SPIRITS. 



phlegm, or common water, that it is eafily fenfible upon 

 the balance ; whence an exaa hydrometer, well balanced 

 and graduated, and furnilhed with a proper fcale of weights, 

 may be of great ufe to aflign the proportions in w-hich pure 

 fpirit and water are mixed in any given liquor. ( See Specific 

 Gravity, and Hydrometer.) Though, perhaps, a 

 readier way than this may be that of M. Romberg's, men- 

 tioned in the Memoirs of the Paris Academy, 1718, for de- 

 termining the different gravities of different fluids, by means 

 of a bottle with a very long and (lender neck ; which being 

 filled to a certain height with any mixture of fpirit, is 

 weighed againll the fame bottle filled with pure water. 



The moll exaft of all methods of determining the ftrength 

 and fpirit is by diftillation, reftifying it up to an alcohol, or 

 totally inflammable fpirit ; but this, though liable to no er- 

 ror, is too tedious to come into common ufe. And, upon 

 the whole, the bell method of all others, feems to be that 

 of deflagration, which M. Geoffroy has been at much pains 

 to adjult and improve. 



In commerce, with regard to fpirits, it would certainly be 

 a much better method to abolifli fuch uncertain proofs, and 

 to make all the goods of the ilrength of what we call fpirits 

 of wine ; that is, a totally inflammable fpirit, whofe purity 

 is much greater, whofe ilrength may always be found out 

 with exaftnefs, and whofe bulk, ilowage, carriage, and in- 

 cumbrance, would be only half in regard to that of brandy, 

 or proof fpirits ; and it might at all times, as occafion called 

 for it, be mixed into a great variety of extemporaneous 

 liquors, and the exaft degree of Ilrength would be always 

 precifely known. 



This operation, indeed, in the common way, proves fo 

 tedious and expenfive, and, after all, fo fliort of expectation, 

 and fo generally unfatisfaftory, that it is not to be expefted 

 that the common dillillers, till they have fallen into a better 

 manner of working, ftiould come into the propofal. But if, 

 inftead of the common way of reftifying by the hot-ilill, 

 they would try the ufe of a large balneum Marix, made of 

 a large reftangular boiler, and a fet of tall conical vellels, 

 they will find that little fire, and little attendance, and con- 

 fequently very little expence, will, in this manner, furnifli 

 them with fpirits reduced at once to this llandard, and 

 greatly fuperior, in all refpefts, to the common ones of the 

 fame ftrength. In this cafe there would be no need of any 

 addition of falts ; but the dilliller may work more perfeftly, 

 and more expeditioufly without them, and thus preferve the 

 fine effential vinofity of the fpirit, which, in the common way 

 of working, they conilantly lofe. 



The advantage of this method would be yet greater to the 

 apothecaries, and tlie makers of compound cordial waters, 

 who want only a pure fpirit of fuch a ftrength, and fuffer 

 greatly in the finenefs and perfe£lion of their commodities, 

 by the fpirit they are obliged to ufe having in it a fulfome 

 and naufeous oil of its own, which will always mix itfelf 

 with their compofitions, and the oils of the aromatics, &c. 

 which they add to it. If fpirits were brought to this ftand- 

 ard for the market, there would be no poffibility of deceit, 

 and no farther examination need be made of it by the buyer 

 than its burning perfeftly dry in a fpoon. Shaw's Effay 

 on Diftillery. 



It is, however, to be obferved, that though the burning 

 of fpirits away in a fpoon may ferve the trader in the com- 

 mon way, yet M. Geoffroy has obferved, that they are no 

 proofs for the philofopher, or the chemill, being not at all 

 determinate or exa£t, though commonly fuppofed fo. 



From what has been faid, it appears that brandy is much 

 more inflammable than wine, and fpirit of wine much more 

 ^0 than brandy, and ought to burn away without leaving 



any remainder. Hence it is vulgarly fuppofed, that fuch 

 fpirit of wine as burns wholly away contains no phlegm, and 

 that if two parcels of fpirit both burn wholly away in this 

 manner, they muff be the fame in ftrength, and in all other 

 quahties ; but M. Geoffroy has proved by experiment, that 

 fuch fpirit as burns wholly away, does yet contain a great 

 deal of water, and two parcels both may burn thus away, and 

 yet be very different ; and that this trial is not determined 

 by the entire abfence of the phlegm, but by its proportion 

 to the oil. 



If the fame fpirit of wine, which in the common way of 

 burning leaves no water, be again tried, by burning it in 

 a hollow veffel fet to float in a large quantity of cold water, 

 it will then leave a confiderable quantity of water ; nay, 

 all that is reftified only in the common way, leaves a large 

 portion of phlegm on this experiment. The plain reafon of 

 which is, that this is the only fair trial, the other in the 

 common way being fallacious. In this there is do more 

 water left than was in the fpirit ; but in the other, the 

 veffel becoming heated by the burning of the fpirit, that 

 heat gradually evaporates the water, as the fpirit burns 

 away ; fo that the one is as foon gone as the other. But 

 keeping the veffel cool by external water, prevents that 

 evaporation, and confequently retains and difcovers all that 

 cannot burn of the fpirit. 



The quantity of water thus difcovered in fpirit of wine 

 is very great, and it has always been found, that in propor- 

 tion as the experiment has been made more and more per- 

 fe£i, the fpirit has always appeared proportionably lefs and 

 lefs fo. 



Pure alcohol, or alcohol of a fpecific gravity of .796, 

 at 60° Fah., which is the ttrongett that can be procured, 

 leaves no water ; reftified fpirit of moderate ftrength, 25 

 per cent. ; French brandy, 56 ; and common malt liquor, 65. 



The teft for afcertaining the ftrength of fpirits by pour- 

 ing a few drops on gunpowder, is very incorreft. A more 

 accurate teft than any of thefe, and fufEcient for common 

 purpofes, is to (hake the fpirit in a phial with very dry car- 

 bonate of potafs, and obferve the quantity of water attrafted 

 by the alkali, which indicates its ftrength. But the only 

 certain mode of afcertaining the relative ilrength of fpirits, is 

 by determining the fpecific gravity of the fpirit at a given 

 temperature ; thus, at 60° Fahr. the fpecific gravity of refti- 

 fied fpirit is .83599, ^^ ^5° ^^ '* '^3362, and at 70° the 

 gravity of the fame fpirit is .83134; while the gravity of 

 the proof fpirit of the London College, at the fame degree of 

 temperature, is .93002, .92794, and .92580, (fee the table 

 under Spirits, in the Materia Medico,) the weakeft: 

 fpirit having the greateft fpecific gravity, and this di- 

 miniffiing as the temperature increafes. For ordinary pur- 

 pofes, the relative Ilrength of fpirits may be known by 

 weighing the fample to be tried in a phial capable of hold- 

 ing exaftly 500 grains of water. An equal bulk of refti- 

 fied fpirit weighs 418 grains, and of proof fpirit 465 ; hence 

 the number of grains above or below thefe fums will indi- 

 cate the relative ftrength of the fpirit. 



The quality of the phlegm that is left is alfo of ufe to 

 judge of the fpirit by ; if that were perfeftly fine, this ought 

 to be perfeftly limpid and clear, and without tafte or fmell : 

 as it wants either of thefe properties, it is a proof of the want 

 of perfeftion of the fpirit it is obtained from ; but the great- 

 eft of all defefts, is its having a coarfe oil fwimming upon it, 

 and giving the colours of the rainbow in different lights. 

 Mem. Acad. Par. 1718. See Brandy. 



Spirits, Colouring of, the art of giving to diftilled li- 

 quors a colour, which takes off their watery appearance, and 

 gives them a refemblance of the foreign brandies, 5cc. 



The 



