44 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. 



The same process may be observed, 

 for instance, in the brewing of beer ; bar- 

 ley, wheat, or other grain, must undergo 

 all these processes before it becomes a 

 palatable beverage. It must first be 

 mashed and dissolved in water, as I have 

 observed them do in Belgium and Eng- 

 land, when I was a young man. This is 

 Putrefaction, or Corruption. Then the 

 water is poured off, and the moist grain 

 is left in a warm place, till it germinates 

 and sticks together. This is Digestion. 



Thereupon the grains are once 

 more separated from each other, and 

 dried, either in the sun or before the fire. 

 This is Reverberation and Coagulation. 



The prepared germ is then ground 

 in the mill. This is vegetable Calcina- 

 tion. It is afterwards cooked over the 

 fire, and its nobler spirit is mingled with 

 the water in a way which would not have 

 been possible before it was so prepared. 

 Thus, water becomes beer, and this we 

 may call Distillation. If hops are added 

 to the beer they are its vegetable salt, 

 which preserves it from all adverse 



