Notices of Books . 
116 
[January, 
root, sago, and tapioca should be banished from the class 
“ Food.” Now, a classification which admits of things respect- 
ively closely allied being placed under different heads must be 
rejected as essentially faulty. 
Wine and its Counterfeits. By J. L. Denman. London : 
20, Piccadilly. 
The author of this interesting little pamphlet is well known for 
his advocacy of the merits of the pure wines of France, Hun- 
gary, and Greece, against the depraved public taste in favour of 
the mixtures known as port and sherry. Mr. Denman has done 
more than write ; he has spent over ten years in making known 
the wines of the Greek Archipelago and Islands — a work, doubt- 
less, far from profitable for the first few years, owing to having 
to fight against old and well-established prejudices. 
The work contains several interesting tables relating to wine, 
valuable extracts from the researches of Dr. Thudichum, Dr. 
Dupre, Dr. Barry, Dr. Edward Smith, Dr. Faure, and many 
other eminent authorities. 
The admirers of sherry will feel much comforted when they 
read the process by which their favourite wine is made, and how 
the wholesome tartrates and malates arc converted into sulphate 
of potass by the operation of plastering: so successful is the 
result, and so rich in this salt are some samples of sherry, that 
it is rather a matter of surprise that it has not long ago taken 
its place in the Pharmacopoeia as a purgative medicine. 
Port is scarcely better : the finest samples may be very good 
as cordials, to be taken as cautiously as Curacoa and Maraschino, 
but they are certainly not wine, and should never be sold as such 
by any merchant who values his reputation as a dealer in pure 
and wholesome wine. There is not the slightest doubt that 
many of these mixtures come within the scope of the very unsa- 
tisfactory Adulteration Act, as fraudulent mixtures of a nature 
injurious to health. Gout especially is one of the diseases at- 
tributable to fine old port, a concoCtion for which the British 
nation has to thank that late eminent statesman William Pitt. 
Wine analysis demands very much the attention of our 
chemists ; some means of distinguishing between alcohol, the 
direCt produCt of fermentation, and distilled alcohol is especially 
needed ; they are two very different substances, varying greatly 
in their aCtion, as anyone may try for himself by noting the 
effects of a glass of good claret, or other unfortified wine, and 
an equal quantity of brandy or whiskey diluted to a similar 
strength. 
The chapter, “ How to know Pure Wine,” is not the least 
