Sato, (Great Britain 1,138,124) discloses the use of anhydrous lactose as a medium for adsorping and/r absorbing ethanol. Sato identifies lactose anhydride as the material for combination with the ethyl alcohol to provide a-stable alcohol-containing powder and implies that anhydrous alcohol must be employed in the preparation of the product since the presence of water would convert the lactose to the unacceptable hydrated crystalline form.