GIN. 335 
for a few hours, then strain through a muslin bag placed over 
a colander. Soak half an ounce of Gelatin in a little water, and 
add this to the Blackberry juice, with a quarter of a pound of 
white sugar, and boil all for half an hour. Put it into a wet 
mould, and turn out the next day. The same recipe will serve 
for preparing Mulberry jelly, whilst making use of this fruit 
instead of Blackberries. 
Ginger jelly, which is excellent as a stomachic adjunct to 
stewed fruits, may be readily made by adding extract of the 
root (see “‘ Ginger’) to water sweetened to taste, and into which 
when boiling a quarter of an ounce of Gelatin is stirred so as 
to become dissolved. 
GIN. 
(and See Spirits). 
As an ardent spirit Gin is obtained by fermenting a mash of 
malt and rye, this product being distilled, and re-distilled, 
whilst some juniper berries, with a little salt (and sometimes 
hops) are added in the final distillation. The two important 
varieties of Gin are Dutch “ Hollands,” or Schiedam, and English 
Gin, known when sweetened, and diluted, as “‘ Old Tom.” This 
last appellation was got from the fact of Gin having been sold 
surreptitiously by the twopennyworth, when to supply less than 
two gallons at a time was forbidden by law. A leaden pipe was 
passed cunningly through the vendor’s wall beneath the paw 
of a cat, which animal figured outside, the money being put into 
the cat’s mouth by illicit purchasers of the spirit, as then dispensed 
from inside by means of a funnel through the pipe. The tavern 
bearing this sign of a cat (“Old Tom”) was in Blue Anchor 
Alley, Saint Luke’s. Hollands Gin is almost free from sweetness, 
and is generally more pure than English Gin, which is of all 
spirits the poorest in alcoholic strength. Juniper berries, as 
used in making the best Gin, contain juniperin, sugar, resins, 
wax, fat, with formic, and acetic acids, also malates; they 
afford a yellow, aromatic oil which acts on the kidneys, and 
gives a sense of cordial warmth to the stomach. In France, 
and Italy, the berries are eaten raw, fifteen or twenty at a time, 
to stimulate a flow of urine. Likewise by an old Tract (London 
1682), On the use of Juniper, and Elder berries in our Publick 
Houses, we are told that “ the simple decoction of these berries. 
