333 



OHBMISTKY. 



[ALCOHOL. 



Tea ineroMW tho power of digesting tbo im- 

 prusskms wo have reooivnd : " we beoome disposed for 

 thoughtful meditation, and, in spite of tbo movomenU of 

 thought, tho attention can be more easily 6xed upon a 

 I object ; a eeoMtion of comfort and cheerfulness 

 and tho creative activity of the brain U set in 



motion : through the greater eollectedneas and the more 

 closely confined attention, the thoughts are not so apt to 

 degenerate into desultorinesm. Educated persons will 

 aearnnhle to tea for the purpose of investigating a certain 

 subject by a regular conversation ; and tho higher spirits 

 produced by tho ten, tend to secure with more facility 

 a successful result If tea bo taken in excess, an increased 

 irritability of the nerves takes place, characterised by 

 sleepiness, by a general feeling of restlessness, with trem- 

 bling of the limbs. Spasmodic attacks even, in the 

 cardiac region, may arise. The volatile oil of the tea 

 produces heaviness in the head ; and, in fact, a real : :i 

 intoxication, first manifesting itself in dizziness, mid 

 finally in stupefaction, takes place. Green tea, which 

 contains much more of the volatile oil than black, pro- 

 duces these obnoxious effects in a for higher degree thau 

 tho Utter." 



While tea principally revives tho faculty of judgment, 

 and adds to this activity a sensation of cheerfulness ; 

 coffee acts also on the reasoning faculty, but communi- 

 cates to the imagination a much higher degree of liveli- 

 ness. Susceptibility to sensuous impressions is intensified 

 by coffee ; the faculty of observation is therefore increased, 

 while that of judgment is sharpened, and the enlivened 

 imagination causes the perceptions more quickly to adopt 

 certain forms ; an activity of thoughts and ideas is mani- 

 fested ; a mobility and ardour of wishes and ideals, which 

 are more favourable to the shaping and combination of 

 already premeditated ideas, than to a calm examination 

 of newly originated thought*. 



"Coffee, taken in excess, causes sleeplessness and a 

 state of excitement similar to intoxication, in which 

 images, thought*, and wishes rapidly succeed each other. 

 A sensation of restlessness and heat ensues, together 

 with anxiety and dizziness, trembling of the limbs, and 

 a strong desire to go into the open air. Fresh air is 

 commonly tho best means of throwing off this condition, 

 which, whilst it continues, exercises a really consuming 

 power over man." 



In Constantinople, the first coffee-houses used to be 

 called schools of knowledge. Poets and philosophers 

 assembled in these schools ; their discussions and judg- 

 ment alarmed even the ruling authorities ; and the 

 "schools of knowledge" were at last closed. In tho 

 seventeenth century, the coffee-houses in London had a 

 similar fate ; but the liabit grew too strong for tho state. 



74. Wine, Hccr, ami .Syirits. Tho immense- variety 

 of intoxicating liquors forma a striking illustration of tho 

 pains which men have always taken to excite the brain. 

 Alcohol is the magic name with which the action of all 

 these liquors is associated. Alcohol, a volatile substance, 

 composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, may bo pro- 

 duced from sugar ; and thus, wherever tho chemist tinds 

 an abundance of sugar, this discovery is ever closely 

 followed by tho proposition to transform the saccharine 

 nice into alcohol. lint long before tho ch. 

 i give his direction*, palm-wine was in favour in 

 '.n ; the I'hii.-nici.-itu and (irceks drank their wine, 

 i their \KK-ix celebrated in songs. Tho T 

 sought intoxication in his kumiss, and Oman praised iln> 

 mead as "the power and glory of tho shells'* tho drink- 

 ing-vessels of the Caledonians. In tho juice of the palms 

 and grapes, in milk and honey, in com and potatoes, as 

 well as in many fruit*, this fermentable substance was 

 found before the principle, of fermentation and the nature 

 of tho process bad even been <li\ 



we know that sugar is t!ie fermentable substance, 

 and that all intoxicating liquors must contain cither 

 sugar iUclf, or a constituent of sugar. When potatoes 



.-h alcohol, the starch has previously l.i . i 

 into sugar ; and before the kunuss is produced from milk, 

 the sugar of milk has been changed into grape-sugar ; for 

 the latter only i* directly fermentable. Starch and gum, 



cane-sugar and sugar of milk, are only indirectly HO, 

 being turned by the action of acids into w 

 An albuminous body stimulates the fer: : it is 



yeast. At a high temperature, sugar ferments under the 

 lull nonce of yeast Air-bubbles rising in the juice, and 

 a vinous smell, betoken that tho effect of this agent has 

 begun. Tho air is I lied with curlioiiic acid, and tho 

 smell is occasioned by tho spirit of wine, called by chemists 

 alcohol, if free from water. The sugar is transformed 

 into alcohol and carbonic acid, upon which tho fermen- 

 tation ceases. Diluted alcohol, or spirit of wine, is tho 

 intoxicating substance from which beer, wine, and brandy 

 derive the name of spirituous beverages. Spirit of 

 is contained in all fermented liquors. The proportionate 

 quantity only is different ; for while tho lightest beer 

 scarcely contains more than one-hundredth part, and the 

 strong English ale scarcely more than eight-huudredths 

 of alcohol, in wine its proportion rises to from seven to 

 twenty-six per cent ; and in the strongest brandy this 

 quantity is surpassed twofold. In the latter the alcohol 

 of the fermented juice is concentrated. A hi^h tem 

 turo evaporates the spirit of wine, which is collected in 

 tho vessel of a still. The name of brandy (burnt wine) 

 attests the assistance of lire, by which it was carried over 

 into the vessel. 



First of all, therefore, beer, wine, and brandy are 

 different in their respective strengths, which is due to 

 their proportionate amount of alcohol. Tho several 

 concomitants dissolved in spirit of wiuo explain tho 

 rest. 



75. Jlcohol in WVM and Beer. The weak alcoholic 

 solution of beer contains nearly tho same proportion of 

 albumen as is found in fruits, some sugar ami gum, malic 

 acid from the hop, sometimes also some lactic and :: 

 acid, products of decomposition of the sugar and alcohol ; 

 and in addition to these a peculiar constituent of tho 

 hops, soluble in water, and consisting of carbon, hydro- 

 gen, and oxygen, which from its bitter taste is called the 

 bitter principle of tho hop (lupulin), together with some 

 essential volatile oil of hops. Tho combinations of pot- 

 ash, lime, and magnesia, with sulphuric and phosphoric 

 acids, are associated with carbonic acid, which is contained 

 in tho beer tho more abundantly, as tho quantity of sugar 

 which had undergone fonnentuian was .Miialler when tho 

 beer was put into tho barrel. A frothy beer is often 

 prepared by a certain addition of sugar in bottling, and 

 better still by adding sweet fruits raisins for instance 

 in which both the ferment and the principle which pro- 

 motes fermentation, sugar and yeast, are present. High- 

 dried malt gives to tho beer a more or less brown colour; 

 hence tho difference of colour between ale and porter. 



In wine, more alcohol and less water than in beer, aro 

 combined with sugar and gum, with resin and colouring 

 matter, acids and salts. Even tho white wines contain 

 a peculiar colouring matter, yellow-like oil, whitened by 

 acids, browned by alkalies. Tho yeUow tint of white 

 wines, which after having been frozen have thawed again, 

 is produced by the partial disengagement of the acid 

 salts, which caused the lighter colour before the -wine had 

 frozen. The different kinds of grapes of a light or high 

 yellow or copper colour, of a blue, red, or dark -brown 

 tint, produce as many different colours in wine. Tho 

 number of the peculiar colouring matters is probably 

 smaller, as tho acids and salts of the grapes alter tho 

 colour. By the action of acid salts, the blue colouring \ 

 matter turns red. Tho particular colour distinguishing 

 very old Ithine wines is occasioned by wax, which is 

 united with the colouring matter. 



The acids of tho wine are the acids of the grape. Tar- 

 taric and malic acids perhaps, too, citric acid are some- 

 times accompanied by the tannic acid of tho lm.sk ami 

 by crap : id, being of the same composition as tartaric 

 acid, with which it is associated in several kinds of grapes, i 

 As the fermentation has not ceased when the wine is put 

 into the casks, all wines contain a certain proportion of 

 carbonic acid ; and the strong ell'en essence of spai 

 champagne, depend; upon the intentionally interrupted 

 fermentation, which continues in the bottles. 



Tho following aro the salts contained in wine : Cream 



