66 Notices respecting New Books. 



excited, it then enters either entirely or partially into a more 

 pvifect combination witli the wine than that which it forms after 

 a mere admixture ; or a portion of it at least, proportioned to 

 the degree of fermentation wliich takes place alter its addition, 

 'incomes thus coml)ined. Here the test indieated hy Fahbroui 

 <<ii!!-, alllio'.igh reat;cnts of hi^ijlier powers are still tnpaule of ef- 

 fecting the separation. In ail such cases the wine is iin))erfectly 

 \;ii-nis, the brandy being almost always sensible to delicate pa- 

 lates, and its efifeets on the stomach are jnoportionably injnriuu';. 

 The test is tiierefore of real use in ascertaining tiie correct fabri- 

 cation of those wines to which brandy is added, and it will in- 

 viiriahlv be found tliat tl.e worst wines of the growth of Portugal 

 ?nd Spain are those which are the most sensible to it, or in other 

 words, those which contain the greatest quantity of uuconiljinetl 

 alcohol. Rut to return to the consequences which arise in the 

 liqucr itself from the admixture of alcohol. It decomposes the 

 wine. However siow the effects of this decomposition may ap- 

 pear, they are not the Icso certain. The first and most con- 

 spicuous effect, is the loss of that undefinable lively or brisk fla- 

 vour which all those who possess accuracy of taste can discover 

 in French wines, or in natural wines; and a flatness, which must 

 hi* sensil)le, by tlie pri'.iciple of contrast, to the dullest palate 

 which shall compare the tp.-ste of claret with that of port, or that 

 of hock or grave with lisbon or bucellos. It tends e([uaUy, al- 

 though in a greater length of time, to destroy the union of the 

 colouring principle, which is well known to be deposited in port 

 \v!nes, arid apparently, in a great measure, from the action of 

 this foreign substance. It may not be useless at the same time 

 to consider the influence which it must have on the quality of the 

 wine as a beverage. The habitual use of wine containing, as 

 many of the wines of Portugal so often do, a large portion of 

 brandy, must be manifestly equivalent to the habitual use of 

 spirits, or rather, to the use ef spirits and wine together. To 

 this cause we may doubtless attribute the great difference in the 

 effects produced by an imu^.oderate indulgence in port and sherrv, 

 or by a similar use of claret and other French wines. Even the 

 immediate effects are sensibly different, as I have said before, 

 and the transitory nature of the one with the permanence of the 

 other are too well known to be insisted on. But the ultimate 

 consequences appear to be of a mare serious nature. It is well 

 known to physicians that diseases of the liver are the most com- 

 uion and the most formidable of those produced by the use of 

 spirits. It is equally certain that no such disorders follow the 

 intemperate use of pure wine, however long indulged in ; and 

 to tiiis cause, the concealed and unwitting consumption of spirit, 

 as it is contained in tho wmcs cominoniv drunk in this countrv, 



