364 



Miscellanies. 



absolute alcohol by weight in the wine, the second the per-centage of 

 proof spirit by volume. 



Port — Weakest, 



Mean of 7 wines, 

 Strongest, 



White Port, 



Sherry — Weakest, 



Mean of 13 wines, excluding those very 

 long kept in cask. 



Sherry — Strongest, 



Mean of 9 wines very long kept in cask 



in the East Indies, 

 Madre daXeres, 



•|yj. 1 . ^ all long in cask ^ Strongest 

 ' \ in East Indies \ Weakest 



Teneriffe, long in cask at Calcutta, 



Cercial, .... 



Dry Lisban, 



Shiraz, .... 



Amontillado, 



Claret, a first growth of 1811, 



Chateau-Latour, first growth 1825, 



Rosan, second growth 1825, 



Ordinary Claret, a superior " vin ordinaire," 



Rives Altes, 



Malmsey, ..... 



Rudesheimer, superior quality, 



Rudesheimer, inferior quality, 



Hambacher, superior quality, 



Giles' Edinburgh Ale, before bottling, 



The same Ale, two years in bottle, 



Superior London Porter, four months bottled, 



In addition to certain obvious general conclusions which may be 

 drawn from this table, the author stated, as the result of his experi- 

 ments, that the alcoholic strength of various samples of the same kind 

 bears no relation whatever to their commercial value, and is often 

 very different from what would be indicated by the taste even of an 

 experienced wine taster. 



Some observations were next made on the effect produced on the 

 alcoholic strength of wines by certain modes of keeping or ripening 

 them, more especially by the method employed in the case of sherry, 

 madeira, and such other wines, which consists of slow evaporation 



