National Affairs: Formula 44-A

Two years ago the U. S. Government ceased denaturing industrial alcohol with deadly poisons. Last week it returned to this practice on the ground that smart

'leggers had learned how to "cook out" milder denaturants. What Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Lowman called "a last resource" was the change in Formula 44-A: 100 gal. grain alcohol, 4 gal. wood alcohol (replacing 2 gal. gasoline), 10 gal. fusel oil or amyl alcohol. Chief Chemist William Vanarsdale Linder of the Prohibition Unit explained that alcohol thus denatured was only for the varnish and lacquer industry,...

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