214 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



it may be obtained as a favor for 1 per bottle. In the Rhenish 

 provinces the grapes of each district are carefully kept separate, so 

 that the produce of each vineyard forms a wine by itself without any 

 admixture ; nor is any adulteration practised, each grower or maker 

 priding himself on the purity of his stock. The dealers, however, are 

 not so honorable or scrupulous, but make use of all the resources of 

 chemistry for spurious manufacture. For this fraud the town of Bin- 

 gen is said to be notorious. 



Rhenish wines of low quality are largely exported to the United 

 States, the demand being br the Germans settled there. Among the 

 most potent wines are those of Bavaria, of which the king of that 

 country holds vast quantities, lodged in his palace at Wurzburg. It 

 is all pure. At Pesth there are vast collections of Hungarian wines, 

 which are almost endless in their varieties. The strongest are those 

 of Buda, on the side of the Danube opposite Pesth, of Szexard, Arad, 

 and Veszprim. The famed Tokay is rarely to be obtained pure. 



There are enumerated from seven to eight hundred varieties of 

 Hungarian wine, and they are generally so strong that they would be 

 damaged with any addition of alcohol. That which is pure will keep 

 for twenty years without change of character or color, and unfortified 

 wine has been sent to America without suffering any deterioration. 

 But this pure wine is unknown to England as an article of commerce, 

 all that has arrived having been adulterated by the dealers through 

 whose hands it has passed, under the hypocritical pretence of adapt- 

 ing it to the English taste. Pure wines, direct from the growers, 

 could be sold in London, in bond, for four shillings a gallon. The 

 average production is estimated at 400,000,000 gallons, of which at 

 least one-third is available for export. As the supply is greater than 

 the demand, much is distilled or made into vinegar, or even thrown 

 away to set free the casks required for new wine. Mr. Douglas does 

 not enter into any detail of wines strictly Austrian, not mentioning 

 either their growth or quantity, though he specifies their strength, 

 which varies from 17.1, as Kerschbacher, to 23.3, as Gumholdskirchner. 

 The strength of Rudesheimer is from 20.2 to 22.7 ; of Hock, from 21.4 

 to 22. These belong to the Rhenish provinces. The Bavarian wines 

 vary in strength from 20.8 to 22, while the Hungarian range from 

 19.9 to 28.6. The strongest are from Arad. 



Mr. C. Bernard, of her Majesty's Customs, London, reported on 

 Spain and Portugal. The large shippers and vineyard proprietors of 

 those countries have for a long time been rather manufacturers than 

 producers of wine. Hence their beverages are rather described as 

 intoxicating than exhilarating, and the practice is justified on the 

 ground the correctness of which, however, is disputed that the 

 natural wine would gradually become unsound unless fortified by 

 alcohol for exportation. It is ascertained that the best wines have so 

 high a natural strength that adulteration seems quite unnecessary. 

 We subjoin the natural ranges of the best qualities: St. Lucas, 27.0 

 per cent. ; Xeres, 27.2 ; St. May's, 32.3 ; Montilla, 31.7. This is the 

 process. " No spirit is added to the ' must ' during the process of 

 manufacture or pressing the grape at the vineyard, unless it is in- 

 tended to be made ' sweet wine,' and then six arobas (equal to about 

 21 gallons of spirit, about 60 per cent, over proof) are added, in 



