CHAPTER If. 



ECONOMICAL METHOD OF DI&TILLATIOX. 



The new machines invented for distilUng are very costly, apt to 

 get out of order, and are as much injured by being laid up as by 

 being in use ; of course they are only suitable for large establishments. 

 The old are imperfect, but cheap ; easily repaix-ed, handled and stow- 

 ed away ; but they require a great deal of fuel, and much attendance, 

 and therefore reduce the final profits by far too much. Between the 

 disadvantages of these two, it is incumbent on small proprietors to 

 make a^choice, or else endeavour to obtain a modification of the evils 

 of both, a desideratum which seems to have been discovered by Astier 

 of Toulouse in his yearly experiments ever since 1808. He is a cor- 

 respondent of the Linnean Society, and has modestly preserved an 

 anonymous fame ; but his services to chymistry and rural economy 

 sway my feelings and make me consider it a duty to betray his name. 



He thus expresses himself — 

 "The main point of the new apparatus consists in profiting of the dif- 

 ference between the degree of temperature which condenses water 

 and that which condenses alcohol, by which the spirit is kept from 

 alloy. This Mam has taken advantage of by his oval vases * Berard 

 by his cylinder, Baglioni by his cone. The same separation con- 

 stantly takes place in any ordinary worm, but as the worm has but 

 one beak, the phlegm and spirit afterwards unite, and thus united reach 

 the cask. This is a fact of which I am certain; and I do insist that by 

 one and the same distillation may be obtained apart from common 

 wine, alcohol, Dutch proof-spirit, and simple brandy, all by reject- 

 ing the phlegm. 



"As soon as the still is in operation, the steam from the capital, in the 

 first turn of the worm is at a temperature of 80o or 100^ Reaumur. 

 Here, only water condenses ; and the alcohol in vapour passes into 

 the second turn, where it also condenses by the lower temperature. 

 If the condensed liquid is drawn off from the upper turn it is mere 

 phlegm or water ; while that from the second turn is alcohol or spirit. 

 So theory would incline us to believe, and I have found that it is ac- 



*The vessels furthest off from the boiler, through which the 

 worm passes ; they are kept full of water during distillation and are 

 called condensers. 



