Evening star., 1923-11-14

LIQUOR offered <or sale contained a
grand jury there, it was explained, is
gong Into the matter to arrive at
some means for state regulation OF
alcoholic liquors. Scores of deaths
Baltimore officials attributed to drink
ing poisonous liquor.
Washington's dangerous" bootleg
supply is curiously represented on
the top floor of the Treasury, where
the big laboratory and storehouses are
filled with samples, which have been
tested and which are going through
the process.
That the quality of this bootleg
supply Is rapidly deteriorating is also
the opinion OF William V. Under
chief chemist of the internal revenue
bureau.
Making special tour of inspection
Yesterday afternoon through that
part of the laboratory anaIyzfng sam
pies brought In from the immediate
vicinity of Washington, Mr.. Linder
was emphatic in denunciation of the
stun and serious in his warning as
from imbibing.
In one department of the laboratory
We're row after row of bottles con-
tanning samples of bootleg liquor
which,, Mr.. Linder explained, had been
made by. an attempt to take the de-
naturants out Of denatured alcohol
and "doctoring" the remains. perhaps
with q color.
such liquor. said the Rehabilitation"
Of denatured alcohol and the dilution,
fiavoring and coloring of the re-
sultant product constitute a continual
menace to the drinking public. be-
cause it is impossible to detect the
poisonous denaturants.
There are two classes of denatured
alcohols. The first. known as COM
pletely denatured, is prepared accord
ing to limited number of fixed
formulae. and all products produced
by these formulae are injurious to
the human system. The formulae call
for the addition to grain alcohol of
potsons such as wood alcohol, benzol,
in alcohol lamps, TOW
engines and various heating and
lighting devices.
1.-THE second class, known as specially
denatured, is not so thoroughly de-
natured, but the formulae are so
the product internally: although it is
used in manufacture OF toilet prepa-
rations. rubbing compounds and many
industrial products"
The majority of cases of instant
death, DR.. Doran explained, were due
to the class Of concoction made from
denatured alcohol. Wood alcohol.
one Of the principal denaturants," he
said, lis impossible of elimination
from any other alcoholic mixture by
distilling. precipitating or any other
manipulative process which a boot
logger employs, and produces paralysis
and atrophy Of the optic nerve with
consequent total blindness, inflamma-
tion of the kidneys and bladder,
nephritis and cystitis, and in some
cases death. Death has been caused
by as little as three ounces"
Most Corn Impure.
Corn liquor. which constitutes a
large per cent of the Washington H.
licit supply. was said by the govern
ment chemists to be full of impuri-
ties. The Illicit still where most of
the corn liquor is manufactured. DIR.
Doran said. was by its nature CLAN
destine" and unscientifc.
THE containers" he said, usually
consist OF old barrels. old Ice cream
cans. galvanized, oil cans, milk cans,
wash boilers and other metal vessels,
unspeakably filthy and ill-smelline
after repeated use without cleaning.
The unprotected fermenting mixture
attracts animal life of every descrip-
ton, which feeds upon the material
and often browns in 1t. Two-quart
Jars OF first-run whisky now on hand
at the laboratory have as much as
two inches of filthy sediment in the
bottom, and samples Of mash are al
most beyond description. There are
frequently present in moonshine whis-
ky metals, such as copper and zinc,
due to the corrosion Of the distilling
apparatus or the container in which
the liquor 10 kept, accentuating the
poisonous character OF the product