage For
 Stimulation.

Little did the framers of the Shep- pard law imagine their document con tained so complete a letting down of the bars as to enable persons to pur- chase a substitute for whisky with a few cents as the only requisite, says the Washington Star, discussing the months of the Districts drought. Such appears to be the case, however, &C., Cording to legal representatives of the District, who say they are powerless to prevent it.
 Reference is made chiefly to wood and denatured alcohol of the kinds that are found in wholesale paint stores, and it is these kinds that are being largely used by certain classes of persons in making an intoxica ting drink known as "blackjack'
 ''BlacI1jacIl'' Deadly Drink.
 Its effect upon the system is in- flammation of the optic nerve, caus- ng defective vision or total blindness, often followed by delirium and uncon- sciousness and sometimes ending in death, doctors say.
 But hundreds of residents of this city, unable to get a bottle of whisky or less harmful intoXicant are resort ing to the ''bIackjack" beverage, and reports are to the effect that serious consequences have followed its use. The harmful ethyl or wood alcohol is not taken straight nor is it used in highball form, but in a mixture that is carefully prepared over the fire.
 What are it's ingredients2 To an- swer such questions would only mean putting wrong notions in the heads of some of the men and women who might willingly chance going blind or even death for what they would term the pleasure of an indulgence in what the dry law was intended to banIsh from the entire country.
 POiSO1ls New Menace.
 Health and police officials are deep ly interested in the question of termi- hating the use of the poison, and As sistant Corporation Counsel Stephens thinks the law should be amended so as to prevent the indiscriminate sell ing of the cheap alcohol. He pointed to the provision of the Sheppard law which specifically states that it shall not be construed to prevent the manu- fracture and sale of denatured, ethyl or methyl alcohol for scientific, medicin- al, pharmaceutical or mechanical pur- poses.
 Persons who are enga ged in the sale of ethyl alcohol for mechanical pur- [ sales in good faith Thy are unable to trace the fluid to the mixing pot however, and officials say a more stringent law thrown about such sales seems to be the only remedy. As long ago as Dec. 3, 1914, when i prohibition states were few and the question of using wood alcohol as a substitute for whisky had not been discussed, the official publication of the National Association of Retail Druggists urged that "methyl alcohol, by whatever name it may be known and in whatever state it may be sold, is a poison and its sales should be registered in the manner with refer ence to the sale of other poisons."
 Wastes Opaic Nerve
 Not only did the druggists take up the question of safeguarding the han ding of wood alcohol but one of the largest firms engaged in the prepara- ton of barber supplies and toilet articles started a campaign of publicity to educate the people not to use any preparation containing wood alcohol.
 'aThe destructive effect of wood al- cohoI upon the optic nerve appears to be well established" was stated in the publication. Tt operates in such a way as to cause a wasting away of the powers Of the nerve unIlI IL IS completely atrophied.
 '"The drug is cumulative in it's ef- feet. and it is this which makes the use of face lotions and hair tonics containing it especially dangerous. Ap- piled to the face it seeps through the skin by being taken up through the pores and remains in the system until there is enough to cause blindness.
 According to a reliable uth ority who has made an exhaustive study of the matter, until the degree of blind ness has been fixed there may be, for an unlimited time, variations of wis ion.'
 It is stated that while wood alcohol often resembles any other intoxica- tion, it has its peculiar phenomena which cannot be mistaken. Acute ab- dominal distress, followed by whole or partial blindness, together with the ordinary symptoms of intoxicaton, all point to methyl poisoning.
 It has been known for some time that residents of this city have been indulging in the use of a mixture in which some of the cheap paint store variety of alcohol was the attractive ingredient. Reports have it that sev- eraI deaths were probably Fastened by use of the mixture, while the ac- tions of others said to have parta.ken of large quantities of tn beverage suggested possible brain trouble.
 One report to the effect of the mix ture upon a drinker was to cause him to believe he had participated in the recent outbreaks and killed three men. He is said to have told the story a number of times and to have given evidence that he really believed he was telling the truth, while relatives and friends say they know he was at home indulging in the dangerous con-