4 



toon. But having once established these two important facts, 

 viz., the necessity of heating with temper lime or fixed caustic 

 alkali to set this essential oil free, and that the amount in which it is 

 present varies so widely, we are now in a position to carry on a syste- 

 matic examination of cane juice from different soils with a view to 

 ascertain what is the determining cause of such variations ; while it is 

 evident that until such variations had been proved to occur, that any 

 investigation in this direction could not be undertaken. It may be a 

 matter of surprise to some, that if such variations do occur, that a 

 greater variation in the quality of the rum from the same estate is not 

 noticed. But the truth is that from the nature of our manufacturing 

 process such changes in the character of the juice and the rum manu- 

 factured from it, must to a great extent remain hidden from 

 us. In the parigh of Westmoreland at any rate, it is the cus- 

 tom to mix and grind the canes from different fields simultaneously, 

 so that the liquor, which finds its way to the still-house, is in no sense 

 a representative sample of any particular cane piece, and the same may 

 be said of the molasses. Coming to the still-house, we not only use the 

 liquor of a previous setting, i.e., the dunder, but many estates preserve 

 their duuder from crop to crop ; and in so far as concerns the distilla- 

 tion, not only is a double still frequently used, but also a retort contain- 

 ing a charge from the previous distillation, while, finally, the liquor is 

 stored in butts of large capacity before racking into the puncheons. Yet, 

 in spite of all this, anyone who watches the rum carefully, cannot fail 

 to notice variations, and it is notorious that a difference in the quality 

 of the shipments, from the same estate, is often commented on in Eng- 

 land. 



The Organic Bases. 

 But the treatment of the juice with lime also finds expresssion in the 

 aroma and taste of the rum, in a distinctly unfavourable manner. It is 

 owing to this that the organic bases or bodies of an alkaloidal nature 

 are set free and are found in that state in the rum. A sample of rum 

 shaken up with chloroform left behind, in addition to the essential oil, 

 a vile smelling residue, the smell of which completely hid that of the 

 essential oil, and resembled almost exactly the smell and taste 

 of the dark brown liquid which may be found in the stem of a foul 

 tobacco pipe. There seems very little doubt that this must be due to 

 the presence in the rum of some organic base of the pyridene group, 

 and last crop I succeeded in producing the same smell in cane juice by 

 heating it with excess of caustic lime. During this crop, curious to relate, 

 I have not been able to detect it in the samples of cane juice which I 

 have up to now examined, but it must be understood that no systematic 

 search for it has been carried out. But I have never yet failed to 

 detect the presence in large quantity of some ki d of bases or alkaloidal 

 bodies in cane juice which I have heated with excess of lime, and I have 

 so far never yet failed to detect them in greater or less quantity in 

 Jamaica rum. The influence of these bases on the rum is to make it 

 dry and harsh, and I should say, judging from personal experience, that 

 the action of rum on the human system containing these bases in any 

 appreciable quantity is not beneficial There seetus very little reason 

 to doubt, that it is the presence of these bodies which renders new rum 

 almost undrinkable. Anyone who has had an opportunity of smelling 



