OF ARTS AND SCIENCES : OCTOBER 13, 1868. 59 



Mr. Oliver made a communication on certain ray-numbers 

 in Composite. 



Professor Cooke described a new species of Muscovite Mica 

 containing Lithium and a trace of Rubidium, associated with 

 the Spoduinene of Sterling, Mass. 



Six hundredth Meeting. 



October 13, 1868. — Monthly Meeting. 



The Corresponding Secretary in the chair. 



The Corresponding Secretary read letters relative to ex- 

 changes ; also letters from Dr. H. L. Mansel and Professor 

 Bluntschli in acknowledgment of their election as Foreign 

 Honorary Members, and a letter from Mr. Samuel H. Scudder 

 in acknowledgment of his election as a Resident Fellow. 



Professor F. H. Storer presented the following communica- 

 tion : — 



On the Simultaneous Occurrence of a Soluble Lead Salt and 

 free Sulphuric Acid in Sherry Wine ; ivith Observations on 

 the Solvent Action of Alcoholic Saline Solutions upon Sul- 

 phate of Lead. 



Several years since, I was called upon by a wine-merchant of this 

 city to examine a sample of pale sherry taken from a cask which had 

 been returned to him, on the certificate of a chemist that the wine con- 

 tained lead. The sample in question was perfectly transparent and 

 clear. There was nothing in the appearance or taste of the wine to in- 

 dicate the sophistication to which it had really been subjected. 



On submitting this sherry to chemical analysis, I found not only that 

 it held in solution a considerable proportion of lead, but also a decided 

 trace of free sulphuric acid, besides an abundance of the same acid 

 combined with some alkaline base. When a portion of the wine was 

 evaporated in contact with slips of paper, the latter soon became 

 crumbly and friable. 



Regarded merely from the chemical point of view, without reference 

 to its manifest bearing upon questions of hygiene and jurisprudence, 

 the simultaneous occurrence of a lead salt and of free sulphuric acid in 



