244 WINE. 



free use induces intoxication and subsequent suffering as great 

 as that brought on by stronger wines. 



Wine kept in casks should be closely stopped, set in a 

 place where the temperature will be equal, and where it will 

 not be subjected to agitation, which induces precipitated sub- 

 stances to mix again with the wine. 



To prevent wine, on putting it into a new cask, from com- 

 bining with the properties of the wood, and acquiring a taste 

 of the cask, the inside of the cask or hogshead should be 

 charred. 



While old Rhenish wines kept in the barrel are said to 

 lose one half of their original alcohol, wines put in bottles 

 not corked, but tied over with bladder, increase in strength, 

 that membrane giving passage to water, but not to spirit. 

 Wines, though they part with their strength, improve in other 

 qualities by being kept in casks. 



Travellers complain loudly of the adulteration of wine in 

 Italy, and find it possible to obtain good wine only from the 

 proprietors. Red wine is there often adulterated with sul- 

 phate of zinc, and the white with the acetate of lead, both 

 virulent poisons, often combined in these wines in such quan- 

 tities as to induce violent deaths. 



The processes for wine-making, with slight modifications, 

 are the same, whatever fruit or plant is employed. In the 

 best wine countries, the grape-vine is grown only three or 

 four feet high, and the bunches nearest the soil, provided 

 they do not touch, are always considered the richest. 



The strength of wines of the same country and grape 

 vary. Grapes grown in a light, dry soil, with a southern ex- 

 posure, yield wine highly charged with alcohol, while grapes 

 of the same species, cultivated in a strong, damp soil, with a 

 different aspect, give a wine weak in alcohol. Though the 

 strength of wine is regulated by alcohol, its quality and its 

 price are decided by its odor and taste ; alcohol furnishes 



