NAt. ORDER. — VITACE^. 
6] 
The quantity of alcohol which . they contain, is much more 
■ than appears sensibly to the taste ; their acescency is thereby in a 
great measure counteracted. Red port, and most of the red 
wines, have an astringent quality, by which they strengthen the 
stomach, and prove useful in restraining immoderate evacuations ; 
on the contrary, those which are of an acid nature, as rhenish, 
jDass fi-eely off by the kidneys, and prove gently cathartic. But 
this, and perhaps all the thin or weak wines, though of an agree- 
able flavor, yet, as containing little alcohol, are readily disposed to 
become acetous in the stomach, and thereby to aggravate all an- 
thritic and calculous complaints, as well as to produce the effects of 
new wine. 
The general effects of wine, are, to stimulate the stomach, 
exhilarate the spirits, warm the habit, quicken the circulation, 
pi'omote perspiration, and, in large quantities, to prove intoxica- 
ting, and powerfully sedative. 
In a great variety of diseases, wine is universally admitted to 
be of important service, and especially in fevers of the typhus 
kind, or of a putrid tendency, in which it is found to raise the 
pulse, support the strength, promote a diaphoresis, and to resist 
putrefaction ; and in many cases, it proves of more immediate ad- 
van tasre than the Peruvian bark. Delirium, which is the conse- 
quence of excessive irritability, and a defective state of nervous 
energy, is often entirely removed by the free use of wine. It is 
also a well founded observation, that those who indulge in the use 
of wine, are less subject to fevers, both of the malignant and inter- 
mittent kind. In the putrid sore throat, in the small pox, when 
attended with great debility, and symptoms of putrescency, in 
gangrenes, and in raging epidemics, wine is to be considered a 
principal remedy ; and in almost all cases of languors, and of 
great prostration of strength, wine is experienced to be a more 
grateful and efficacious cordial, than can be found among the 
whole class of aromatic s. 
