26 On the Process of making Spirits in 



Revenue officers' control ; being kept locked at all times, 

 except when wash is being conveyed thereto from the 

 backs ; but so soon as it has been filled, the officer locks 

 the communications between it and the backs, and opens 

 the communication between it and the wash-still, to allow 

 the wash to be run into it ; so that no more wash can be 

 run into the charger till the officer has again opened the 

 first mentioned communication ; and thus the process goes 

 on, charge after charge. 



The Stills. — Common stills are so well known that a 

 description of them here would be superfluous ; any boiler 

 having a head and worm, or refrigator, attached to it, 

 will answer the purpose, its object being simply to separate 

 the spirits, or alcohol, from the wash in which it is con- 

 tained ; this is obtained by applying heat to the wash, until 

 its temperature is sufficiently raised to convert the spirits 

 into vapour ; this vapour escapes through the head of the 

 still, into a spiral tube, technically called the worm, which 

 being contained in a tub or tank of cold water, condenses 

 the vapour into a weak impure spirit, called low wine. 

 These are run from the worm, and into the low wine 

 receivers, in which they are taken account of by the 

 Revenue officer. They are immediately afterwards pumped 

 up into another vessel called the low wines 'and feints- 

 charger, and from thence run into the low wines still, 

 which is furnished with a head and worm like the wash-still. 

 In this still the low wines are re-distilled, and produce 

 a quantity of pure spirit, which issues from its worm 

 end, and is conveyed into the spirit-receiver as a finished 

 article, fit for consumption. But a large portion of this 

 second distillation is still too coarse, and too much conta- 

 minated with essential oils, for commercial purposes, until 

 it has undergone further rectification. These coarse spirits, 

 whether the produce, of two or more distillations, are called 

 faints ; they are carefully separated from the purer portion, 

 and conveyed into a vessel, called the " faints receiver," 

 from which they are again removed into the still, and re- 

 distilled repeatedly, until the produce becomes pure, which 

 finishes the process. 



Up to the termination of the last century, the common still 

 and worm, such as we have just described them, were uni- 



