puritans are like mental cripples
Sep. 18th, 2007 11:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miriam_eDo you know why methylated spirits is called that? It is really ordinary ethyl alcohol (like in booze) with methyl alcohol added.
Do you know why methyl alcohol is added to it? It's because puritans have such a problem with people gaining access to cheap, raw alcohol that they add methyl alcohol to deter people from drinking it. So why add methyl alcohol? Because it makes you go blind. Obviously puritans must think that a person going blind is far preferable to them getting booze.
Previously they used to add ground glass to cheap alcohol, thinking that would prevent people drinking it, but puritans are notoriously stupid. People simply filtered the ground glass out.
Are puritans horrible mental cripples or what?
----
Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
Do you know why methyl alcohol is added to it? It's because puritans have such a problem with people gaining access to cheap, raw alcohol that they add methyl alcohol to deter people from drinking it. So why add methyl alcohol? Because it makes you go blind. Obviously puritans must think that a person going blind is far preferable to them getting booze.
Previously they used to add ground glass to cheap alcohol, thinking that would prevent people drinking it, but puritans are notoriously stupid. People simply filtered the ground glass out.
Are puritans horrible mental cripples or what?
----
Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-09-18 04:09 pm (UTC)I know the taste from personal experience, and the phenomenon from one of my uncles, who drank a bottle of methylated rubbing ethyl a week for a decade because he was an alkie, and the court ordered him to not come within 200 feet of any establishment that sold or served.
I know the taste because said uncle served "slushies" to my brother and I, age 8 and 9. He died in a prison hospital a few weeks later from withdrawal, but not before being arrested for child endangerment, released on bail, going on a binge and driving his vehicle into a house.
His situation is not uncommon - the blindness results from formaldehyde and formic acid, which are byproducts of the liver breaking down the methyl. My uncle's liver was so bad that it didn't break down much of anything, his kidneys did it all.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-19 02:21 am (UTC)I have had some friends who've been gradually destroyed by alcohol... or rather their inability to stop drinking it, though nothing quite so dramatic as your uncle.
Many people have no difficulty moderating their intake. Personally, I don't use it at all as I dislike the taste and can't stand to lose any control of myself.
I had often wondered how methyl alcohol caused blindness. Thanks for the info.