ADULTERATION OF WINE. 369 



yellow-brown in pure red wine, red-brown in wine 

 coloured with Brazil wood ; green in that coloured with 

 bilberries and elderberries ; and yellow, but capable of 

 being reddened by acids, in that coloured with beet- 

 root. 

 * Orfila gives the following reactions : 



Solution of Protonitrate Chloride 

 Alum. of Tiuu of Tin. 



Bordeaux Dark bronze colour. .Dirty blue . .Dark blue. 



Burgundy The same Same Dark green grey. 



W mthbUbTries} DarkoliTO reen -y Dark steel greeu 



Dwarf elder Bright olive green. .Grey green. .Bottle green. 



Cornelian cherry . . Dark green Grey Grey brown. 



LOgW d ''Ire^tf ><*" ^rk brown. 



Brazil wood Violet red Same Dark brown red. 



Litmus Blue red Bright blue . .Dark blue. 



Nothing more need here be said ; comparison ren- 

 ders it sufficiently clear that many so-called means of 

 detecting are really methods of concealment. "What 

 one calls green another looks upon as blue; in short 

 things go on here as they generally do in the world. 

 Upon such uncertain grounds Chemistry can pro- 

 nounce no certain decision. 



The great variety of colour which the same reagent 

 gives, may be ascribed partly to difference in the age 

 of the wine, and the treatment it has undergone, 

 partly to the incompleteness of the technical language 

 of colour (a defect which science is continually com- 

 bating), and partly to the fact that the chemist's eyes 



B B 



