1^3 On the Analjjls of IVine. 



lefs generous; it is it which difpofcs them to, or preferves 

 them from, acid degeneration. Wine turns four with more 

 faciUty the lefs alcohol it contains, the proportion of extrac- 

 tive n)atter being fuppofed lo be the fame in both. 



The richer wine is in fpirit, the lefs it contains of malic 

 acid ; and this is the reaibn why the beft wines furnifh, in 

 general, the beft fpirit, becaufe they are then freed from the 

 prefence of that acid which gives them their difagrecable 

 tafte. 



It is by diftilling wines that all the alcohol they contain 

 is extrafted. 



The diftillation of wine has been known for feveral cen- 

 turies ; but this operation has been fucceffively improved, and 

 at prefent has been brought to fuch a ftate of perfeilion, that 

 the fpirit trade muft derive great benefit from it, and that the 

 proccfs may be applied with advantage to every other kind of 

 diftillation. The alembics long ufed for diftilling were 

 boilers with a long narrow cylindric neck, having at the 

 fummit a hollow hemifphere, from which proceeded a tube, 

 of no great fize, deftined to convey the liquor into the worm. 

 Arnold de Villanova feems to have been the firft who gave 

 us any accurate notions in regard to the diftillation of wines ; 

 and to him we are indebted for the firft defcription of this 

 long-necked alembic, models of which are ftill found among 

 our perfumers. 



The idea entertained, that the product of the diftillation 

 was the more delicate, fubtile, and pure, as it was raifed 

 hif^her, by making it pafs through very fmall tubes, diredted 

 the conftruftion of thefe ftills. But diftillers were foon con- 

 vinced that it was not fo much the obftacles oppofed to the 

 afcent of the vapours as the art of graduating the heat in a 

 proper manner, which rendered the produft of the diftillation 

 more or lefs pure. It has been found that, in the firft cafe, 

 the force of the fire changes the nature of the fpiritous prin- 

 ciples by communicating to them an empyreumatic tafte; 

 while, in the fecond, pure fpirit arifes, and paffes into the 

 worm without alteration. On the other hand, ceconomy, 

 an important confidcration in the arts, has caufed all the 

 changes made in the old proceffes to be adopted. 



Thus the column perpendicular to the boiler has been fuc- 

 ceflively lowered, the capital enlarged, the boiler made wider, 

 and the following general forms have been gradually adopted. 

 The ftills, at prefent, are a kind of flat-bottomed boilers, 

 the fides of which rife perpendicularly to the height of about 

 twenty-two inches. At this height a contraction takes place, 

 which reduf.es the aperture to eleven or twelve inches. This 



aperture 



