On the Strengths of the Mixtures of Alcohol: 



429 



Table of Comparifon for the Areometers tf 



From the imperfc£lion of thefe inftruments, particularly with regard to the indication' 

 of the component parts of fpirituous mixtures, it has been an obje£t of importance to phi- 

 lofophers, and the projeftors of legiflative impofts, to examine the fubje£l with great pre- 

 iCifion. Among the philofophcrs who have made refearches on this head, our author con- 

 fines his notice to Baume, Briflbn, Gouvenain, Struve, Jacob Fagot, of Stockholm, and' 

 Blagden. Of the refults obtained by thefe philofophcrs, he gives concife tables, by means' 

 of which he has traced curves to exhibit the fame with their comparative degrees of regu- 

 larity and refpeftive differences. See Plate XVIII. 



In examining thefe curves, he found that thofe of -Fagot and Struve abound with finuo- 

 llties, which prove that their experiments were not made with due care, and ought to be 

 rejedted out of the comparifon : befides which, the fluids they ufed were too remote in^ 

 their denfities, from thofe which were fubjeded to experiment by the four other- philo- 

 fophcrs. 



On examining the curves confl:ru£led from the experiments of the laft, it was found that": 

 the curve of Baume contains alfo a great number of finuofities \ that of Blagden lefs, and-' 

 thofe of BrifTon and Gouvenain were the moft regular. Thefe curves alfo appear to indi- 

 cate, that the alcohol ufed by Briffon had a ftronger attraftion for water than that of 

 Gouvenain ;, that this laft was ftronger in this refpeft than that of Blagden : ;and laftly,- 

 that the fpirit ufed by Baume had a weaker attraction than either of the other three. This- 

 important obfervation fhews, that the pradlical ufe of any fet of , tables in determining the 

 fpecific gravities of different mixtures of fpirit and water, muft^ to a certain-degree, be con- 

 fined to that fpecies of liquor from which the tables, or equivalent inftrument was formed.' 

 3 Notwith-- 



