WINES, aiALT-LIQTJORS, ETC. 113 



In many parts of the United States, the manufacture of 

 wine from native grapes has assumed considerable impor- 

 tance. The Catawba wines, of Ohio, the California, and 

 the JSTorth Carolina wines have become quite celebrated. 

 Though these are of rich flavor and possess many good 

 qualities, it will be many years before wine can be produced 

 in this country equal in delicacy to the products of the vine- 

 yards of the old world. 



Malt-liquors (beer, ale, porter, etc.) are prepared from 

 malted barley, flavored with hops. They contain a very 

 small quantity of alcohol ; in the milder beverages of this 

 class, the proportion being from one to four per cent., and in 

 the stronger from six to eight per cent. All varieties con- 

 tain a certain proportion of carbonic acid, which is particu- 

 larly abundant when the liquor has been kept in bottles. 

 The principal difference between malt-liquors and other 

 alcoholic beverages is that they contain a large proportion 

 of saccharine and nitrogenized matters. These are in such 

 quantity that malt-liquors possess considerable importance 

 as alimentary articles. In therapeutics, the bitter principle 

 of the hop acting as a tonic, the nutritive action of the solid 

 ingredients, and the stimulant effect of the alcohol, combine to 

 render the malt-liquors very valuable in debilitated conditions 

 of the system, or in the convalescence from exhausting diseases. 



The following is the composition of good French beer, 

 like that generally called Strasbourg beer. The heavy 

 English and Scotch ales and porter generally contain a 

 larger proportion of alcohol : 



Composition of Seer. 1 



Water 947'00 



Alcohol 4-50 



Dextrine, glucose, and substances of this class 41 '40 



Nitrogenized substances 6*26 



Mineral salts 1'84 



Bitter principle, aromatic essence (quantity not determined). 



1,000-00 



1 PATEN, Precis Theorique et Pratique des Substances Alimentaires, Paris, 

 8 



