ALCOHOL. 27 
inn, is apt to exclaim that the landlord has drawn the wine in 
a varnish pot, and to sneer accordingly at this balsamic ‘‘ Vino 
Vermuth.” But the taste is well worth acquiring by thirsty 
souls in warm climates, and merits the patronage of philan- 
thropists, for it cannot be doubted that the wholesomeness of 
many Greek, and Italian native drinks is due to their being 
preserved from decay and secondary fermentation, by their 
rosin, in place of fiery and fuselly spirit. The large quantity of 
this wine habitually consumed without prejudice by its admirers 
is very remarkable. Six years ago there was living, and perhaps 
still lives, at Menidi, near Athens, a priest, over ninety years 
of age, who from early manhood had drunk a dozen bottles of 
wine every day, partly at meals, and partly at odd times. The 
American Consul ascribes this venerable toper’s toughness to 
the special quality of his liquor. 
The ethers of wines are volatile, and fixed ; they confer much 
of the bouquet, particularly the cenanthine, or cenanthic ether. 
Port wine contains a large proportion of such ethers, especially 
the “‘ fixed.” 
The colour of red wine is due to a pigment in the skins turned 
red by the acids of the grape juice, whilst the colour of white 
wines is caused by the oxidation of tannic acid in the cask. 
Different yeast plants adhering to the skin of the grapes dis- 
tinguish different wines, which are first put into cask for some 
years and then bottled, the formation of ethers still going on. 
But it is a mistake to think that wine will continue to improve 
for an indefinite length of time; it is liable eventually to decay 
by the slow process of complete oxidation. Nevertheless “ what 
magic there is in an old bottle of red wine! How beautiful it 
looks as the light shines through it! An old bottle of red 
wine! For years it has lain in the darkness, and rest of the 
cellar. For years there has been ripening within it a slow, 
soft life-warmth ; a magical, fine spirit that will evoke for you 
dreams, and half-dreams of an entrancing sort. This old bottle 
of wine holds imprisoned within it a kindly genie which will 
transport you back to the balmy past—a past from which the 
bitterness has vanished. This kindly genie will soften for you 
the present ; and he will show you the glimmer, and the wonder 
of the future! An old bottle of red wine! It is a precious gift 
that comes from out the divine essence of the earth! A fine 
elixir! It cheers and befriends, and soothes. It awakens in man 
