Analysis of Wines from Asia Minor, Palestine, Sfc. 251 



Fortunately, this anticipation of Mr. Van Lennep was not re- 

 alized, except that one of the bottles from Hebron contained 

 considerable acetic acid, probably because in passing through so 

 many custom-houses it had been tested till nearly half of it was 

 gone ; yet even this, as we shall see, contained no small share of 

 alcohol. All the other bottles, on breaking their seals, were 

 found in a healthy state. And I may add, that in none of them 

 could I discover any carbonic acid ; so that probably the process 

 of fermentation had been completed. 



The mode of analysis was essentially that of Mr. Brande. 

 The specific gravities were determined by ascertaining the 

 weight of a tube full of the liquor and comparing it with the 

 same tube full of distilled water, in all cases at a temperature of 

 60° Fah. The tube which I employed, held 736*4 grains of 

 distilled water, and was suspended from one of the arms of Che- 

 min's delicate balances. The weight of the tube and liquid was 

 indeed rather too great for a balance of this description, and I do 

 not think I could be sure of the weight nearer than the one tenth 

 of a grain, although with small quantities the one hundredth of 

 a grain was perceptible. After weighing the tube full of wine, 

 in order to obtain its specific gravity, it was distilled nearly to dry- 

 ness, from a small retort into a receiver surrounded by snow, and, 

 afterwards, to make up for the deficiency, another small portion 

 of the wine was distilled also nearly to dryness. Enough was 

 thus obtained of the distilled liquor to fill the tube, which was 

 then weighed and the specific gravity thence deduced. In de- 

 ducing from thence the per centum of alcohol, I used the new 

 tables of Tralles, founded upon the principles of those by Gilpin, 

 and given by Dr. Ure in his Dictionary of the Arts, Manufactures 

 and Mines. These tables assume that water at the temperature 

 of 60°, has a specific gravity of 0-9991 • and they give the per 

 centum of anhydrous alcohol, by measure. Hence they show a 

 smaller amount of alcohol than those of Gilpin, used by Profes- 

 sors Brande and Beck, whose standard is alcohol of the specific 

 gravity of 0-825. But as Gilpin's tables have been so commonly 

 used, I have added a column of the amount of alcohol by meas- 

 ure, as obtained by those tables in Brande's Chemistry. The 

 tables of Lowitz of St. Petersburgh are also preferred by some. 

 He assumes as his standard, alcohol of the specific gravity -796 

 at 60° Fah., and gives the per centum by weight. I have given 



