387 
“ Drinks, and especially wines, are adulterated, because it is 
snore difficult to know the deception, and that it gives more 
profit to the deceiver. 
“The adulteration of new or sour wines is done with litharge, 
which is a preparation of lead. Lead, when united to acids, 
makes a very sweet salt, which takes from wine,the taste of 
being new, but which is a poison for such as drink it. It is 
then important, before drinking suspicious wine, to know 
whether it has been impregnated with litharge or not. Now, 
I reason in this way, to discover it. 
“ Wine does not only contain an inflammable liquor, as may 
be seen from the brandy extracted from it, but it also con¬ 
tains acid, as may be known from the vinegar which is drawn 
from it.* 
“ Acid has an affinity with metallic substances, and unites it¬ 
self with them by means of dissolution, to form a compound 
salt, such for instance as rust, which is nothing bu.t iron dis¬ 
solved by the acid contained in the air or water, and such is 
also verdigrease, which is only copper dissolved by vinegar. 
“ But this same acid has moreaffinity with alkaline than with 
metallic substances, so that by the intervention of the former- 
in the compound salts, which I have just mentioned, the acid 
is forced to let go the metal, to unite itself with the alkali. 
The metallic substance being then disengaged from the 
acid, which kept it in solution, it will precipitate and ren¬ 
der the liquor opaque. 
“ If then wine is impregnated with litharge, its acid will keep 
the litharge dissolved ; but, if I pour into it an alkaline liquor, 
it will force the ayid to let go its hold to unite with it; and 
the lead, being no longer kept in solution, will appear again, 
trouble the liquor, and at last precipitate itself to the bottom 
of the glass. 
“ If there is not any lead or any other metal in wine, the al- 
Jcali will unite itself peaceably with the acid, and there will 
not be any precipitate.” 
Other authors have thrown so much light on the subject, 
and unveiled practices so essential to be known, that to enable 
every body to be on their guard against their baleful effects, 
the substance of their remarks cannot fail here of being wel¬ 
come to the reader. 
White lead, litharge, and minium, are insipid ; but if any of 
these ingredients be boiled in distilled vinegar, it dissolves, 
crystalizes itself, and produces one of the sweetest substances 
in nature, known by the name of saccharum saturni, or sugar 
oflead. This property of lead to get sweet, when dissolved 
with acids, has made it valuable to those wine merchants, who 
being more mindful of their own profit than of the lives of 
their customers, make no scruple ot restoring sour wines by 
* On the contrary, it has been ascertained, that vinous acid owes its ori¬ 
gin to the oxygen gas, which wine absorbs from the atmospherical air j yet. 
notwithstanding this error, the general inference of the argument is not 
jess just. 
vnixinw 
