On Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:32:20 -0400, "tm" wrote:


wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:30:29 -0700, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:

David Nebenzahl wrote:

Why mess around with isopropyl alcohol at all, since all of it
contains *some* water? Use denatured alcohol (methanol) instead, in a
tightly-capped container to guard against absorbing moisture.

Perhaps it is different where you live, but here in the US, denatured
alcohol is not methanol; it is, instead, ethanol with a denaturant added.
The denaturant can be methanol, or it can be any number of other
chemicals,
so long as it is sufficiently adulterated to prevent a person from using
it
for ingestion.

Right. Methanol is a very poor denaturant. The idea is to make it
undrinkable, not lethal. Someone ralfing their guts out for an hour is
cheaper than blindness or death. Now, Sterno...

The treatment for Methanol poisoning is Ethanol and lots of it. Usually by
IV.

AIUI, this swamps the liver so it doesn't produce as much formaldehyde at
once.