[SI 1 



III. A TreatiJ'c on the Cultivation of the P"mc, and ibc 

 Method ofvvaBng Wines, Bji C. Chaptal *. 



JL HERE are few natural produ6lions employed by man 

 as aliment, which he has not altered or modified by prepara- 

 tions which remove them froi^i their priniitivc ftate. Coi-n, 

 flefh, and fruits, are all fubjoded to a commoneement of 

 fermentation before they are ufed as nourifhmcnt ; and pe- 

 culiar qualiti-es are .given even to obje6ls of luxury, caprice, 

 or whim, fuch as tobacco and perfumes. 



But it is in the fabrication of liquors in particulaj that man 

 has difplaycd the groateft fagacity : all are the work of his 

 own creation, water and milk excepted. Nature never fur- 

 nifhes fpirituous liquors : it fiiffefi the grapes to rot on the 

 flems, while art converts the juice into an agreeable, tonic^ 

 and nourifhing liquor c^^lfcd ivine. 



It is difficult to afcertain the precife period when mankind 

 began to make wkie. Thi^ valuable ■difcovery fl-ems to be 

 l6(t in the darknefs of antiquity, and the origin of wine hi; s 

 its fables,, like all other things which have become objects of 

 general utility. 



We are told by Athenaeus that Oreftes, the fon of Denca- 

 lion, came to reign at Ethna, where he planted vines. Ilillo- 

 rians agree in confidering Noah as the firft who made wine 

 in IHyria, Saturn in Crete, Bacciiu& in India, Ofiris in 

 Egypt, and king Geryon in Spain. A poet, who afilgns 

 every thing to a divine fource^ is inclined to believe that after 

 the deluge God granted wine to -man to confole him in his 

 mifery, and he expreffes hirafelf thus refpe^ling its origin : 



Omnia vaftatis ergo cum cerneret arvis 



Dcfolata "De us, -nobis felicia vini 



Dona dcdir, triiles bominum quo munere fovk 



Rcliquias ; mundi folatus vite ruinam. Fafierii^Prad. Ri'Jh 



Even the etymology of the word wine has given rife -to dif- 

 ferent opinions among authors ; but from that Ibng feries of 

 fables with which the poets, who are always bad hiftorians, 

 hav^ obfcured the origin of wine, we„may;tollecl feme va- 



* From Cotcrs d'-^f I cultured^ ^r%itt\'^ti\. X. 



luable 



