Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-27
PO|SONS IN LIQUOR
5. FATAL TO ANIMALS
Experiments at G. W. U.
Show Effects of impurities
In Still Products.
by THOMAS r. HENRY.

Although mconshiners hereabouts are
improving their technique, it still is
risky to drink anything from the boot
Ieggers without having it analysed by
q reputable chemist.
Many Illicit distillers remain sadly
ignorant of the chemistry of alcohols,
80 that virulent poisons are getting
into their products without their knowl-
edge, it is shown by experiments now
in progress at the George Washington
University Medical School.
Cats, rabbits and chickens are hav-
ing some glorious DRINKS" all with
fatal examinations, in one Of the labor
atories there.
Animals Given Test Liquor.
These ordinarily sober animals are
being given their fill of the choicest
poisons dispensed by the National Capt.
tails bootleggers in an effort TO ma
out just what the poiSons do to their
insides-so that when the coroner
assistant gets a hurry-up call 70 the
morgue, he can tell with some degree
of certainty what was in the 'stuh"
Or. Oscar B. Hunter, assistant dean
of the Medical School, is conducting
the experiments. Prohibition. DIR. Hun
ter says. has brought about an entirely
new pathology Different poisons in
liquor attack different organs and cause
deaths or disability in different ways.
The only way TO find out how each
one acts is to try 1t out on the lower
animals.
n~Lt-;t -. ..,>.Sto,I,, $780,, r,,kio.k.
They are given the ordinary greens of
their diet. to which liquor samples are
added. Rubber tubes are placed down
their threats and the liquors, or the
poisons obtained from them, poured
into Their stomachs After a prescribed
time on this diet trey die or are killed
and the doctors study the effects on
their organs. The doctors figure that
approximately the same things would
happen to man.
Poisons of Bacterial Origin.
Analysis Of the liquor samples, DR..
Hunter says, shows that the poiS0nS are
largely of bacterial origin and are due
to unsanitary conditions. Distillation
Of grains under sanitary conditions
should produce ethyl alcohol, COM
paratively safe product But If certain
bacteria get in the product il is likely
alcohol. This has particular affinity
for the optic nerve and produces blind
ness. 1t also does other things TO the
body-as the intoxicated rabbits reveal.
Another product is anyl alcohol, or
fusil oil, whose most direct effect Is
Inflammation Of the stomach. It Is
producing some pitiable victims, DR..
Hunter points out, Ethyl hes the same
effect, If enc drinks enough Of it. This
is the explanation Of the bad taste in
the mouth the morning after. Most
mconShiners, DR.. Hunter said, have
learned that charcoal ahsorbs this fusil
oil and try to get rid of it by using
deeply charred kegs and by putting
powdered charcoal into the product.
This was the method of the pre-pro-
hibition diStiIiers, but they allowed
years for what the ignorant moonshiner
expects to happen in few GAYS. As e
result much Of the stomach poison
remains.
Virginia Corn Held West.
Other bacterial products are prcpyl
and iso-prcpyl alcohols. which act in
about the came WAYS as ethyl but are
slightly more poisonously. Besides
lead gets ii from improperly made
stills and may cause very serious re-
suits
The impurities, DR.. Hunter points
cut. may get IN due 70 the ignorance