The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-07-27
ALCHOL AMONG
 NECESSITIES OF
 OUR DAILY LIFE
(Continued From Page Onc.)

and varied. It includes nearly all
 manufacturing industries, the prod
 ucts in which it is used, ranging from cigarettes to smokeless pow
 der, and from photograph films to artificial silk.
 Without alcohol the chemist would
 be as helpless as the builder without
 cement. That applies equally to the chemical engineer who works cut | new processes in manufacturing, to the experimental chemist in college | or private laboratory, and to the l practical chemist whose work con
 meets closely with that of such pro-
 fessiopal men as the pharmacist and l the physician.
 Legitimate Uses In Medicine.
 Without alcohol, nc anesthetic
 ether could be manufactured. With
 out alcohol pharmacy-from the | large manufacturing plant to the re- | tail drug store where doctors pre- l scriptions are ompounded-wou be destroyed, for the science rests on
 the use of alcohol to extract the ac- l tive medicinal principles from crude i drugs.
 Every physician, therefore. though
 he may not prescribe potable liquor
 to his patients, uses alcohol in the
 medicines he does prescribe. The dentist also must use it, and the sur geon finds it essential in maintain ing that impeachable cleanliness upon which the marvellous modern success of his profession rests.
 The hospital, the sanitarium, the first aid station-all must have alco- hol in order properly to carry on
 their work of relieving suffering and preventing death, and some religious organizations hold that fermented wine is essential in religious rites. All these and other legitimate users of alcohol or of substances contain ing it must be protected in their rights, and our steadfast purpose is to give them that protection with the least possible measure of inconVeni- ence consistent with safety. In carry | ing out that policy some little alco- hol undoubtedly passes into the hands of swindlers, but it seems better to
 take the risk than to make the resu- lations so onerous that honest peo- pie cannot secure the alcohol they need.
 Fully two-thirds of all alcohol pro- duced in the United States is dena-
 tured and used mainly for technical purposes. As general solvent in organic compounds it's use in large quantities is necessary in the manu- | fracture of paints, yarnishes. shellacs, | dyes and scores Of other products. These uses have developed through the b years since denatured alconol was authorized, and many of the reg rlations governing them were made long before prohibition became fact.
 SeNenty-siN Dcnatured Kinds.
 TO the layman denatured alcohol is likely to mean only one thing. To
 the prohibition official 1t means 75 h n |. Of denatured alcohol Seventy are specially denatured for particular purposes. The other SIX kinds are completely denatured and are utterly unfit to be taken internally in any form. These six constitute the bulk of the Genatured alcohol used in in
 dustry.
 The denatarants used in the six formulas for completely denatured alcohol are wood alcohol, Denzlnc, pyridine, kerosene, ether, gasoline, nltrobenzine and orthonitrotuene. In each of the formulas there are com binations of two or more of these denaturants which impart odor and
 taste, and, in addition, make recovery of potable alcohol from the mixture extremely difficult. The usefulness or the alcohol. however, is not inn Paired for solvent purposes whore the presence of poisons is not objec- tionable.
 Completely denatured alcohol may be bought and used without per init from the federal government.
 After the alcohol has been com pletely denatured, which is usually done at the distillery. the govern ment maintains no further supervi- sion over it, except to require that 1t be not used for beverage or for
 certain other prohibited purposes. For example, the use of completely denatured alcohol Is not permitted in any medicinal product intended for internal use.
 The other one-third of the coun-
 try's alcohol production, consisting
 of specially denatured and pure al- cohol. is the portion with which the prohibition official is especially con- cerned.
 Harmful And More Harmful. Of the seventy authorized formulas for specially denatured alcohol many are designed for use in manuf&ctur- ing pramaceuticals. perfumery and
 various other articles, such as soap the legitimate use of which makes impossible the employment of violent poisons. Many of the special dena
 turants are comparatively harmless mixtures, such as lavender and soft soap. or oil of peppermint or winter