and the Method ofmaling Wines. 219 



they precipitated themfelves in the liquor in pellicles, or nu- 

 merous and fucceffive ftrata. In this manner, I have obtained 

 twenty ftrata. 



Thefe flowers, which I at firft took for a precipitate of 

 tartar, is, in my opinion, a vegetation, or real fyffus 3 which 

 belongs to that fermented fubftance. It is reduced almoft to 

 nothing by deficcation, and by analyfis exhibits only a little 

 hydrogen and a great deal of carbon. 



All thefe rudiments or commencements of vegetation, 

 which develop themfelves in. all cafes where an organic 

 matter is decomposed, ought not, in my opinion, to be 

 clafTed with perfect plants : they are not fufceptiblc of re- 

 production, and are only a fvmmctric arrangement of the 

 moleculae of the matter, which feems rather directed by the 

 fimple laws of affinity than thofc of life. Similar pheno- 

 mena are obferved in all decompofitions of organic beings. 



In the years 1791 and 1792, the whole product of the 

 vintage was altered at the commencement by an acrid, nau- 

 feous odour, which went off after a long-continued fermenta- 

 tion. This effect was owing to an enormous quantity of 

 tree-bugs, (punaifes de Lois,) which had fettled on the grapes, 

 and which had been crufhed in treading them. 



VIII. TJfes -and Virtues of Wine. 



Wine has become the mod; ufual beverage of man, and is, 

 at the fame time, the moil: varied. Wine is known in all 

 climates; and the attraction of this liquor is fo ftrong, that 

 the prohibitory law refpecting it, which Mahomet impofed 

 on his followers, is daily broken. 



This liquor, befides being a tonic and ftrengthener, is 

 alfo more or lefs nutritive : in every point of view, it muft 

 be falutary. The antients afcribed to it the property of 

 ftrengthening the underftanding. Plato, iEfehylus, and 

 Solomon, all agree in afcribing to it this virtue. But no 

 writer has better defcribed the real properties of wine than 

 the celebrated Galen, who afligns to each fort its peculiar 

 ufes, and defcribes the difference they acquire by age, cli- 

 mate, &c. 



Excefs in regard to the ufe of wine has at all times called 

 forth the cenfure of legiflators. It was cuftomary among the 

 Greeks to prevent intoxication by rubbing their temples and 

 forehead with precious ointments and tonics. The anecdote 

 of that famous legiflator, who, to reftrain the intemperance 

 of the people, authorized it by an exprefs law, is well known ; 

 and we read that Lycurgus caufed drunken people to be pub- 

 licly exhibited, in order to excite a horror of intoxication in 



the 



