CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 243 



used in the manufacture of the medicated Vines of the United States Phar- 

 macopoeia, from the fact that it contains no acidity. 



As a made-up wine it is manufactured similarly to Madeira, and materials 

 are used which will impart to raw spirit its peculiar dry, nutty flavor. 

 British sherry is a wine obtained by fermenting sugar, ale-wort, raisins, and 

 yeast; then biter almonds and orris powder is added, and the wine fined; or 

 a spirit, obtained by fermenting parsnip-juice with water and sugar, is 

 mixed with a poor grade of Madeira, cassia, cloves, and bitter almonds 

 added, and the whole fined with isinglass. 



Clarets are abundantly produced, and consequently cheap, though some of 

 the favorite varieties rank among the highest priced wines. They are as 

 fully as abundantly manufactured from rough cider, a red wine from the 

 Cape of Good Hope, catechu, spirits, bitter almonds, etc. 



The less said about champagne wines the better, for there is more several 

 times over exported to America and Russia alone then the whole cham- 

 pagne district in France produces; and in the immediate champagne districts 

 are large establishments for the manufacture of artificial champagne. 



The Rhine wines, or " Hocks," as they are called, are nearly all made-up 

 wines, and by the same means that the other wines mentioned in this article 

 are manufactured. Some of the brands of Rhine wines bear fabulous prices 

 in districts where they are produced, and are never exported. It is the same 

 with all wines grown: all are subject to sophistication in the hands of dis- 

 honest producers ; or the demand being greater than the supply, tempts those 

 skilled in the manufacture to so make imitations of them. 



ON AMYLIC ALCOHOL. 



The following research on Amylic Alcohol has been submitted to the 

 French Academy, by M. Pasteur : 



The fusel oil of commerce consists chiefly of two kinds of amylic alcohol 

 one active, and the other inactive, with regard to polarized light. These 

 two varieties are exactly similar in their chemical properties, differ but 

 slightly in density and boiling point, and give rise, under similar circum- 

 stances, to products which resemble each other in all respects, excepting 

 in their relation to polarized light, those which are derived from the active 

 alcohol being themselves active, and those which result from the inactive 

 alcohol being themselves also inactive. The proportion of the active and 

 inactive alcohols in fusel-oil varies according to its origin: thus the fusel oil 

 obtained by fermentation of the juice of mangold wurtzel, contains about 

 one-third of the active and two-thirds of the inactive amylic alcohol ; where- 

 as, that which is produced by the fermentation of the molasses, contains 

 about equal parts of the two alcohols. The two alcohols cannot be sepa- 

 rated by fractional distillation, but only by fractional crystallization of the 

 active and inactive sulphamylates of baryta. For this purpose it is neces- 

 sary to prepare a large quantity of sulphamylate of baryta from crude amy- 

 lic alcohol, rectified by a single distillation, in order to free it from water and 

 vinic alcohol. The amylic alcohol, thus far purified, is mixed, as usual, with 

 an equal weight of sulphuric acid, the mixture treated with carbonate of 

 baryta, then filtered, and left to crystallize. The crystals have all the same 

 aspect, lustre, form, and angles ; and, as in the case of a perfectly constant 

 and homogeneous substance, the salt may be crystallized either wholly or par- 



