JAMAICA. 



BULLETIN 



OF THE 



BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT. 



New Series.] MARCH, 1895. 



RTJM ANALYSIS. 



By Percival S. Greg. 



I do not think I am wrong in saying, that the smell of rum, really- 

 good rum that is, is one of the most delicious scents that can be imagined. 

 There is in addition something so peculiar and undefinable about it ; it 

 is so different from the smell of any other spirit that the more we smell 

 it, the more we are puzzled to say to what its aroma is really due. 



Rum like almost every product of commercial importance has been 

 analysed. The most important work in this direction has been done by 

 foreigners, and those chiefly Germans, who have lately been making a 

 great effort, and will probably continue doing so, to produce a spirit 

 from Beetroot juice, molasses, or cane sugar, to vie with Jamaica rum. 

 So far I am glad to note, these efforts have been unsuccessful, but 

 Jamaica should remember the painful lesson taught by the rise and 

 growth of the Beet-sugar industry, and should take a leaf out of their 

 adversary's book, in not disdaining to study science in connection with 

 their manufactures. 



Up to now analysis of rum, and this remark applies with equal force 

 to brandy and arrack, has been rather barren of results. One of the 

 first aims of analysis of any commercial product, has always been to 

 determine what are the normal constituents of the article in a state of 

 purity, and in what proportions these constituents are present. 

 Unfortunately the difficulties in the way of this are manifold. No 

 chemical analysis so far can tell us, whether a rum has been adulterated 

 or not. In this respect an opinion emanating from an experienced rum 

 dealer, is worth far more than that of the analyst. This however is not 

 so surprising as might at first sight appear. Rum is not a definite 

 chemical product, we cannot write the formula of rum, and any one of 

 its constituents may vary in the proportion in which it is present, or 

 indeed some may be absent altogether, without our being able to say, 

 that such a change is due to artificial manipulation. The great obstacles 

 in the way of analysis of rum, brandy, and arrack, are the large 

 quantities required for analysis, and the consequent costliness of the 

 operation ; the uncertainty as to whether the spirit, when this is forth- 

 coming in sufficient quantity, has not been adulterated either at the 



Vol. II. 

 Part 3. 



