Palestine, St/ria, and Asia Minor. 179 



I was surprised to find so much alcohol as the above Table exhi- 

 bits in No. 1, which would pass for tolerably good vinegar. No. 2, 

 from the same locality, shews us probably how much alcohol it con- 

 tained before the acetic fermentation commenced. These specimens 

 were from grapes, grown probably not far from the " Valley of 

 Eschol," whence the famous cluster was borne away by the Jewish 

 spies in the time of Moses ; for that valley must have been in the 

 south-easterly part of Palestine. No. 2 has the taste of strong 

 Madeira wine. Nos. 3 and 4 are from Mount Lebanon, one of the 

 most famous localities of the wines of Scripture. No. 3 is astrin- 

 gent and somewhat sweet, yet it appears to be fully wrought. No. 4 

 has a similar taste, but it is quite thick, as its high specific gravity 

 shews ; and I strongly suspect that the grape juice was partially 

 boiled down before it was allowed to ferment, as we know was for- 

 merly practised, and is still done, on Mount Lebanon, according to 

 Mr Buckingham. It has the appearance of the other wines, after 

 they have been heated to the boiling point in the retort ; that is, a 

 redder colour than is natural. No. 5 is perfect Port wine in colour, 

 taste, and the amount of sediment deposited in the bottle. No. 6 

 is from Cyprus, which is one of the most famous localities of the 

 ancient Greek wines. It is sweet and astringent, but not thick, and 

 has no appearance of having been boiled before fermentation, as Mr 

 Buckingham says is usually done on that island. It will be seen 

 that it is a very strong wine. The age of those wines mentioned in 

 the table are their ages when obtained by Mr Van Lennep. A year 

 more, at least, should be added, except, perhaps, in one or two cases, 

 as having elapsed before they were analysed. No. 7, from Rhodes, 

 is a very clear strong wine, the strongest which I analysed, and 

 slightly astringent, resembling some varieties of Madeira. No. 8, 

 from Corfu, whose age is unknown, considerably resembles it in 

 appearance and taste, and, as the analysis shews, in alcoholic power. 

 No. 9, from Samos, is less clear, more astringent, and less strong. 

 No. 10, from Smyrna, has the colour of Port wine, and is sour, 

 astringent, and unpleasant, tasting strongly of the skin of the grape. 

 The sourness appears to have been derived, chiefly at least, from the 

 grape, and not from fermentation. It was about eighteen months 

 old when analysed ; called, however, by M. Van Lennep, a new wine. 

 In short, these specimens exhibit a good deal of variety of character, 

 and are, therefore, favourable for the object in view. It will be 

 seen that, in all cases except the first, which I conceived to be of 

 little importance, I performed two analyses of each specimen ; and I 

 have given both results, that chemists might judge how much 

 dependence is to be placed upon my researches. In No. 2, the dif- 

 ference in the amount of alcohol, by the two processes, amounts to 

 1.2 per cent. In the other cases the diff'erence is less ; and it seems 

 to me we are warranted in concluding, that my mean results do not 

 vary more than 1 per cent, from the truth in any case ; and this is 



