Vol. Il, No. 4.] The Hindu Method of Manufacturing Spirit. 129 
[N.S.] 
19. Onthe Hindu Method of eae Spirit from Rice, and 
its renee eaplanation,—By J.C. Ray. Communicated by Dr. 
P.C.R 
To the student of history and to the student of science alike, 
the method of manufacturing alcoholic spirit from rice, which is 
followed in some parts of Bengal, presents many interesting 
features. The Hindus are proverbially conservative in their 
principles and actions, and any practice found described in an old 
8 
Moreover, the manufacturing process which is followed for profit 
and found remunerative 1 is not changed with change of empires and 
altered eco ie conditions. Itis a fact worth repeating that drink- 
ing was not sheolutely prohibited in ancient India, and that on such 
occasions as rejoicings after a victory the soldiery feaaly indulged. 
in alcoholic liquor, though Manu, the ancient moralist and law- 
giver of India, condemns the use of surds or distilled liquors. 
suras were included under a generic term, madya, mene every 
kind of alcoholic drink. The word Kohala occurs in Suésruta, a 
Sanskrit medical treatise at least as old as the 5th conte aD. It 
the Arabic wo ne Alcohol—the same as the English word—had an 
Indian o 
From this brief historical sketch it appears that the art of 
fermenting starchy and saccharine substances was understood and 
Pp in India. There is no’reason to believe that the Indian 
kuta- 
hala, ond ps Ba ge following meanings :—(1) sale ee (2) a 
sort "of spirituous liquor; (3) a kind of masical i instru These three 
meanings are more or less associated with ing pa ic ite an 
Indian lexicographer, i 
and cohol from Hebrew, 
meaning collyriam for the eye. But the ae tt Arabic and Hebrew deriva- 
tion appears to be far-fetched. 
