In Chicago, a municipal chemist tipped some bootleg whiskey down a sink and watched in astonishment as it sizzlingly ate through the porcelain. Curious to know what exactly was in bootleg whiskey, the New York Telegram employed a chemist to test 341 samples brought from city speakeasies. Among the ingredients he isolated were kerosene, nicotine, benzene, benzol, formaldehyde, iodine, sulphuric acid, and soap. About one in six samples, he found, posed a serious threat to health.
