CELLARING. 117 



lysed it.* It is found in the quercus tinctoria, and is, 

 therefore, only met with in American oaks. Bigaud 

 found that quercitron =C 36 H 20 21 , and can be resolved 

 by the absorption of 2 H O, into C 12 H 12 12 grape 

 sugar, and C 24 H 10 O 11 quercetin, a lemon-coloured 

 powder destitute of taste and smell, and easily soluble 

 in alcohol, thdugh but sparingly so in water. 



Quercetin is likewise easily dissolved in alcohol, 

 and but sparingly soluble in water, destitute of odour, 

 and has a weak bitter taste. As far as the properties 

 of wine are concerned, colour excepted, it is of no 

 value. Faure tested the effect of oak-wood upon 

 wine, brandy, and alcohol, by distilling the powder 

 with these liquids for eight days consecutively. All 

 three suffered alteration. Oak-wood from Dantzic 

 and Stettin did not much affect the colour of the 

 white wines of La Grironde, but a little dissolved 

 quercin imparted to them a pleasant balsamic flavour. 

 The same white wines when treated with oak-wood 

 from Memel, Lubec, and Riga, were much coloured, 

 and their taste was rendered so astringent by the dis- 

 solved tannic acid, that the flavour of the quercin 

 could no longer be perceived. American oak has but 

 little effect on the white wines of La Grironde, neither 

 colour, taste, nor smell were much altered by it, 

 though they acquired a certain bitterness which was 

 only perceptible when powder was employed, not 

 when the wine was brought into contact with whole 



* Ann. der Ch. u. Pharm. Bd. 90, s. 283. 



