ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES. 157 



to 1.2 per cent. This alkaloid is very similar in all respects to 

 thein and caffein. 



Cocoa is supposed to possess much more nutritive value than 

 either tea or coffee, and that it is, therefore, especially useful in 

 wasting diseases, during which it is frequently prescribed, but 

 the small amount of proteid and fat contained in a single tea- 

 spoonful of cocoa can hardly entitle it to a very high place among 

 foods. 



Alcoholic Beverages. Under this head are included spirits, 

 or those that are distilled ; wines, those that are fermented ; and 

 beers or malt liquors. 



Spirits or distilled liquors include whiskey, brandy, rum, and gin. 



Whiskey is produced by distilling fermented grain, such as 

 corn or rye. It contains by volume 28.90 to 60.30 per cent., and 

 by weight 23.75 to 52.58 per cent., of alcohol. Brandy is the 

 product of the distillation of fermented grapes, and has an alco- 

 holic strength of 30.80 to 50.40 per cent, by volume and 25.39 

 to 42.96 per cent, by weight. Brandy contains enanthic and other 

 ethers which whiskey does not. These percentages are the results 

 of actual analyses made by the Board of Health of the State of 

 New York, and differ very markedly from those given by most 

 authorities. Thus we have before us one excellent authority, who 

 states that whiskey contains 44 to 50 per cent, by weight, or 50 to 

 58 per cent, by volume, of alcohol ; and brandy 39 to 47 per cent, 

 by weight, or 45 to 55 per cent, by volume ; while another makes 

 the statement that brandy contains from 50 to 60 per cent, of 

 alcohol. It is evident from these figures that the alcoholic strength 

 of different whiskeys and brandies varies to a considerable degree 

 so much so, indeed, that in using alcohol medicinally physicians 

 are recommended to prescribe "alcohol of a known strength, 

 flavored with ethereal essences, and softened with glycerin or 

 syrup" (Bartley). 



Wines differ also greatly in alcoholic strength, the "lighter" 

 wines containing less, the "stronger" wines more. Of the lighter 

 wines, champagne contains from 5.8 to 13 per cent., and red 

 Bordeaux 6.85 to 13 per cent. ; while of the stronger wines, port 

 contains from 16.62 to 23.2 per cent., and sherry from 16 to 25 

 per cent. Wines contain besides alcohol various aromatic com- 

 pound ethers enanthic, citric, malic, racemic, etc. which give 

 to them their " bouquet," also sugar, tannic acid, various other 

 acids, and potassium salts. 



Beers contain on an average from 3 to 6 per cent, of alcohol 

 by volume ; although there is here, as in the distilled beverages, 

 a great variation. They also contain dextrin, sugar, lupulin, free 

 organic acids and salts. Purin-bodies (p. 434) have been found in 

 beer and porter. Hall obtained on analysis 0.1250 grams per 

 liter from lager beer and 0.1550 from porter. He remarks that 



