42 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



surplus oranges found on the market. It is a fraud. All the oranges 

 there are in it are harely enough to give it flavor. It is only a vile 

 concoction of a number of agents that cause a slight acid ferment. 

 To this, hot spirits can be added, and when drank by the beverage 

 guzzler he can feel his Ebenezer loom up in his brain. Ah, what 

 illusions of delight fill his brain as he lays in the gutter, a fit com- 

 panion for those animals into which another kind of spirits entered 

 after they parted Avith the society of the renowned Mary Magdalene. 



But I must leave this fruitful theme of thought and turn to a 

 pet subject of some of our thrifty apple growers, who with zealous 

 scruples strive to utilize their surplus fruit and keep the demon 

 spirit dormant as long as possible and make a drink that is potable, 

 agreeable and not intoxicant. Such is sweet cider, or what should 

 more properly be called unfermented apple juice. 



The venders of cider, as a rule, select sound, unmarketable 

 fruit to make into cider. When the juice is pressed from the pu Ju- 

 ice he filters and then heats the juice to nearly boiling point. This 

 causes the lees to rise to the surface, so they can be skimmed off — 

 for more or less lees will pass the filter with all due care. This heat- 

 ing destroys germs and spores that act as ferments. In this con- 

 dition he barrels; then adds about two ounces of salicylic acid to 

 every thirty-two gallons of juice. Some dissolve the salicylic acid 

 with soda bi-carbonate. The soda, besides acting as a solvent to the 

 salicylic, covers its unpleasant taste. About two grains of soda 

 bi-carbonate will dissolve about an ounce of salicylic acid. When 

 this compound is added to the cider, the barrel is closed so it is per- 

 fectly excluded from the air. Whatever germs have failed to be 

 killed by the heat are either destroyed or held' in a static state by 

 the anti-ferment properties of the salicylic acid. The juice remains 

 sweet. I say juice, for in its present state it is not entitled to the 

 nobility of cider, having no intoxicating properties about it, and 

 will remain so as long as air is kept from it. If air is admitted, it 

 bears with it germs and spores that soon overcome the static power 

 of the salicylic acid, and the juice takes on a ferment, and alcohol 

 is set free by a new combination of molecules, and the juice has be- 

 come cider, and now is an intoxicating beverage. 



Up to this stage the salicylic acid has suffered no decomposition 

 by breaking up its molecules into new combination, but now its chem- 

 ical combination begins to dissolve, and salicylic acid is no longer 

 found in the cider, and the beverage is only relished by the toper, 

 and from this on is christened with the classic name of "hard 

 cider." 



The salicylic acid in a half pint of cider would be less than two 

 grains. If a man drinks a quart a day (an amount many do drink) 

 he would take into his system about sixteen grains of salicylic acid 

 a dav- If this is followed up for days large amounts of this drug 

 would be ingested; but we should remember it is also eliminated 

 from the system, so it does not accumulate in the organs. 



