On the Analyjis of Wine. 131 



Alcohol, then, is more or lefs abundant In all wines, Tliofe 

 of warm climates furnidi a''2;reat deal ; thole of cold climates 

 give fcarcely any at all. Ripe and i'accharine grapes produce 

 It in abundance; while the wines arifing from green aqueous 

 grapes, which contain little of the faccharine prmciple, afford 

 very little. 



There are fome wines in the fouth which furnifh a third of 

 fpirit : there are feveral in the north which contain only a 

 fifteenth. 



It is the proportion of alcohol that renders wines more or 



new wine, he was only able to ftparate, bi: means of pora(h, the fame 

 quantity of aicuhol. But tliis experinicnt appears to nic to prove at moft 

 that the foreign alcohol a'!f!-d to tii; wine docs not enter into fo exaft a 

 combination as that which exills narurally there : it remains in tiie ftate of 

 fimple mixture. We ob.lrve a fimilnr pliX'nomenon when hit^iily concen- 

 trated alcohol is diluted by the addiiioa of a greater or lefs quantity of 

 water; for it is known in commerce that this weakened alcohol has not 

 the fame tafte, which marks, however, the fame degree of fpinrofity. I 

 confider alcohol, then, in wine not as txiding there in an infi'l itcd ftate, 

 and difengaged from all corohinntion, but as combined with the colouring 

 principle, carbon, alkali, cxtraiftivc matter, and all the other conllituent 

 principles of wine: i"o that wine is a fupLT-compounded whole, all the ele- 

 ments of which may be extradicj by chemical ir.e^ns; and wher., by the 

 application of heat, thefe prmciplts arc fepararcd, the molt volatile rife 

 firft, and what firft pafiTes is a very light compound, forming alcohol, then 

 water, &;c. 



Diftillation, by fucccflively extradling all the principles of wine, accord- 

 ing to the invaria^'le laws of their gnivity and of their affitiiiics, breaks 

 and deftroys the primitive combina;Ioii which conftitutes wine, and ex- 

 hibits produfts which, when united a:!;^in, cannot reproduce the primitive 

 body, bccaufe the hcrit h<is entirely dilunired and fcparated the compound 

 into principles which may cxilt in an infulated ftate, and which nave 

 fcarcely any affinity. 



In a word, it is of little importance to art whether the alcohol exifts or 

 <?ocs not exift in wine; the tlifiiller ftill li.is invariable principles both in 

 regard to the quality and to the quantity of alcohol which each kind of 

 wine can furnifti. Whether the heat, therefore, combities the principles 

 of the alcohol, or merely extrafts them from a m.ifs where th^'v are com- 

 bined, the manner of operating .ind the reliilts of the operation can re- 

 ceive from them no modific;iiion. W'e lee in the diftillation of .ill vege- 

 table matters, ai>d their proda£ls, a repi.tition of the ph:triomena exhibited 

 by the diftillation of wine. 



Diftillation by heat is not the only means of cxtrafting the alcohol from 

 v.'ine. I ft. The carbonic acid gas which is diftngagcd by fermentation 

 carries with it, and in a (t^te of folution, a Very confiderable qumtity of 

 alcohol, as 1 have already Hiown. 2d, The gas wirth elcapcs fron> 

 chainpagne carries off ahiioft all the alcohol contained in ili :r wine. 

 3d, Very fpiritous wines, when fti iken in the liottlc, fcffcr to cfcipe -X 

 very fenfiliie flavour of alcohol. 4rn, Tiic wines which fmnifti mofl fpirit 

 are thought to be moft fpiritous to the taftc. All thcle fa£fs c.iimct be rc» 

 concilcd with the hypoth<fi$ of the formation of alcohol by diftillation, and 

 fccin to prove tiiat it exifts q'lite formed in the wine. 



The reader on this important fiibjeft may rcr.ur to the opinion of Four- 

 «foy, publiflicd in Annala il( Cbtmi/:. 



I % Mi 



