The common form of alcohol known as "de-natured spirit" consists of alcohol to which one tenth of its volume of wood alcohol, or other de-naturizing agents has been added, for the purpose of rendering the mixture undrinkable through its offensive odor and taste. Methylated spirit being sold tax free, may be applied by chemical manufacturers, varnish makers, and many others, to a variety of uses, to which, from its greater cost, duty-paid spirit is commercially inapplicable. Its use, however, in the preparation of tinctures, sweet spirits of nitre, etc., has been prohibited by law. It has often been attempted to separate the wood spirit from the alcohol, and thus to obtain pure alcohol from the mixture, but always unsuccessfully, as, although the former boils at a lower temperature than the latter, when boiled they both distil over together, owing probably to the difference of their vapor densities. It is Germany which has led the way in the manufacture and use of "de-natured" alcohol or "spiritus," as it is there known. Germany has no natural gas or oil wells, and gasoline and kerosene are not produced there, hence the necessity of using some other form of liquid fuel. This fuel--in many ways better than any petroleum product--was found in alcohol. The sandy plains of northern Germany, and indeed any agricultural district of that empire, produce abundant crops of potatoes and beets. From the first, alcohol can be so easily manufactured that the processes are within the understanding and ability of any farmer. The second is used in the manufacture of beet sugar,--one of the great German industries, and the crude molasses, from a refuse product,--still contains from 40 to 50 per cent. of sugar, from which alcohol can be made. Under these circumstances and the great demand for liquid fuel for motor carriages and gas engines, alcohol for "de-naturing" came rapidly to the front as one of the most important of agricultural products, as one of the most valuable "crops" which a farmer could raise. Potatoes are chiefly raised. The potatoes are grown by the farmers and manufactured into alcohol in individual farm distilleries and in cooperative distilleries. While England and France were somewhat behind Germany in fostering this industry--yet they both were far ahead of the United States in this matter. De-natured alcohol could be readily gotten in these countries, for industrial purposes, while the United States continued to charge a high internal revenue tax on all but wood alcohol. This prevented the use of alcohol in competition with gasoline or kerosene, and limited its use in arts and manufactures. On June 7, 1906, however, Congress passed the "De-naturing Act," as it is called, which provided in brief that alcohol, which had been mixed with a certain proportion of de-naturing materials sufficient to prevent its use as a beverage should not be taxed.