DOUGLAS DOURO. 



443 



contains more alcohol than water, the wine in the 

 second vessel is strengthened by the addition, while 

 it is heated by the caloric disengaged from the va- 

 pour ; and since a less degree of heat is sufficient to 

 convert this stronger liquid into vapour, that which 

 rises from it contains a yet greater proportion of 

 alcohol to the water. This vapour from 2 is con- 

 densed again in 3, the wine in which is thus 

 strengthened more than that in 2 was, and the heat 

 imparted to 3, though less than that which 2 ac- 

 quired from 1, is yet sufficient to distil the stronger 

 wine contained in 3. The action is continued, if 

 necessary, to four vessels, but usually three are 

 sufficient, and the vapour from the last is con- 

 densed in a worm in the usual manner, only instead 

 of water, the tub containing the worm is filled with 

 wine, which getting heated by the process, is 

 pumped back into the first vessel, and is therefore 

 made to boil sooner, and fuel is thus still further 

 economised. This ingenious process was the inven- 

 tion of an uneducated man of the name of Adam, 

 and goes by his name. 



Brandy, whatever wine it may have been ob- 

 tained from, is at first colourless; in France a good 

 deal is used in this state, but the greater part is 

 coloured by different methods. Cognac brandy is 

 put into new oaken casks, and chips of the same 

 wood are also added; the oak communicates a yel- 

 low tinge to the spirit, and probably some flavour 

 likewise. 



The various liqueurs known by the names of eau- 

 dore, maraschino, kirsche-wasser, &c. consist of 

 brandy, flavoured by the essential oil of different 

 aromatic plants, and sweetened by sugar. Arrack 

 is a name given in the east to spirits generally, and 

 has hence been employed here to designate very 

 different liquors, as that obtained from rice, the 

 cocoa-tree, &c. 



The fermented liquids obtained from potatoes, 

 beet, carrot, turnips, the fruit of the potato, ser- 

 vice-tree, apples, cherries, &c. have been employed 

 with different degrees of success for obtaining alco- 

 hol from. In Kamtschatka, grass is made use of 

 for this purpose, and many plants might, doubtless, 

 be employed with advantage, if it were not for the 

 severity of our excise laws; but no friend to his 

 species could wish to see the use of spirits as a 

 drink increased in any country. 



DOUGLAS, D., an eminent botanist and enter- 

 prising traveller, was born at Scone, near Perth, 

 in 1799, of humble but respectable parents. At a 

 very early age he was sent to school, but seems to 

 have had less relish for book-learning than for fish- 

 ing and bird-nesting and collecting flowers, a taste 

 which soon ripened into a fondness for the pursuits 

 and objects of natural history, generally, but in 

 particular of botany. This led to his employment 

 in the gardens of the earl of Mansfield, at that 

 time under the superintendence of Mr Beattie, to 

 whom he was bound as an apprentice for seven 

 years. In this situation he devoted his whole 

 heart and mind to the attainment of a thorough 

 knowledge of his business, and acquired that de- 

 cided taste for botanical pursuits which he so ar- 

 dently followed in after life. From the gardens at 

 Scone he was removed to those of Sir Robert Pres- 

 ton, at Valleyfield, near Culross, where his botani- 

 cal taste was much improved by the rich collection 

 of exotic plants cultivated there, and by the con- 

 tents of a valuable botanical library to which he 

 was kindly permitted access. After remaining two 

 years at Valleyfield, he succeeded in gaining adiuU 



sion to the botanical garden at Glasgow, where he 

 applied to his professional duties with so great a 

 diligence and success as to gain the friendship of 

 all who knew him, *riu particularly of Dr (now Sir 

 W. J.) Hooker. He was in consequence recom- 

 mended by that gentleman to the London Horti- 

 cultural Society, as a botanical collector ; and in 

 1823 was despatched to the United States, where 

 he procured many fine plants, and enriched the 

 Society's collection of fruit-trees. On his return, 

 he was sent in the following year to explore the 

 botanical riches of the country in North- West 

 America, adjoining the Columbia river, and south- 

 ward towards California. After a long and tedious 

 voyage of above eight months, during which he 

 omitted no opportunity of gratifying his taste for 

 objects of natural history both at sea and the vari- 

 ous coasts and islands on which he occasionally 

 landed, he reached the Columbia river on the 7th 

 of April, 1824, and lost no time in commencing his 

 researches. The manner in which he performed 

 his duty to the Horticultural Society cannot be 

 better exemplified than by referring to the vast 

 collections of seeds which from time to time he 

 transmitted home, along with dried specimens, 

 beautifully preserved, and now forming part of the 

 Herbarium in the garden of the Society at Chis- 

 wick. Of the genus Pinus, he discovered several 

 species, some of which attained to an enormous 

 size. His name, indeed, is associated with all the 

 rare and beautiful plants lately introduced from 

 North- West America, and extensively distributed 

 not only in Britain, but over Europe. To him 

 botanists are indebted for the elegant Clarkia, the 

 different species of Pentsemons, Lupines, CEnothe- 

 ras, Ribeses, and a host of other ornamental plants. 



On the 20th of March 1827, Mr Douglas started 

 from the Columbia for England, by way of Hud- 

 son's bay, traversing in his route the rocky moun- 

 tains, the "Grand Dividing Ridge" of the mighty 

 continent of North America, at the height of 

 16,000 or 17,000 feet above the level of the sea. 

 At the company's settlements he had the happi- 

 ness to meet Sir J. Franklin, Dr Richardson, and 

 Mr Drummond, and arrived in England on the llth 

 of September. About the beginning of October 

 1829, he again set out, under the patronage, partly 

 of the horticultural society, and partly of the 

 government, for North America, and arrived at 

 the Columbia on the 3d of June 1830. Our limits 

 will not permit us to follow him in his important 

 botanical researches, and in perilous incidents 

 which would have shaken the courage of the most 

 stout-hearted. Suffice it to say, that after having 

 again visited North California, he made an excur- 

 sion to the Sandwich islands. His death took 

 place at the age of 36, in the island of Hawaii, on 

 the road to Hido, the residence of the missionaries; 

 and the particulars of the sad event are given in a 

 letter from these gentlemen. It would appear that 

 he lost his way ; and his body was found in a pit 

 excavated for the purpose of entrapping wild cat- 

 tle, and into which a bullock had previously fallen. 

 The face was covered with dirt; the hair filled 

 with blood and dust, the head dreadfully cut, and 

 the limbs mangled and bruised. It was naturally 

 concluded, and the conclusion was confirmed by 

 medical gentlemen who inspected the body, that 

 his death was caused by wounds inflicted on him 

 by the captured bullock. 



DOURO, a river of the Peninsula, called Rio 

 Douro, or Golden River, probably from the quan- 



