ADULTERATION OF WINE. 371 



business as wine dealer lie is also a druggist be dis- 

 honourable, he is at least honest in confessing it 

 since he thus puts people on their guard, and enables 

 them to purchase wine elsewhere. His book shows 

 what is done to wine in France. 



Raisin wine. In England, where people seem to 

 like being led astray in matters of this kind, wine is 

 prepared from raspberries, mangel-wurzel, plums, and 

 even from beer. The most innocent preparation is 

 that from currants or raisins, and we will say a few 

 words about it, passing by in silence all the other 

 fruits named since in our country no one would allow 

 fermented liquids from buch f raits to be set before 

 him for wine. 



Raisin vinegar is made and sold at a few stivers the 

 bottle ; for twice the sum a bottle of raisin wine may 

 be procured sufficiently strong, and which must indeed 

 resemble wine, since it is prepared from dried grapes. 

 I have more than once been assured that raisin wine 

 is prepared and drunk in our country. Many even 

 assert that the quantity used is considerable. "Whether 

 or no this be true, it is certain that raisins are dried 

 grapes, and if they are softened in rain water (in 

 which scarcely a trace of a foreign substance is per- 

 ceptible), pounded, and exposed to sufficient heat, the 

 ingredients of the raisins will be dissolved by the 

 water, and fermentation will produce a wine which 

 chemistry cannot distinguish from genuine wine ; nor 

 will it ever be able to distinguish between them, since 



