" There was something ghost-like and insubstantial about gases to these early chemists. They called liquids that turned into gases easily, " spirits." Methyl alcohol, they called " wood spirit" ; ethyl alcohol, " wine spirit." Even today, alcoholic beverages are frequently referred to as " spirits." (Modern Arabs, from whose language the word " alcohol" was taken, call ethyl alcohol " spirit" from the English. This is a queer exchange.) "