NAT. ORDER. VITACEiE. S] 



The quantity of alcohol which they contain, is much more 

 than appears sensibly to the taste ; their acescency is thereby in a 

 great measure counteracted. Red port, and most of the red 

 wines, have an astringent quality, by which they strengthen the 

 stomach, and prove useful in restraining immoderate evacuations ; 

 on the contrary, those which are of an acid nature, as rhenish, 

 l^ass freely off by the kidneys, and prove gently cathartic. But 

 this, and perhaps all the thin or weak wines, though of an agree- 

 able flavor, yet, as containing little alcohol, are readily disjDosed to 

 become acetous in the stomach, and thereby to aggravate all an- 

 thritic and calculous complaints, as well as to produce the effects of 

 new wine. 



The general effects of wine, are, to stimulate the stomach, 

 exhilarate the spirits, warm the habit, quicken the circulation, 

 promote perspiration, and, in large quantities, to j^rove intoxica- 

 ting, and powerfully sedative. 



In a great variety of diseases, wine is universally admitted to 

 be of important service, and especially in fevers of the typhus 

 kind, or of a putrid tendency, in which it is found to raise the 

 pulse, support the strength, promote a diaphoresis, and to resist 

 putrefaction ; and in many cases, it proves of more immediate ad- 

 vantage than the Peruvian bark. Delirium, which is the conse- 

 quence of excessive irritability, and a defective state of nervous 

 energy, is often entirely removed by the free use of wine. It is 

 also a well founded observation, that those who indulge in the use 

 of wine, are less subject to fevers, both of the malignant and inter- 

 mittent kind. In the putrid sore throat, in the small pox, when 

 attended with great debility, and symptoms of putrescency, in 

 gangrenes, and in raging epidemics, wine is to be considered a 

 principal remedy ; and in almost all cases of languors, and of 

 great prostration of strength, wine is experienced to be a more 

 grateful and efficacious cordial, than can be found among the 

 whole class of aromatics. 



