588 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. 



ipirit may fome time or other be economically procured from the ve- 

 getables of this climate, as MargrafF extraded it from the beet-root, 

 and from potatoes. For the ftrength of common ale, which is pi-o- 

 duced from the fugar contained in malt, is faid to be about the fame 

 as that of fome domeftic wines, which owe their fpirit to prepared 

 iugar. And as in the former a bufhel or flrike of malt is ufed to 

 about fix gallons of water, and in the latter about twenty pounds of 

 fugar to fix crallons of water, it follows, that one flrike of malt con- 



ilrength 



tains about twenty pounds of fugar ; which if an eafy method of 

 cleaning it from the mucilage and from the elTential oil of the feed 

 could be difcovered, it may fome time be manufadlured at home 

 cheaper, than it can be procured from abroad. 



We may add, as all fugar is the fame, and all fpirit is the fame, 

 from whatever plant they are procured ; that the flavours of wines 

 differ from each other folely in the elTential oil, which they contain, 

 or the quantity of acidity, or of fugar not yet fermented ; and that 

 in refpe£l to wholefomenefs wines only differ from each other in their 



or quantity of fpirit, unlefs where fome noxious material 

 has been ufed to fine them, or to counterad: their tendency to the 

 acetous fermentation, as lead has been employed in fome of the cy- 

 ders of our country, and in fome of the white vi'ines of France, to 

 eorre£t their acidity ; and it is faid that arfenic is occafionally cm- 

 ployed for the purpofe of fining white wines. 



The injurious methods of fining, wines, and of flopping their ten- 

 dency to acidity having been mentioned, the innocuous ones ought 

 to be fubjoined ; for the former it has been propofed to filter muddy 

 wine through fine fand laid on a fieve ; but this I am told does net 

 fucceed, as the mucilage of the foul wine foon fills up the interftices- 

 of the grain of fands ; 

 the fine fand on the wine through a fieve ;. which as is pafTes down 



but that an efficacious method is to (hower 



wine 



by its own weight will carry the mucilaginous mud of the 

 along with it. Andlaflly, if fome colouring particles cannot thus be 



made 



