Evening star., 1952-12-17
Bring
Wood Alcohol Study
1t Blinds and Kills but
FotoI Dose Varies
By Thomos R. Henry

By Thomos R. Henry
Wood alcohol is q bundle of contra
dictions.
1t blinds and kills. About twice as
much Is required to make man drunk
as ethyl alcohol. Some men can drink
nearly three times the amount that
would be killing dose for others. Rats
can stand ten times as much as men.
There is a delay of from "a to 48
hours, during which the drinker may
have become entirely sober. before the
stuff hits with full force. Then nobody
knows what to do about it.
II is almost impossible to tell how
much wood alcohol a man may have
drunk, because it usually is mixed with
water, fruit juices or ordinary ethyl
alcohol.
An. effort to bring some order out Of
these contradictions is being made un-
der Navy grant at Western Reserve
University. Wood alcohol is especially
Navy problem because of the tendency
of sailors, deprived Of ordinary alcoholic
drinks on shipboard during long voy-
ages, to tap the ships wood alcohol
supplies.
First efforts. according to q progress
report to the Navy from DIR. Albert M.
Potts of Western Reserve, have been to
find out through fundamental biochem-
ical studies why wood alcohol makes
men blind.
Poison By-PrOducts Formed.
1t now has been fairly we'll established
that it is not the wood alcohol. per Sc.
which constitutes the poison but some
intermediate substance formed during
the body's efforts to burn it up or other
wise get rid of it. 1t also is known that
two such products are formed. formal
dehyde and formic acid. The former is
a well-known preservative and disinfec-
tant. produced out of methyl alcohol by
the chemical industry. The latter is q
rungent, caustic fluid secreted especially
bv ants. It also is produced from
methyl alcohol by chemists.
Apparently, much the same processes
go on in the body. A sufficient time for
these poisons to be created must elapse
before the knockout blow comes. So far
as blindness is concerned. the guilty
agent appears to be formaldehyde, the
Western Reserve experiments show.
Tests of the effects on tissue of the
retina of the eye carried out in test tubes
show that it is 5000 times more active
than methyl alcohol itself and Is times
more active than formic acid. 1t is the
only substance produced in sufficient
amounts to cause blindness.
In some way, the substance seems to
inhibit the action of an engine, hexoki-
nase, which is necessary for the burning
of carbohydrates, the energy factors in
foods, in the absence Of oxygen. Prob
ably some similar mechanism is re-
sponsible for the killings observed.
Comparatively Recent Problem.
The problem has been present, the
Western Reserve investigator reports.
only since the turn of the century. The
first case Of wood alcohol poisoning in
medical records was in 1895, and then
for 16 years no cases were reported
outside the United States. The explana-
ton, he says, probably is that up to
1890 this alcohol was distilled directly
from wood and was so foul-smelling
and foul-tasting that nobody was able
to take more than sip.
Then 1t was synthesized and purified
to the point where it was almost taste
less and odorless. It was not labeled as
a poison. Manufacturers denied that it
was poisonous and it was hard to prove
them wrong. The stuff sold for about a
fifth the price of grain alcohol. BY 1904,
a total of 275 cases Of death or blindness
had been reported.
The problem did not become serious.
however until prohibition and the semi
prohibition which preceded it for SOL
diers and sailors in World War I. Since
repeal. cases have dropped of among
civilians, but during the last war six
per cent of all blindness in the armed
forces was due to drinking smoke"
There were 127 officially reported cases
from the Navy. Sailors got the stuff from
anti-freeze and refrigerator leak detec-
tor fluid.
Difference In Fatal Dose.
The equivalent Of from to IS tea
spoons now is considered enough to kill
the ordinary man. Some can take more
than 80 spoonfuls without signs Of
poisoning.
It is far harder, it has been found, to
get drunk on wood alcohol than on grain
alcohol. and hence tendency to drink
more Of it.
A large percentage Of those who sur
vive are permanently blind. Those who
escape complete blindness have perma1
nently reduced vision.