November 17, 1904] 



NA TURE 



Die orienlalischc Chrisicnheit dor MitlehuccrUindc. 



By Dr. Karl Beth. Pp. xvi + 427. (Berlin: 



Schwetschke, 1902.) 

 Thk author spent five months in 1901 in the eastern 

 Mediterranean, investigating at first hand, and at 

 close quarters, the institutions, and the practical 

 working of the Greek, Armenian, and Coptic 

 Churches, and of such other fragments of Christian 

 communions as survive in those parts. He is 

 evidently a good observer and quick worker, and was 

 able to elicit much interesting information, meeting 

 everywhere, as he did, with cordial receptions and 

 assistance. The result is a valuable handbook of an 

 ill-e.xplored section of ecclesiology, full of queer side- 

 lights upon medi<-Eval and modern history, and no less 

 upon the workings of the religious instinct under the 

 peculiarly unfavourable conditions which have pre- 

 vailed in the Levant for so long. The author's per- 

 >onal knowledge of the working of these curious 

 institutions enables him to supply a number of 

 corrections to Kattenbusch's " Lehrbuch," and to 

 confirm and expand the observations of Gelzer, von 

 der Goltz, von .Soden, and other recent travellers. 



Talcs of Siitlon Town and Chase, li'ith other Tales and 

 some Sketches. Collected by "Tau." Pp. 86. 

 (Birmingham : Hudson and Son, 1904.) Price 

 2S. 6d. net. 

 Two of the narrative poems in this delightful little 

 collection are of more than local interest. One ballad 

 — " The Alchemist of New Hall " — refers to the moated 

 stone mansion of New Hall, where the celebrated Dr. 

 Sacheverell lived at one time. Another poem deals 

 amusingly with a meeting of the Lunar Society, which 

 met in the district in the latter portion of the eighteenth 

 century, and included among its members Erasmus 

 Darwin, Galton, James Watt, Priestley, Wedgwood 

 and Baskerville. To persons familiar with .Sutton 

 Coldfield and the neighbourhood, this collection of 

 verses describing in appropriate words and metre some 

 of the stories of " oldest inhabitants " will be read 

 with keen interest; and many others will find pleasure 

 in the quaint ideas contained in this dainty little 

 volume. 



//((' Glamour of the Earth. By George .'\. B. Dewar. 



Pp. ix-H255; with illustrations by R. W. A. Rouse. 



(London : George Allen, 1904.) Price 6s. net. 

 The true lover of the country will enjoy this book. 

 The author is not addressing the mere seeker after 

 information ; and such a reader will regard the volume 

 as diffuse and unsatisfactory. But men who are weary 

 with work and have gone to the country quietly to 

 come into contact with nature, and so secure refresh- 

 ment and recreation, will follow .Mr. Dewar's notes 

 and leisurely observations with sympathy and appreci- 

 ation. The beautiful pictures by Mr. Rouse add much 

 to the attractiveness of the volume. 



Jahrhuch dcr Radioaktivitdt and Elektronik. Heraus- 

 gcgeben von J. Stark in Gottingen. Erster Band. 

 I Heft. (Leipzig : S. Hirzel, 1904.) 

 Tnjsnew magazine or " year-book," devoted to radio- 

 activity and the electric discharge, is promised to 

 appear in four parts yearly. The first part, now under 

 consideration, contains two original contributions, six 

 short summaries of recent work on special branches, 

 and a fairly complete list of the original papers ori 

 radio-activity, &c., which had appeared in 1904 up to 

 the date of going to press. The short summaries re- 

 ferred to are preceded by bibliographies, and should 

 prove useful to specialists. 



NO. 1829, VOL. 71] 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



\TIie Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 



expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertalce 



to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 



manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 



No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 

 What is Brandy? 



With regard to the interesting article in vour issue of 

 November 3 upon this subject, I trust that I may be allowed 

 to pass a few comments. 



There can be no doubt that the word " brandy " originally 

 connoted burnt or distilled wine ; its derivation is thus stated 

 in the " Oxford Dictionary " of Dr. Murray as from the 

 Dutch word " brandewijn," old English " brandy wine." 



Thus so late as 1719 one D'Urfey, " Pills," v. 23,, 

 wrote : — 



I was entertained, with Kisses fine and Brandy wine." 



Certain spirits were introduced long before the outbreak 

 of the phyllo.xera in France under the name of British 

 brandy, still included in certain legal documents under the 

 designation of British compounds, though, as a matter of 

 fact, made more without than within this country. Herein 

 a difficulty arises for those who may have to advise county 

 or borough councils in the administration of the Sale of 

 Foods and Drugs (.Amendment) Act, as now interpreted, or 

 those, like myself, who have to deal with cases under the 

 Merchandise Marks Act. For on the one hand an astute 

 chemist could make up a liquid, wholly innocent of grape 

 juice, so that the results, obtained on analysis, were identical 

 with those of a genuine grape-spirit, and on the other, a 

 sample of the latter might, as pointed out in your article, 

 if carelessly distilled be condemned, though innocent. 



.'Vgain, if a genuine grape spirit, distilled not far from 

 Cognac, were mixed with — per cent, of a spirit, not silent 

 (1 omit particular details on the ground of expediency), mere 

 analytical results would be of little avail ; such a problem 

 (credits e.\perto) requires prolonged research, and the appli- 

 cation of methods not wholly chemical. 



It is clear that professional tasting, especially by certain 

 specially gifted persons, is a very valuable aid to analytical 

 results and methods of research, yet, as a matter of evidence, 

 it can be regarded only as a question of opinion, based on 

 long experience, rather than as a definite proof. 



A Government inquiry would elicit important evidence^ 

 and possibly some kind of standard might be arrived at 

 which would not only exclude clever and fraudulent imita- 

 tions, but also bring the present chaos or impasse to a 

 conclusion. V. H. Veley. 



Oxford, November 5. 



Your article published under the above heading in 

 Nature of November 3 raises some interesting points. The 

 writer clearly fails to appreciate any difference between 

 brandy and alcohol, for he says, " if the brandy is being 

 made from damaged wine the rectification must be most 

 carefully conducted, and may have to be pushed to a point 

 that the alcohol is obtained almost pure, that is to say, 

 almost free from non-alcohol." Now if brandy is merely 

 alcohol, as is here plainly implied, why prodtice it from 

 grapes or wine at all? Similarly, why produce whisky 

 from malted barley, or rum from cane sugar? The fact is 

 that the genuine article is, and has always been in history, 

 the product of the pot still. The pot stijl produces alcohol 

 plus " non-alcohol," the patent still pure alcohol. It is 

 true that brandy, whisky, and rum contain alcohol, but the 

 alcohol of the patent still or rectifying still is not whisky, 

 brandy, or rum. Pot still spirit from " damaged " or sick 

 wines would be nauseous and undrinkable, but pot still 

 spirit from wines of repute possesses the qualities which dis- 

 tinguish genuine brandy chemically and physiologicallv 

 from rectified spirit. It is well known that the effects of 

 pure alcohol on the blood pressure and lymph circulation 

 are modified very considerably by the presence of other con- 

 stituents in spirits. These other constituents are the " non- 

 alcohol " which you describe. To call rectified spirit or 

 patent still spirit brandy is about as reasonable as calling 

 skimmed inilk milk. In England the word brandy ough't 

 to be confined to a pot still spirit produced from the wine 

 of grapes, and should never be applied to alcohol distilled 

 in a patent still from " damaged wine " or from likely 



