On the Distillation of Spirits, &c. in Holland. 321 



marice (a bath of water) to give them that fine flavour which 

 causes them to be so mueh esteemed? Tlie answer is, Be- 

 cause, in this case, the action of the fire is not immediately 

 directed against the vessel which contains the hquor, and 

 because the heat is equal and uniform, and cannot be in- 

 creased by the vivacity of the fire, because wa!;er which is 

 in a state of ebullition cannot assume a higher degree of 

 heatj'and thus the liquors cannot contract any empyreu- 

 matic taste. If the fire had not any influence upon the 

 spirit, these precautions would certainly be fruitless. 



Persons who are of opinion that a rapid distillation has 

 no influence upon the salubrity of the spirit, are equally 

 mistaken. No one endowed with common sense, and pos- 

 sessed of the least knovv-Iedge of the art of distillation, can 

 call it in question, that by a violent fire all the essential oil 

 must be made to rise with the spirit, and the fiery and in- 

 digestible qualities of this oil, so copiously mixed with this 

 spu'it, are too well known to admit of the least doubt. 

 They not only possess the property of intoxicating quickly, 

 and causing head-ache, but also affect so very strongly the 

 nervous system, as to cause a trembling when taken in any 

 excessive degree ; and in general it may be fairly asserted, 

 that adulterated spirits possess the quality, in common with 

 bad wine, of causino- head-ache and trembling when drunk 

 in an extravagant manner; which is not the case after an 

 excess committed in drinking good and pure wine : and I 

 rather incline to think, that by this rapid distillation some 

 particles of copper are disengaged, and rise and mix with 

 the spirit, because the wash contains some small quantity 

 of acids, which with the aid of an excessive heat acts upon 

 the metal, as all other acid solvents do upon metals in pro- 

 portion as they are assisted by heat : and this is perhaps the 

 reason of the blucish colours discernible in s;juit d. stilled 

 with a violent fire. 



But supposing that a rapid distillation cannot produce 

 any effects hurtful to health, per se, it is at least self-evi- 

 dent it is cxcessivelv pernicious in its consequences, because 

 the rectifier is absolutely obliged to employ poisonous in- 

 gredients for the purpose of destroying the empyreumatic 

 and unpleasant taste which the essential oil has communi- 

 cated to the liquor; and which simple rectifications, how- 

 ever multiplied, cannot by any means effect. 



Eefore 1 explain these means it will be necessary to ob- 

 serve, that unprincipled distillers, in employing these means, 

 have two different objects in view; namely, to destroy the 



N». 72. i:\/«y 1804. X bad 



