258 Dr. Andrew Steel [April 



Before leaving this part of our subject, there is another 

 point which it will not be out of place to determine, the 

 composition of the spirit, which, in the language of the 

 trade and revenue, is denominated proof, and by reference 

 to which, the value of all other spirits is ascertained. 



The intention of Government being to levy a certain 

 amount of duty upon the real quantity of alcohol contained 

 in spirits, the amount of this duty must necessarily vary 

 with the strength. In place of taking pure alcohol as the 

 standard to which the value of such spirits are referred, a 

 much inferior strength has been, wisely perhaps, made 

 choice of, as it is of consequence that every standard of this 

 kind should be that which is most commonly employed, 

 besides the more important reason, that any small error in 

 ascertaining the strength, &c, will be of much less conse- 

 quence in an inferior than in a more valuable spirit. 



The proportional value of spirits will be no less truly 

 ascertained, by reference to the quantity of such standard 

 spirit, that would be capable of producing or being produced 

 by that given compound, provided it be certainly and pre- 

 cisely defined. This, unfortunately, can hardly be said to 

 be the case. 



The first attempt to fix it by parliamentary authority, 

 was by the 2 G. III. c. xxv., by which it is enacted, " That 

 each gallon of spirits, of the strength one to six, under hydro- 

 meter proof, shall be taken and reckoned as seven pounds 

 thirteen ounces the gallon." 



The omission to fix the temperature, coupled with the 

 awkwardness of describing a mixture, differing from proof 

 rather than proof itself, and from which the latter could 

 only be inferred, from a calculation, in which different 

 data may be assumed, are the leading causes of all the 

 uncertainty relating to this subject. 



Unsatisfactory as this first attempt was, it was contrived 

 to render it still more so, by the one which succeeded ; 

 27 G. III. c. xxxi., enacting, " That all spirits shall be 

 taken to be of the degree of strength, which the said hydro- 

 meter, called Clark's, shall denote it to be." 



This instrument was, perhaps, the very worst that could 

 have been made choice of, different instruments, varying 

 not only from each other, but from themselves, to the 



