One more little piece from The Democratic Watchman, reporting 61 cases of methanol poisoning in Pennsylvania. The piece credits "a very dangerous poison known as acetone" as the culprit.
https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn83 ... /seq-3.pdf
The source for this piece is the chief of The PA Bureau of Drug Control. In the previous year, he also called in a paper written for the JAMA for the banning of the ritual use of peyote by native Americans.
The Dangers of Bootleg Whiskey - 1922
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Dr Griz
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The Dangers of Bootleg Whiskey - 1922
qui bene bibit est beatus
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kiwi Bruce
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Re: The Dangers of Bootleg Whiskey - 1922
Who in their right mind would have put Acetone in their spirit? Especially if they wanted return costumers!
All that fun we had growing up...We pay for as we grow old.
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shadylane
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Re: The Dangers of Bootleg Whiskey - 1922
1922 info available in print, we now know Illicit manufactured alcohol will have only trace amounts of acetone and methanol.
The antidote if you've been poisoned by adulterated booze is slow and steady consumption from the local distillery that has good morals...
The antidote if you've been poisoned by adulterated booze is slow and steady consumption from the local distillery that has good morals...
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contrahead
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Re: The Dangers of Bootleg Whiskey - 1922
The 18th amendment was ratified in 1919 so in 1922 any ethanol was hard to find.
The “Torpedo Cocktail” (the first “cocktails”) emerged during this period, as a means of dressing up or making palatable - pure grain alcohol. Pineapple juice or something else from the ship's galley was used.
Acetone was not typically used to denature torpedo fuel, but it is possible that it was tried. Even petroleum fractions like gasoline can be used to denature ethanol.
Navy torpedos burned alcohol to make steam / which propelled the torpedo. Savvy sailors would sometimes sneak into storage and drain some of the fuel from the torpedos. Later when torpedos failed to function properly, the Admiralty discovered it had a problem. Their answer was to denature the torpedo juice - with methanol. After several sailors were blinded, the methanol was eventually replaced with croton oil (a violent purgative). Not to be outdone some sailors tried to re-distill the alcohol, which was impractical for removing the denaturing agent. Others maintained that dripping the juice through a loaf of bread - would do the trick.
The “Torpedo Cocktail” (the first “cocktails”) emerged during this period, as a means of dressing up or making palatable - pure grain alcohol. Pineapple juice or something else from the ship's galley was used.
Acetone was not typically used to denature torpedo fuel, but it is possible that it was tried. Even petroleum fractions like gasoline can be used to denature ethanol.
Navy torpedos burned alcohol to make steam / which propelled the torpedo. Savvy sailors would sometimes sneak into storage and drain some of the fuel from the torpedos. Later when torpedos failed to function properly, the Admiralty discovered it had a problem. Their answer was to denature the torpedo juice - with methanol. After several sailors were blinded, the methanol was eventually replaced with croton oil (a violent purgative). Not to be outdone some sailors tried to re-distill the alcohol, which was impractical for removing the denaturing agent. Others maintained that dripping the juice through a loaf of bread - would do the trick.
Omnia mea mecum porto