176 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



the mere physical excitement, amounting almost to ferocity, which 

 results from the largely brandied wines, which are too much in 

 vogue in England. The disorders of the liver, which chiefly 

 attend spirit drinkers, are also commonly met among those con- 

 sumers of wine to which brandy or whisky has been adventi- 

 tiously added, though such disorders rarely, if ever, follow even 

 the intemperate use of pure wine. Much, therefore, of ill health, 

 supposed to follow the habitual use of wine, must be attributed 

 to the alcohol with which the wine is adulterated, not to the 

 wine itself Certain it is that intoxication is a very rare occu- 

 rence among the inhabitants of the wine-producing countries. 

 It has been held to be inexplicable why a quantity of alcohol 

 forming an integral portion of some good sound wine will not alFect 

 the head to the extent or with the rapidity that half the quantity 

 will do when taken pure, or still more rapidly when diluted with 

 water. If the power which all vegetable acids possess of coun- 

 teracting intoxication be called to mind, it seems natural that the 

 free acids present in wine should hinder the spirit from acting 

 prejudicially. Tartaric acid, that one most common in good 

 wine, has the greatest power in this respect. — [Article Wine ; 

 Penny Encyclopedia. 



I do not think that the alcohol formed in wine is so free from 

 prejudicial effects as these writers state ; but, if the difference 

 in the effects between alcohol as it exists in wine, and alcohol 

 as it exists after it has been distilled even from the same wine, 

 be due, as I believe it is, to the free tartaric acid in the wine, 

 then wine made from mature but unripe grapes, is less prejudicial 

 as a beverage than wine made from perfectly ripened grapes; 

 because in the unripe grape a greater amount of free tartaric 

 acid exists than in the ripe grape. 



I must defer until my next the further consideration of this 

 most important constituent of wine, the acid, which is so valua- 

 ble if it have the properties attributed to it of diminishing the 

 intoxicating power of fermented liquor. From what has been 

 stated, I think it must be apparent to every unprejudiced person 

 that the use of sugar in wine making ought not to be considered 

 an adulteration. On the contraiy, sugar is the wine maker's most 

 important agent ; with it he can exercise a perfect control over 

 the grape juice ; he can, at will, make his' wine sweet or dry ; 

 regulate within certain limits, the amount of alcohol ; and give 

 the wine such keeping qualities which are otherwise unattainable, 



