26 



place of its production, or in its subsequent passage through other 

 hands ; the fact that all spirits undergo chemical changes during 

 storage ; and the fact that the particular substances constituting the 

 aroma are present is such infinitesimally small quantities. 



The two most important works on the analysis of rum, brandy and 

 arrack are those of Dr. E. K. Windisch and Dr. Eugene Sell, members 

 of the Kaiserlichen (resundheit's Amt. Both of these works embrace 

 the results of previous knowledge on this subject, and would. I am sure, 

 be full of interest to those distillers who take a scientific interest in the 

 manufacture of rum. 



The chief points touched upon in the analysis of rum are the per- 

 centage of alcohol, reckoned as ethyl alcohol, colour, taste, smell, re- 

 action, whether acid or neutral ; presence of aldehyd and higher alcohols, 

 percentage of free acids and ethers. The presence of methyl alcohol as 

 a normal constituent of genuine rum, is up to the present time a dis- 

 puted point. 



The following tables are taken from Dr. Eugene Sell's book, Ueber 

 Cognak, Eum and Arak (concerning Cogniac, Eum and Arrack) : — 



Ethyl Alcohol. 



Description. Alcohol. 



No. Vol. per cent. Weight per cent. 



1 



Jamaica 1 



74.30 



67.09 



2 





2 



74.04 



66.82 



3 



)) 



3 



74.44 



67.25 



4 



a 



LF 



74.65 



67.40 



5 



)i 



TE 



79.06 



72.46 



6 



a 



C 



75.89 



68.87 



7 



)» 



MNF 



74.91 



67.77 



8 



>) 



F A JE 



77.04 



70.15 



9 



>> 



L Gr C 



75.04 



67.92 



10 



Cuba Eum 1 



74.74 



67 58 



11 



>> 



Los Canos 



73.73 



66.48 



12 





San Antonio 



75.29 



68.19 



13 



Demerara 



74.72 



67.56 



14 







75.21 



68.10 



On looking at the table, the percentage of Alcohol will be seen to be 

 fairly uniform, the greatest difference discernible being between No. 5 

 Jamaica at 79.06 yoI. per cent, and No. 11 Cuba at 73.73 vol. per cent. 



As regards colour, smell, and reaction whether acid or neutral, nine 

 samples from Jamaica had a reddish brown colour, the two from De- 

 merara might be called black-brown, and the three from Cuba bright- 

 yellow. The smell of the various samples was of course different but 

 they all possessed in a high degree the aromatic smell of rum. All the 

 samples reacted acid. 



Aldehyd. — In every case the presence of aldehyd was proved by mean,* 

 of the metaphenylenedianine, as well as with fuchsine-sulphurous 

 acid reaction ; with aniline and hydrochloric acid the presence of fur- 

 furol (furfurane aldehyd) was established. 



