158 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



inclined to think this supposition has more truth in it than 

 many suppose, and that the cause requires most serious con- 

 sideration. I call it a supposition because I personally have 

 not obtained any direct evidence as to the effect of distillery 

 effluents, which are sufficiently diluted in the great volume of the 

 lower Spey to make the actual poisoning of fish improbable, but 

 which, nevertheless, seems to influence the life of the salmon. 

 I am aware, however, that the opinion is very generally held in 

 the district that the distillery pollution is not nearly so serious 

 as it used to be, but that when a discharge of pollution from 

 any distillery takes place, angling is useless for some little time. 

 The favourable water of the Spey has therefore, I am inclined 

 to think, been in a sense its undoing, since, in the last thirty 

 years, the number of distilleries has greatly increased. Mr. 

 George Muirhead, the Duke of Richmond and Gordon's Com- 

 missioner, in giving evidence before Lord Elgin's Salmon 

 Fisheries Commission, submitted an exhaustive return as to 

 the increase of distilleries. From this it appears that 



In 1850 there were 11 distilleries mashing 2,270 bushels per week 

 1860 .. 9 . 2,280 



1870 

 1880 

 1890 

 1900 



10 

 13 

 14 



27 



3,450 



7,150 



12,400 



50,800 



The peculiarly poisonous waste product is ' pot ale " or 

 " burnt ale," which is the residue of the first distillation in the 

 process of whisky making. This first distillation produces 

 what is called " low wine," the bye-product being of an 

 extremely complicated nature chemically, liable to rapid 

 putrefaction and the evolution of great quantities of lactic 

 acid through the growth of a specially luxuriant fungus. This 

 " pot ale " is about fifty times as poisonous as the most gross 

 and complex sewage of such a city as Manchester. The 

 redistillation of " low wine " results in whisky, with " spent 

 lees " as a bye-product, a substance which, compared with 

 pot ale, is comparatively harmless. 



The matter has received great attention from the proprietors, 

 and the famous Macallan Case the Countess Dowager of 

 Seafield v. Roderick Kemp which was won in the Outer House, 

 and appealed, resulted in interdict being granted against the 



