Reports on the successful application of methylated spirit, under the provisions of the Act 18 & 19 Victoria, cap. 38., to various purposes in the arts, manufactures, and scientific research, in 1856 : addressed to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue.

Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reports on the successful application of methylated spirit, under the provisions of the Act 18 & 19 Victoria, cap. 38., to various purposes in the arts, manufactures, and scientific research, in 1856 : addressed to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    restoration of its potability by any simple and economical process is a most unlikely occurrence. We apprehend no danger what- ever to the revenue from this source. The mixture of spirits of wine with ten per cent of purified wood naphtha or methylic spirit, which we recommend, may be designated methylated spirit for convenience. The quantity of wood naphtha which can be commanded appears to be amply sufficient for the new contemplated application of that substance. Yn^e are indebted to Mr. John TurnbuU for his valuable opinion on this point. My calculation regarding wood- spirit/' that gentleman states, ''is a produce of two gallons and a half from a ton of average dry wood, and the production of the United Kingdom amounts annually to 66,000 galloiiS. This I take as the proceeds of nineteen manufacturers of pyroligneous acid; although you must receive it as a rough guess, still I believe it is not very far from the truth.'' Much v/ood-naphtha is also attracted to this country from the continent, owing to the high price which that liquid obtains here as a substitute for alcohol. We have been favoured with the opinion of Mr. G. Smith, of Whitechapel, one of the most extensive London distillers, on the application of our methylated spirit as a beverage. He pro- nounces the methylated spirit to be quite unfit for the use of the rectifier. He believes that publicans would never use such a spirit for mixing with their liquors, evenin a small proportion. A mix- ture of gin with one eighth part of the methylated spirit was found to be nauseous and unpalatable. In gin mixed with one sixteenth of meth^dated spirit, the flavour of the latter was still very strongly marked. In gin with one part of metliylated spiiit in thirty-tvv^o, the flavour of the methylic spirit became faint, but it was still perceptible in a mixture of one to sixty-four. The largest pro- portion of the methylated spirit which it was thought a publican might venture upon adding to his gin was one in thirty-two. ISTow, the saving to him would be the same fraction of the spirit duty, or proportion of 6s. 2c?. per gallon, the duty on spirits of the strength of gin—that is, a profit of 2^cL per gallon. So small a profit would be no compensation for the deterioration iu the quality of the gin. The disagreeable odour of the methylic spirit is brought out strongly on mixing the gin with hot water.