CHAPTER XXXVIII 



Wine 



When wine is made hot a vapour is given 

 out which will take fire and burn with a 

 bluish flame. Anyone who has seen wine 

 heated will remember the curious blue tongues 

 of flame that escape from the boiling vessel 

 and hover over the liquid. This inflam- 

 mable vapour proceeds from alcohol, the 

 fluid which imparts its properties to wine 

 and is therefore commonly called spirit-of- 

 wine. So there are two different fluids in 

 wine ; alcohol, which is most easily con- 

 verted to vapour, and water, which evaporates 

 more slowly. This does not mean that water 

 has been added to the wine. There is no 

 fraud connected with this water. It belongs 

 naturally to the wine, being, like the alcohol, 

 a product of the grape. W T ine is a natural 

 combination of a small amount of alcohol 

 with a large amount of water. In cheap 



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