292 VINOUS FERMENTATION. 



shown, that the smell of musk is owing to its gra- 

 dual putrefaction and decay. 



It is also probable, that the peculiar odorous 

 principle of many vegetable substances is newly 

 formed during the fermentation of the saccharine 

 juices of the plants. At all events, it is a fact, 

 that very small quantities of the blossoms of the 

 violet, elder, linden, or cowslip, added to a fer- 

 menting liquid, are sufficient to communicate a 

 very strong taste and smell, which the addition of 

 the water distilled from a quantity a hundred times 

 greater would not effect. The various kinds of beer 

 manufactured in Bavaria are distinguished by dif- 

 ferent flavours, which are given by allowing small 

 quantities of the herbs and blossoms of particular 

 plants to ferment along with the wort. On the 

 Rhine, also, an artificial bouquet is often given to 

 wine for fraudulent purposes, by the addition of 

 several species of the sage and rue to the ferment- 

 ing liquor ; but the perfume thus obtained differs 

 from the genuine aroma, by its inferior durability, 

 it being gradually dissipated. 



The juice of grapes grown in different cli- 

 mates differs not only in the proportion of free 

 acid which it contains, but also in respect of the 

 quantity of sugar dissolved in it. The quantity of 

 azotised matter in the juice seems to be the same 

 in whatever part the grapes may grow; at least no 

 difference has been observed in the amount of 



