STATE AND QUANTITY Ofr SPIRIT IN FETtMENTEZJ LIQUORS. Qj 



Fabroni:£, who attempted to separate alcohol by saturating 

 the wine with dry sobrarbonate of potash, but did not 

 succeed, although by the same means he could detect very 

 minute portions of alcohol, which had been purposely added. 



To obtain satisfactory results from many of the following- Brandy corn- 

 experiments, it became necessary to employ wines to which raon, y aided 

 ». • • • i i , i i i * • i i , to wuies. 



little or no spirit had been added ; for very considerable 



addition of brandy is made to most of the common wines, 

 even before they f.re imported into this country. I therefore 

 occasionally used Burgundy, Hermitage, Cote Roti, Cham- Good French,. 

 pague, Frontignac, and some other French wines ; to which, v " oe wolud ° e 



i r< i i i • -^ i j i i spoiled by it. 



when ot the best quality, no spirit can be added, as even 

 the smallest proportion impairs the delicacy of their flavour, 

 and is consequently readily detected by those who are 

 accustomed to taste them. For these, and for the oppor- 

 tunity- of examining many of the scarce wines enumerated, 

 in the table annexed to this paper, I am indebted to the 

 liberality of the Right Honourable Sir Joseph Banks. 



Dr. Baillie, who took considerable interest in this investi- Port procured 



cation, was also kind enough to procure for me some port P ur ' )0sel . y 

 ° , ? , without it. 



wine, sent from Portugal for the express purpose of ascer- 

 taining how long it would remain sound, without any addi- 

 tion whatever of spirit having been made to it. 



Lastly, I employed raisin wine, which had been fermented Raisin Wine, 

 without the addition of spirit. 



At a very early period of the present inquiry, I ascertained Insufficiency of 

 by the following experiments, that the separation of the s " bc;irDC » nate 

 alcohol by means of subcarbonate of potash was interfered separate the 

 with, and often wholly prevented by some of the other in- a,cohol< 

 gredients of the wine. 



A pint of port wine was put into a retort placed in a sand Port wine di*- 

 heat, and eight fluid ounces were distilled over, which, by tilled > aad the 

 saturation with dry subcarbonate of potash, afforded about rated, 

 three fluid ounces of tolerably pure spirit floating on the 

 surface. 



I repeated this distillation precisely under the same cir- but it could 



cumstances, and mixed the distilled liquor with the resi- not wl >enmix- 

 , . , . . , . . c , . . en witn tho 



duum in the retort, conceiving, that, it the spirit were a residuum. 



product, I now should have no difficulty in separating it 

 * Ann. de Cbim. vol. XXXI, p. 303. 



F 9 from 



