Palestine^ Byria^ and Asia Minor. 181 



ancient wines of the countries under consideration possessed essen- 

 tially the same character as the modern wines made there. 



There has been no important change in the climate, and of course 

 the grapes now produced there, are the same essentially as in ancient 

 times. If the wines are different, then, it must be the result of 

 different modes of making them ; and I am not aware of any im- 

 portant difference in this respect, unless it be in those cases (and 

 whether there be any such cases I know not) in which the wines are 

 enforced by the addition of distilled liquor ; but such a case affects 

 not my present argument, because I have analysed only those which 

 are derived from the pure juice of the grape. Much, indeed, has 

 been said about the practice of the ancients, of boiling down the 

 juice of the grape, more or less, before allowing it to ferment. But 

 the same practice exists now ; nor is there any reason to believe that 

 it was ever general, but resorted to only to furnish an agreeable 

 variety. And it so happens, fortunately, that one of the specimens 

 analysed — viz., from Mount Lebanon — is a wine thus prepared ; 

 and it may stand as a representative of that class of wines. It is, 

 indeed, the weakest wine of the number ; and we learn from this 

 fact, that this process does affect the amount of alcohol ; and yet 

 this specimen contains about 11 per cent, of pure alcohol, and 22 

 per cent, of brandy, — enough, certainly, to make the wine quite 

 intoxicating. Yet it is quite sweet, and therefore sweetness does 

 not prove that a wine is unintoxicating. When the juice of the grape 

 is boiled down, so as to become thick like honey, or even solid, then, 

 indeed, it cannot ferment, and may be kept an indefinite length of 

 time without containing alcohol. Such was sometimes the case 

 among the ancients ; but whether the wine which they called dcr- 

 frutum, in which the juice was boiled away only one-half, was of this 

 character, that is, thick enough to prevent all fermentation, I much 

 doubt. This inspissated juice of the grape was rather regarded as 

 honey, and so it is called in the Bible, and at the present day, in 

 the Eastern world, it is a very common article ; but so far as I can 

 learn, by inquiring of several missionaries, it is not called wine, but 

 is rather a substitute for our honey or molasses. Admitting, how- 

 ever, that this article was sometimes called wine by the ancients 

 (and I have no doubt of the fact), its use as a beverage must neces- 

 sarily have been quite limited, and therefore this fact does not inva- 

 lidate my general conclusion, that the character of the ancient and 

 modern wines in Eastern countries was essentially the same. This 

 conclusion, at which Professor Beck arrived by chemical considera- 

 tions, in his valuable paper on the analysis of wines in this Journal 

 (vol. xxviii.), seems now to be still farther confirmed by experiment. 



I trust that, in arriving at such conclusions, it will not be ima- 

 gined that I wish to take away any support — or do, in fact, take 

 away any support — from the noble cause of temperance, which I 

 have endeavoured for so many years to sustain, both theoretically 



