OF CIDER. 73 



When cider has become harsh by excess of fer- 

 mentation, the addition of a small quantity of bruised 

 wheat, toasted bread, or other farinacious substances, 

 will much diminish its disposition to grow sour. 



It has been discovered by medical gentlemen of em- 

 inence in England, and is stated by Mr. Knight with 

 many other interesting facts and opinions, for which 

 I acknowledge myself indebted to him, that strong 

 astringent ciders have been found to produce nearly 

 the same effect in cases of putrid fever, as Port wine ; 

 the tanning principle which abounds in both liquors, 

 and is said not to be found in the Peruvian bark, is 

 probably the agent ; and this in cider, might by a pro- 

 per choice of fruits, be increased to almost any extent. 

 A friend of mine, a son of an eminent physician in 

 this State, informed me, that his father was accustomed 

 to the use of fine bottled cider in this way among his 

 patients ; and I perfectly recollect, to have produced 

 an entire cure of the fever and ague, in a delicate 

 young lady of thirteen or fourteen years old, who felt 

 confidence in the remedy from the recommendation of 

 a respectable friend, and applied to me for a bottle of 

 crab cider, which she drank on the approach of the 

 paroxysm about five o'clock in the afternoon, and 

 immediately fell into a sleep, from which she awoke 

 next morning perfectly cured. 



