it is inclosed in ail oblong flask, so as to fill 
[ about two-thirds of the whole, and violently 
agitated, the mouth of the flask being kept 
tightly closed by the pressure of the thumb, 
I This last apparatus is called the sound. 
The test by combustion, in the manner it 
is usually practised, is very faulty. The re- 
gulation of the year 1729 directs to put gun- 
| powder into a boiler, and, auei covering it 
with the liquid, to apply tire to it. The brandy 
I is supposed to be of good quality it it sets fire 
to the powder, and bad in the contrary event. 
But the same quantity of liquor either does, 
or does not, set tire to' gunpowder, according 
[ to the proportion in which it is employed: a 
small proportion always does it, and a large 
one never ; for, in the latter case, the water 
contained in the liquid is sufficient to wet the 
powder, and prevent its taking tire. 
Salt of tartar (carbonat of potass) is also 
employed as a test for brandy^ 1 his alkali 
is soluble in water, but not in alcohol ; so that 
upon dissolving it in brandy, the alcohol 
swims at the top of the solution. 
The defective nature of these processes 
has rendered it necessary to have recourse 
to means capable of determining the spiritu- 
osity of a liquor by ascertaining its specific 
gravity. 
A drop of oil poured upon alcohol fixes it- 
self upon the surface, or falls to the bottom, 
according to the degree of spirituosity which 
the liquor possesses. This method has been 
adopted and proposed by the Spanish go- 
vernment in the year 1770; hut it is subject 
to inaccuracy, as the effect depends upon the 
height from which it falls, the weight of the 
oil, the size of the drop, the temperature ot 
the atmosphere, the dimensions of the ves- 
sel, &c. 
In the year 1772, this important subject 
was resumed by two able philosophers, name- 
ly, Borie and Proujet de Cette, who intro- 
duced in Languedoc, an hydrometer, to which 
they adapted a thermometer, the different de- 
grees of which constantly indicate the cor- 
rections requisite to he made in the gtadua- 
tion of the hydrometer, on account of the 
very variable temperature ot the atmospheie. 
By the aid of this hydrometer, one may 
not only ascertain the degree of spirituosity, 
but also bring the brandy to any degree that 
is thought proper. For this purpose different 
weights are used, the heaviest of which is 
marked Holland-proof, and the hignest o 7 , 
so that if we see, at the lower extremity of the 
stalk of the areometer, Holland-proof, and 
plunge the instrument into a liquor 3 /, it 
sinks much too deep ; but we may raise it 
again to the level ot Holland-proof, by adding 
four-sevenths of w ater. 
If, on the contrary, we have the weight 
3 7 ^ and plunge the areometer into a liquor 
Holland-proof, it will rise in the liquor above 
this last term, to which it may easily be re- 
duced by adding alcohol of a higher degree ot 
spirituosity. 
When brandies are to be distilled for the 
purpose ot extracting their alcohol, the com- 
pound bath is usually employed. The heat 
is then more gentle and equal, and the pro- 
duct of the distillation of a better quality. 
This- is what is called spirit of wine in com- 
merce. . . . 
3. The tartar. Tartar exists m verjuice, 
as also in must ; it contributes to facilitate 
WINE, 
the formation of alcohol, as we have already 
observed, according to the experiments oi 
Bouillon. When left at rest in casks, it depo- 
sits itself upon the sides, forming a crust, 
more or less thick, with crystals of irregular 
forms. Some time before the vintage, when 
the casks are to be got ready for receiving the 
new wine, they are staved, and the tartar de- 
tached from them, in order to be employed 
in the different uses of commerce. 
Tartar is not furnished in equal quantity by 
all wines ; the red wines yield a larger pro- 
portion of it than the white: those of the 
deepest colour and thickest consistence ge- 
nerally yield the most. 
Its colour likewise varies very much ; and 
it is distinguished into white and red tartar, 
according to the colour of the wines from 
which it has been deposited. 
This salt has little solubility in cold water, 
but considerably more in boiling water. Jt 
scarcely dissolves at all in the mouth, and it 
resists the pressure of the teeth. 
It is deprived of its colouring principle by 
a simple process, and it is then termed cream 
of tartar. For this purpose it is dissolved in 
boiling water, and as soon as the solutiou is 
saturated, it is put into earthen pans to cool. 
In cooling, it deposits a layer of crystals, 
which are already very nearly deprived of 
their colour. These crystals are again dis- 
solved in boiling water, and the solution mix- 
ed, in the proportion of four or live parts to a 
hundred, with a sandy argillaceous earth, 
which is dug at Murveil, near Montpellier. 
This mixture is evaporated till a pellicle 
forms upon it, ; in cooling it deposits white 
crystals, which, alter being exposed for some 
days to the air, upon canvas, acquire that 
whiteness by which cream of tartar is dis- 
tinguished. The original water is preserved 
in order to be employed in new solutions. 
Tartar is purified also by calcination. By 
this operation its acid is decomposed and de- 
stroyed, so that nothing remains besides the 
alkali and the carbon. The alkali is dissolved 
in water; and by filtrating and evaporating 
the solution, we obtain the salt well known 
in pharmacy by the name of salt of tartar, or 
carbonat of potass. 
Tartar furnishes not more than about a 
fourth part of its weight of alkali. 
•1. The extractive principle. The ex- 
tractive principle abounds in must, where it 
appears to he dissolved by the aid of the 
sugar: but when the saccharine principle is 
decomposed by means of fermentation, the 
quantity of extractive matter sensibly dimi- 
nishes ; a part of it deposits itself in a fibrous 
form ; and this deposit, which principally con- 
stitutes the lees, is the more considerable in 
proportion as the fermentation is more gentle, 
and the alcohol more abundant. This deposit 
is always mixed with a considerable quantity 
of tartar. 
There always exists in wine a proportion of 
extractive matter in a state of dissolution, 
which may be separated from it by means of 
evaporation. It abounds more in new wines 
than in old ones; and the older the wine 
grows, the morg completely is it freed from 
the extractive principle. 
The lees, after beii:-g well pressed, are 
dried in the sand, or in stoves, and then 
burnt, in order to extract that species of al- 
kali known in commerce by the name of 
pearl-ashes. . The residuum, after the com- 
911 
bustion, is a porous mass, of a greenish-grey 
colour, and forms about a thirtieth part of 
the whole quantity of lees that have beeii 
burnt. 
5. The aroma. All natural wines have an 
odour more or less agreeable to the smell. 
Some of them owe their reputation in a great 
measure to the perfume which they exhale. 
This is the case with Burgundy. This per- 
fume is lost by too violent a fermentation, 
and becomes stronger by age. It seldom ex- 
ists in very spirituous wines, either because it 
is concealed by the strong smell of the al- 
cohol, or because it has been destroyed or 
dissipated by the violent fermentation that 
was requisite to developethe spirit. 
This aroma does not appear to be capable 
of being extracted and communicated at 
pleasure to other substances. Even heat, 
seems to destroy it; for, excepting the first 
liquid that passes over in distillation, which 
still retains something of the odour peculiar to 
the wine, the brandy which follows after lias- 
only those properties that essentially belong 
to it. 
6. The colouring principle. The colour- 
ing principle of wine belongs to the skin of 
the grape; for when the must is suffered to 
ferment without it, the wine is white. This 
colouring principle does not dissolve till the 
alcohol is developed ; it is only then that the 
wine acquires its colour, which is deeper in 
proportion to the violence of the fermen- 
tation. 
A portion of the colouring principle de- 
posits itself in the cask, together with the 
tartar and the lees ; and, as the wine grows 
old,, it is not unfrequent to see it entirely lose 
its colour: the colouring principle then de- 
posits itself in pellicles on the sides or bottom 
of the cask, and is seen floating in the liquid 
in the form of films, which injure its trans- 
parency. 
If we expose bottles filled with wine to the 
rays of the sun, a few days are sufficient to 
precipitate- the colouring principle in large 
pellicles; the wine losing neither its per- 
fume nor its strength. 
By adding a large quantity of lime-water 
to wines, we precipitate their colouring prin- 
ciple. In this case the lime combines with 
the malic acid, and forms a salt which ap- 
pears in light flakes in the liquid. These 
Hakes gradually sink to the bottom, carrying 
with them the whole of the colouring prin- 
ciple. The deposit is black or white, ac- 
cording to the colour of the wine on which 
we operate. It frequently happens, that a 
wine is still susceptible of a new precipitation, 
although it had been completely discoloured 
by the first deposit, which proves that the- 
colouring principle has a very strong affinity 
with the malate of lime. This coloured pre- 
cipitate is not soluble either in cold or in hot 
water.. Alcohol has scarcely any effect upon 
it, excepting that it acquires a slight brownish 
tinge. The nitric acid dissolves the colour- 
ing principle of this precipitate. 
When wine is reduced to the state of ex- 
tract, alcohol poured upon it acquires a deep 
tinge, in. the same manner as water does, 
though not in an equal degree. But, besides 
the colouring principle which then dissolves 
itself, there is also a saccharine extractive 
principle present, which facilitates the. so- 
lution. 
