370 ADULTEBATION OF WINE. 



are subjective. The peculiarity of colour depends 

 upon the eye, not upon the light. 



That aromatic ingredients are very generally used 

 to improve the quality of wine is a fact we cannot 

 conceal. Ask the druggists how much acetic ether 

 they sell to the wine dealers. 



In our country these adulterations have not yet been 

 practised to any great extent ; in England they are far 

 beyond us. But we may prepare ourselves for a ter- 

 rible future, for so soon as an acquaintance with oxides 

 of ethyl and other combinations which occur in wine 

 spreads, we may expect a new series of adulterations 

 of wine with aromatic ingredients. Insuperable diffi- 

 culties will be opposed to their detection ; and if 

 nothing has been used except what may possibly exist 

 in wine, the only means of discovering adulteration 

 will be to analyse the relative proportions (as already 

 shown in the case of alcohol and water), and such a 

 proceeding would be very far from easy. 



Batilliat, who has written a book upon wine, to 

 which we have referred several times, does not hesitate 

 to put nitric acid and nitric ether into wine (p. 117). 

 The first speedily darkens the wine, giving it a colour 

 which would otherwise be imparted by time (pelure 

 d'oignon) ; the other gives wines the aroma of the 

 golden reinette the smell of sweet spirits of nitre. 



Although he possesses a vineyard he sees nothing 

 improper in selling such wine, and in general, in 

 making wine as liqueurs or beer is made. If his 



