Endogenous ethanol was observed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the course of screening for cerebrospinal fluid of the patients with cervical myelopathy. Ethanol was detected in 10 out of 20 patients. It seems likely that the presence of endogenous ethanol is related to the severity of myelopathy. Also, the concentration of ethanol was correlated with that of lactate in the cerebrospinal fluid. This implies that ethanol may be formed as the end product of glycolysis or in an unknown pathway in the case of severely insulted myelonic tissues.