136 VITAL FUNCTIONS. 



404. JLlcohol not the product of Distillation. It was 

 once supposed that the chemical changes which any fer- 

 mented liquor undergoes to produce alcohol, took place 

 only when it was heated, and that thus alcohol was the 

 product of distillation. This supposition, though long 

 since exploded by the light which analytical chemistry 

 has thrown on the subject of the composition of bodies, 

 is still maintained by the ignorant. Thus it was said 

 that the juice of the grape, by the vinous fermentation 

 merely, never produced alcohol, and therefore, if a wine 

 could be obtained and kept without any admixture of 

 brandy, we should have a liquor free from the former 

 pernicious element. Acting, perhaps, entirely on this 

 belief, several- importers sent to their foreign corre- 

 spondents to have wine manufactured without the addi- 

 tion of brandy, and thus the country was furnished with 

 a wine which many people believe contains no alcohol ; 

 and not a few who on no account would touch a drop 

 of common wine, do not hesitate to take freely of this. 

 It is not a little surprising, by the w r ay, that such do not 

 find by the cheering effects that this wine contains alco- 

 hol, as well as that made in the usual manner, with which 

 it is well known a certain portion of brandy is mixed. 

 This is done under the impression that the juice of the 

 grape does not naturally produce a sufficient quantity of 

 alcohol to preserve the wine, and therefore, without the 

 addition of a little brandy, or alcohol in some other form, 

 the vinous would run into the acetous fermentation, and 

 thus, that the wine would become vinegar. With re- 

 spect to certain light wines, this is true, but experience 

 appears to have proved that there is a difference in 

 grapes in this respect, and that some kinds of wine do 

 not require any addition of alcohol for their preservation, 

 that which the juice produces being amply sufficient for 

 this purpose. 



405. Now, this is not the place to go into a history of 

 this subject, and we have made this digression merely for 

 the purpose of showing those who still maintain that alco- 

 hol is the product of distillation, and that therefore he 

 who drinks the pure juice of the grape, drinks no alco- 

 hol, labors, or rather drinks under a mistake, and that 

 he who receives into his stomach this kind of wine, 



