258 CHYMISTRY APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE, 



in" ail of them the vapor passes through long tubes, that 

 the aqueous particles may be condensed, and that the 'last 

 result may not be received till it is as light and pure aa 

 possible. 



Subsequently to these authors, many others have written 

 upon the subject of distillation, and have proposed and 

 executed many alterations upon their rnethods ; instead, 

 however, of improving upon the happy idea of their pred- 

 ecessors, who aimed at obtaining at pleasure all the de- 

 grees of alcohol by successive condensations of the watery 

 particles mixed with the alcohol, they confined themselves 

 to varying the form of the boiler, the retort, or the worm, 

 and thus the art of distilling was nearly in a retrograde state 

 for almost a century. 



This art was stationary a short time since, when a process 

 was generally adopted, which, though far from being found- 

 ed upon true principles, produced the desired effect. In this 

 process the alcohol of the different degrees of strength was 

 obtained by repeated distillations. Such was the state of 

 the art towards the end of the last century ; at that period 

 the apparatus most generally employed for distilling was 

 composed of three pieces ; the metal used was copper ; 

 the boiler, which contained about 50 gallons of wine, was 

 contracted in size towards the upper pmrt ; a cap was adapt- 

 ed to the orifice, and communicated by a long pipe with a 

 worm ; the worm was placed in a cask which was kept full 

 of cold water, and thus condensation of the alcoholic vapor 

 was produced. 



This coarse apparatus possessed many defects, the first 

 of which was, that all the vapors raised by the action of 

 the fire passed into the worm, where they were condensed ; 

 thus the aqueous particles were mixed with those of alco- 

 hol, and flowed with them into the receiver, forming a 

 weak distilled spirit, which required to be submitted to a 

 second distillation before it could be brought to a due degree 

 of strength. 



The second inconvenience arising from this apparatus, 

 was the incompleteness of the condensation; for as the 

 water in the cask soon became heated, there consequently 

 ensued a great loss of alcoholic vapor, which passed off 

 'into the atmosphere of the distillery. 



The third fault was, that, as all the vapors, which rose 

 from the boiler, passed immediately into the worm, where 

 they were condensed, it was necessary so to regulate the 



