WINES. 



361 



FORTIFICATION. 



It is evident tliat the German standard of 100 parts of alcohol by 

 weight to 7. of glycerine, which is relied upon as a means of detecting 

 the addition of alcohol, cannot be applied to American wines. Only 

 three of the samples would pass muster by it, and it seems hardly pos- 

 sible that the practice of adding alcohol could be so widespread as 

 would be thus indicated. 



Below is given the number of grams of glycerine for 100 grams of 

 alcohol obtained in the samples (exclusive of the sweet wines): 



Baumert obtained very similar results; out of thirteen analyses (in. 

 eluding sweet wines) made or collected by him only four contained a 

 larger proportion of glycerine to alcohol than 7 to 100. Unfortunately 

 no determinations of the glycerine were made in the pure wines ana- 

 lyzed by Hilgard ; so no light is thrown on this point by them. The only 

 possible way of deciding it, together with other questions relating to 

 the composition of American wines, would be by the analysis of a large 

 number of wines known to be pure. In the absence of such evidence, 

 it would be useless to attempt to pass judgment on the above samples 

 as to whether they had been fortified with alcohol or not. 



The New York law allows of an addition to wine of " pure distilled 

 spirits to preserve it" not to exceed 8 per cent, of its volume, which, 

 supposing the wine to contain originally 10 per cent, by volume, would 

 give a wine containing at least 17 per cent, by volume, or about the 

 highest amount of alcohol which could be formed in a fermented 

 liquor. 



The sweet wines are, of course, well known to be fortified ; they will 

 be treated of more fully further on. 



PRESERVATIVES. 



Especial attention has been given in the present investigation to the 

 use of. improper preserving agents in fermented drinks. It was thought 

 that such agents were much used ; so a considerable number of samples 

 were purchased, and the examination for preservatives, as well as for 

 other adulterations whose detection did not require a complete analy- 

 sis of the wine, was extended to all. The results show the practice to 

 be even more extensive than was supposed. 



The following table shows in what samples salicylic acid and sul- 

 phites were detected. In the case of the sulphites, where a " trace" is 



