Just to set the record straight (and I’m sure that both
correspondents know the correct answer, just suffering from finger
trouble at the keyboard eh guys…), what we in the UK call
methylated spirit is ethyl alcohol with additives to make it both
noxious and toxic, and a purple dye to identify it. One of the
additives is often methyl alcohol (also known as methanol, or
sometimes wood alcohol), but the bulk of the material is ethyl
alcohol (also known as ethanol). I understand that this is the
equivalent of what in the US is called denatured alcohol. In both
cases the additives are there to render it undrinkable, and therefore
not liable to “drinking alcohol tax” and, just in case anyone is
wondering, they are carefully chosen to be extremely difficult to
separate from the ethyl alcohol! So-called rubbing alcohol is
usually iso propyl alcohol.
Kevin (NW England, UK)