246 Observations on Tcrmentaiion. 



bability of having the words of his prescription fatallv 

 mistaken, if he carries it from London to Edinburgh or 

 Dublin, have the chance of being poisoned by taking an 

 active medicine prepared of a strength double to that of the 

 Pharmacopoeia according to which it was prescribed. 



In the hope, sir, that the publication of these observations 

 in your widely circulated Magazine may be productive of 

 real and imporlant good to society, I send them to you for 

 insertion, should you judge ihem worthy of it j and 1 am, 

 sir. 



Your obedient servant, 



Alexipharmacos. 



XLIV. Observations on the Article " Fermentation," con- 

 tained in M. Chaptal's Nouveau Coiirs complet d'Agri- 

 adtz/rc. By M. Du portal, M. D. Professor of Physic 

 and Chemistry in the Academy of Montpellier, &c. 



[Concluded from p. 226,] 



3. On the Influence ly the Bulk of the fermenting Mass 



produced itpon the Fhious Fermentation. 



J.T is an incontestable fact, that the activity of the vinous 

 fermentation is in proportion to the bulk of the mass. M. 

 Chaptal has seen miLSt contained in a cask, not finish its 

 fermentation until the eleventh day, while a large tub, which 

 contained twelve times the quantity, has completely fer- 

 mented in four days; the heat of the liquor in the cask 

 never exceeded seventeen degrees, while that in the large tub 

 reached twenty-five. It will readily be conceived that the 

 ^vine in the cask could not be so good as that in the large 

 vessel, that the combination of the principles of ihe must 

 could not be so perfect. However, a very large tub has one 

 disadvantage: as the heat produced is so much greater, there 

 is a greater volatilization of the alcohol and aroma, upon 

 which the goodness of the wine so much depends. 



4. Of the Influence of the constituent Principles of Musi 



upon the F'i?ious Ferinentation, 

 Water, sugar, and the ferment, arc the principles in must 

 which produce the most considerable effect upon the vinous 

 fermentation. I^oo laroe or too small a proportion ot either 

 of these priiiciples equally impedes the operation. When 

 ihe must contains too small a quantity of water, it under- 

 goes but an incomplete fermentation, because the first por- 

 tions of alcohol produced being too concentrated, preserve 



the 



