REPORT OF SOCIETY’S MEETINGS. 175 
Owing to the greatly increased surface exposed to the aétion of the 
alcohol by the staves having been split up into thin pieces, the spirits 
probably took up as much deleterious matter from the wood in the short 
time as they would have taken up from the interior of a cask in a much 
longer period. 
When the spirits were kept in contac with the split up staves for two 
or three weeks, the alcohol took up from them considerable quantities of 
resinous and other matters so as to produce flocculencies and precipi- 
tates when mixed with distilled water or with rain water. 
Similar experiments were made with split up staves, using coloured 
rum which had successfully stood the test with the Liverpool water, and 
it was found that after being in contact with the pieces of staves for a 
few days the coloured rum acted in a manner not distinguishable from 
that in which the “faulty” rum acted when mixed at 50° F. with the 
Liverpool well water. 
From this it appears that the deleterious substances producing 
cloudiness when rum is mixed with Liverpool well water probably are 
derived from the staves of the cask by the solvent action of the alcohol 
upon certain of the constituents of the wood. 
Two modes suggested itself for avoiding this difficulty.—1st, the 
removal of the substances from the staves, and 2nd, rendering the 
substances insoluble in spirits. 
To remove them, pieces of staves were soaked in a solution of one 
part of caustic soda in one thousand parts of water (equal to one pound 
of caustic soda dissolved in one hundred gallons of water), Although this 
took up from the staves much colouring matter, it did not prove quite 
successful. Soaking them for two days in a solution of double this 
strength (equal to two pounds of caustic soda dissolved in one hundred 
gallons of water) proved satisfactory. 
To render them insoluble the following was tried :—Portions of the 
staves were soaked for two days in strong lime water, (lime water con- 
taining a small proportion of milk of lime) the lime water poured off 
and the pieces of the staves swilled with ordinary Lamaha water and 
allowed to drain. When staves treated in this manner were afterwards 
soaked in strong spirits for several days, the spirits remained perfectly 
clear, (except for the slight sediment of calcium sulphate from the 
water) when mixed with Liverpool well water at 50° F. and allowed 
to stand. 
An occasional cause of cloudiness in rum when mixed with waters 
