314 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVEKT. 



posing it to be in bottles). The color of liqueur-wines becomes darker, but 

 such wines as arc rich in tannic acid, port, for example, deposit a sediment, 

 and become lighter. Red-wines, which contain no large amount of tannic 

 acid, generally grow darker. The details, which must be mentioned, in 

 order to explain this change, will be better understood when we come to 

 consider more particularly the coloring matter of wine. With regard to the 

 fact just mentioned, that wines which are not rich in tannic acid, acquire a 

 darker color, I will only observe that the diminution of free acid in the wine 

 (he it tartaric or acetic) is always connected with this appearance, for the 

 red hue is the effect of free acid, and the decrease of such acid allows the 

 coloring matter to appear more purple. 



Corking is an operation that may seriously affect the chemistry of wine, 

 and the mischief resulting from the growth of mould, causing a musty 

 flavor, is so frequent, that the professor expresses surprise that other con : 

 trivances are not adopted for excluding the air. 



" It really seems strange that in this age, when so many other means can 

 be employed, cork should still be made use of to stop bottles. The moist 

 cork, one side of which is in contact with the air, allows, equally with the 

 wood of ih3 wine-cask, the development of mould plants. The taste and 

 smell of wine is, under such circumstances, identical with that of many 

 other mouldy substances, and is what we call musty. The mould of cork 

 differs of course from that of wood, and the taste is consequently not exactly 

 the same. The smell may be distinctly perceived in almost every ware- 

 house in the country. The mould grows from the outside to the inside, and 

 should it reach the inner side of the cask or cork it imparts a taste to the 

 wine. On this account old wine casks must from time to time be cleansed 

 outside and inside, and new corks must be put into the bottles, even when 

 the old ones are unhurt. If the inside of the cork be covered with resin or 

 sealing-wax, the entrance of the air is cut off, and the formation of mould 

 hindered, though not prevented. Wines which have been long in bottle often 

 acquire an unpleasant taste from this mouldiness ; they are brought out to 

 do honor to a guest, and praise is expected, which cannot honestly be 

 given." 



IMPRO YEMENIS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND PREPARATION OF 



FAT, OILS, ETC. 



Production of Stearin e and Olcine. A patent has been recently granted in 

 England to Mr. Hills, for improvements in the production of Stcarine and 

 Olcine. His method consists in mixing the fat, heated to 110 Fah., with 

 ten per cent, dry sulphate of lime, chloride of calcium, or other suitable sub- 

 stance capable of absorbing water ; then adding five per cent, hydrochloric 

 or nitric acid, and stirring the whole together for an hour; water is then 

 added, and heated, by means of steam, to the boiling point, until the acid is 

 entirely separated from the fat. when it is run off and melted to separate 

 water, and pressed to separate oleine. A stream of hydrochloric acid gas or 

 nitric acid vapor may be used instead of the liquid acids and sulphate of 

 lime or chloride of calcium. 



