ALCOHOL. 



ALDER TREE. 



part was covered with thick white paint : in a 

 few days the painting was repeated, and this 

 three or four times, so as to produce a thick- 

 coat of paint over the decayed part, or naked 

 alburnum, extending to the ascending and 

 descending lips of the wound ; this was in 

 spring, and the branch blossomed and ripened 

 .several apples. 



ALCOHOL is the name first given by tae 

 alchemists (it came originally from Arabia) f o 

 the liquid obtained by the distillation ot" wine, 

 beer, and other fermented spirits. These seem 

 to have been known in the earliest ages: 

 Noah, who planted a vineyard, drank wine ; 

 and the heathen writers deemed the invention 

 worthy of being ascribed to their greatest 

 kings and heroes. Beer, there is little doubt, 

 was invented by the Egyptians. They cer- 

 tainly used it in the days of Herodotus. The 

 Germans drank it extensively when Tacitus 

 wrote. These were probably the purest varie- 

 ties of alcohol then generally made ; although 

 they were known in the dark ages, and it is 

 probable have been employed in the North of 

 Europe from a very remote period. The pro- 

 cess, however, of separating the impure alco- 

 hol from these is very easy: upon subjecting 

 the wine or wash to a moderate heat, the spirit 

 arises, and is easily collected in a worm sur- 

 rounded by cool water. It is in this way that 

 gin is procured from the distillation of fer- 

 mented barley or other grain ; rum from mo- 

 lasses ; brandy from wine. It must not be 

 supposed, however, that the product of these 

 distillations is pure alcohol, for even the 

 strongest brandy contains between forty and 

 fifty per cent, of water. The first who pro- 

 cured alcohol in a state of tolerable purity is 

 supposed to have been Arnold of Villa Nova, 

 a celebrated alchemist of the fourteenth cen- 

 tury. When impure alcohol is concentrated 

 by repeated distillations, and by mixing it 

 with some salt, -like the salt of tartar, that 

 has a strong attraction for water, it gradually 

 parts with a considerable portion of its water, 

 and becomes reduced in specific gravity 

 to about 0.820 ; that of commerce, however, 

 is rarely of less specific gravity than 0.8371. 

 At the greatest strength, however, at which it 

 has been observed, such as that of 0.792, 

 which M. Lowitz obtained by repeatedly dis- 

 tilling rectified spirits from potash, it possesses 

 the following properties: it is transparent, 

 colourless, of a strong agreeable penetrating 

 taste, and produces when swallowed intoxica- 

 tion. It does not freeze, even by exposure to 

 he most intense cold ; it is very volatile, boil- 

 ng at 176 of Fahrenheit, and in a vacuum at 

 56. It unites with water in all proportions, 

 and is entirely combustible, burning without 

 leaving any residuum. Alcohol, according to 

 the analysis of M. Saussure, is composed of 



Hydrogen 

 Carbon 

 Oxygen 



- 13-70 



- 51-98 



- 34-32 



10000 



^mpson's Chem. vol. ii. p. 39.) 



The following table will show the ordinary 

 proportion of alcohol per cent, by measure in 

 various fluids, according to the experiments 

 of Professor Brande. 

 58 



Port 



Ditto 



Maduira - 



Ditto 



Sherry - 



Ditto 



Claret 



Cnlcavella 



Lisbon 



91-40 



- 25-83 



- 1934 



- 2-1-42 



- 1V25 



- 1-2 '.'1 



18-10 



18-94 



1726 



Bucellas - IS'49 



Rod Mad.'ira 18-40 



Malmsy Madeira - .... lf.--10 



Marsala - - - - - - - 25 87 



Ditto ....... 17 '26 



R!d Champagne - - - - - 11 30 



White Champagne ..... 12-80 



Burgundy -..__. 14-53 



Ditto 11-95 



White Hermitage - - - - - 17 13 



Red Hermitage - - - - - 12 32 



Hock 14-37 



Ditto ....... 8-88 



Vin de Grave ---.-- 12 80 



Frontignac --.__. 12-79 



Coti-Roti ...... 1232 



Roussillon .-.__. 17-26 



Cape Madeira --..._ 18-11 



Cape Muschat ------ 18-25 



Constantia - .... ^ 17-75 



Tent ---._._ 13-HO 



Sheraz ---._.. 15-52 



Syracuse ------. 15-28 



Nice - - - - - - - 14-63 



Tokay 9-88 



Raisin -.--... 25'77 



Grape IS'll 



Currant ----_.- 20-55 



Gooseberry - - - - . . 1184 



Elder 9-87 



Cider ....... 9 S7 



Perry 987 



Brown Stout --_..- 6-80 



Ale 8-83 



Brandy 53-39 



Rum 53-68 



Hollands or Gin - - ... 51-00 



The spirits distilled from different fermented 

 liquors, says Davy, differ in their flavour, for 

 peculiar odorous matters or oils rise in most 

 cases with the alcohol. The spirit from malt 

 usually has an empyreumatic taste, like that 

 of oil formed by the distillation of vegetable 

 substances. The best brandies seem to owe 

 their flavour to a peculiar oily matter, formed 

 probably by the action of tartaric acid upon 

 alcohol; and rum derives its characteristic 

 taste from a principle in the sugar cane. The 

 cogniac brandies contain prussic acid. (Davy, 

 Chem. Phil. 135.) 



ALCOVE (Span, alcoba,- Dan. alkove , but 

 originally from the Arab, alkobba). A recess 

 in gardens or pleasure-grounds. 



ALDER TREE ( Alnus glutinosa, Grcrtner ; 

 Betitla Alnus, Linn.). The common Alder [of 

 England] appears generally as a shrub ; but 

 if allowed to attain maturity it will grow to a 

 stately tree. The bark in old trees is blackish, 

 and full of clefts ; on the young shoots it is 

 smooth, and of a purplish hue. The leaves 

 have a dark green colour, and roundish shape, 

 resembling those of the hazel, nicked on the 

 margin, smooth, and clammy to the touch. 

 The foot-stalk is about an inch long ; the leaf- 

 ribs on the under side have spongy balls at the 

 angles, as in the leaves of the lime tree. The 

 male catkins are cylindrical, appear in 

 autumn, and remain on the tree till spring. 

 The female catkins are of a short conical form, 

 like a small fir cone. 



[In England] the alder is often planted as a 

 coppice-wood in wet and boggy places where 

 no other trees will thrive, and cut down every 



