]48 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1685. 



go together, and appear, having the figures of common salt ; and I am per- 

 suaded there is not a drop of blood in the body, which has not its share of 

 them. 



I examined lately my wine, which is very fine and well tasted, such as in 

 France is called Vin de Damoisselle, though it is but an Orleans wine, brought 

 down the Loire. In it I saw many very pretty figures of different sizes, and 

 some very small, which I shall call the salt of the wine; many of these figures 

 were of the same shape, as those of the salt of vinegar, abovementioned. In 

 some of these figures I have not only seen a cavity, but found them increase to 

 so great a size, by the wine standing 24 hours uncovered on the table, that 

 they equalled the thick particles of salt seen in vinegar, as seen N° 3, fig. A. 

 There were also some figures which had no sharp points, but were roundish at 

 the ends, as fig. B. There were also several figures which grew tapering at one 

 end, and at the other were round, as fig. C. Also some figures, which differed 

 from fig. C, so that one of their ends was not round, but flat, as fig. D. Also 

 some few figures were longish, representing a thin right angled parallelogram, 

 as fig. E. There were also many figures having their two longer sides roundish, 

 and the shorter sides straight, something resembling a barrel, as fig. F. Some few 

 figures made a perfect square; others again were twice as long as they were 

 broad, being largest in the middle, and inclining towards the shorter sides; not 

 much unlike a fiat bottomed boat, with the fore and after parts flat, as fig. G. 

 While all these figures in great numbers, were driving together in the quantity 

 of a drop of wine, it was pleasant to see so great a variety. These salts I 

 conceive would be sour upon the tongue, if there were not a great many 

 sweet particles in wine mixed with them. From hence I gather, that the 

 pleasant relish of wine, consists in one sort tempering the other, so as to 

 make a harmony on the tongue and palate. The same thing we experience 

 daily, by mixing several things, which, if used simple, would be either too 

 sweet, too flat, or too sour; as for instance, butter and vinegar melted together, 

 make a very grateful sauce. Hence we may comprehend the several tastes that 

 wines may have, though they grow in the same vineyard; for not only will the 

 bunches that grow on the southside of the hill be sweeter, because the heat of 

 the sun draws from them the superfluous moisture; but the sharp or salt parts 

 in the wine, by taking away the more waterish substance, become more rigid. 

 Also, we may conceive the reason, why wine, having stood some time in the 

 open air, loses its savour : namely, that many small salt particles are joined 

 together, to make a few great ones; whereby, as the number of the salts are 

 lessened, the sense is not so agreeably excited, as if it were touched in more 

 places, though the bodies that do it be never so small. 



