320 On the DhtUIation of Spirits, &c. in Holland,^ 



miBt necessarily cooperate, by giving the distillers full Ij' 

 berty to act and proceed according to their knowledge and 

 experience; and 1 may hazard, without the least danger, 

 the assertion, that as long as the duty is laid either on the 

 quantity oi-" the wash, or on the capacity of the still, the 

 jibove can never be attained, and the distillers to avoid their 

 ruin will be oblioed to have recourse to pernicious ingre- 

 tlients. In the former case, their interest prompts them to 

 OA'erload their liquids with too great a quantity of grain, 

 which not only causes them to sustain a considerable loss 

 of spirit, because the water, which acts as a solvent to sac- 

 charine matter, can oulv dissolve and keep in a state of so- 

 lution a cejtain quantity of thit matter ; but after it is satu- 

 rated, the rest of that matter is lost, ft lurther results from 

 thence, that the fermentation, on which the success of the 

 operation chieHy depends, proceeds not as regularly as in 

 rc2:ard to a well diluted wash ; and on distilling this thick* 

 and as it were over-saturated wash, the distiller introduces 

 into his caldron a great quantity of oleaginous particles, 

 and of consequence into his spirit more essential oil, espe- 

 cially if the distillation be pushed on with vivacity ; besides 

 that this thick waih, fiom the rapidity of the distillation, 

 is likely to communicate to the spirit an empvreumatic 

 taste, which w ould obstruct its sale if the rectiiier did not 

 correct this fault by noxious additions. 



In the latter case, the interest of the distiller demands 

 that he must conduct the distillation rapidly, and with a 

 violent fire; the result of which is, that ail the essential oil 

 rises with the spirit, and that it also must contract an em- 

 pvreumatic ta^te. It further results from this rapid mode 

 of working, that the distiller does not allow himself suffi- 

 cient time entirely to empty his caldron, or to clean it care- 

 fully, as well as the other utensils ; which in my judgment 

 must have a strc^ng influence on the salubrity of the spirit 

 on account of the verdio-ris, which, from want of cleanness, 

 forms itself in the caldron and worm, if they are made of 

 copper; and as the distillations succeed each other in so 

 rapid a manner, the distiller cannot allow the liquor suffi- 

 cient time to ferment slowly; he must therefore make use 

 of more ferment, which cannot but produce a bad effect, 

 both in regard to flavour and salubrity. They who assert . 

 that a rapid distillation has no influence upon the taste and 

 flavour of the spirit, either try to deceive, or are ignorant 

 of the first principles of the art of distillation ; and in order 

 to confound thcni, we have only to ask this question, Why 

 are wc obliged to dis^til fine ;iiid delicate liquors in balneo 



marice 



