ADULTERATION OF WINE. 357 



sort. No one can separate it artificially, and if 

 after a time the addition is able to combine with the 

 ingredients of wine it is no longer perceptible to the 

 taste. Nor can it ever be proved that alcohol has been 

 mixed, since no one can lend his palate to another. 



If now Madeira produces a grape which yields 14 

 per cent., and it is always estimated at 17, then 3 per 

 cent, may be mixed with it, and after a time it will not 

 be discernible. 



A mixture of alcohol can only be conclusively 

 inferred, if an excessive quantity has been mixed, and 

 there is no reason why this should be done. 



The adulteration of wine, particularly strong wine, 

 with alcohol is by no means uncommon ; it is also 

 added to weak wines to increase their strength, and to 

 such as have become acid, and had their acid neutral- 

 ised by carbonates of potash, soda, and lime. 



The quantity of alcohol may be absolutely too great, 

 or just sufficient, even when an addition has been made 

 to it, for example, in wine that has become acid. If 

 much acetate of potash and 11 per cent, alcohol are co- 

 existent in red Bordeaux wine, it may be assumed that 

 as much alcohol has been added as was abstracted for 

 the formation of acetic acid. If, for instance, acetic 

 acid combined with potash amounts to ^ per cent., and 

 11 per cent, alcohol is still found, it is impossible to 

 determine whether ^ per cent, alcohol has not been 

 mixed in, because the amount of alcohol in any kind 

 of wine is not constantly the same. 



