146 



season. The specific gravity of this juice 

 is estimated at about IO7O.* 



* I have taken the liberty of transcribing the se- 

 veral accounts of the juices of those fruits as they 

 may be depended upon, and as it appears to be the 

 best criterion to judge of the saccharine nature, and 

 consequently the principal basis of a spirituous li- 

 quor, and as being a ready mode by which persons 

 may ascertain the power of any other kind on 

 comparison, but it must be observed, that this prin- 

 ciple alone is not sufficient to constitute good Perry. 

 It is necessary that a certain degree of astringency, 

 which, uniting in chemical combhiation with parti- 

 cles from the atmosphere, on the juice being freshly 

 expressed, constitutes what is considered the best 

 liquor of this nature. 



It is a curious phasnomenon in chemical attrac- 

 tion, that the juice of a pear, which when expressed 

 by the action of the teeth alone, may be found so ex- 

 tremely crude and austere as to render it difficult 

 to swallow, (and hence the name given of choke pears, 

 to many of this kind of fruit), should, as soon as 

 the pulp is crushed, be found to change colour, and 

 by uniting with the oxygen of the atmosphere, to 

 almost instantly change, and become sweet ; and in- 

 deed it may be remarked that the fruits which form 

 the best perry are crude and unpleasant to the taste 

 so that nothing short of absolute experien'ce after 

 fermentation will enable a person to judge of its 

 ▼alue in this point of view. 



