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CHAPTER XXII, 
/ 
Of the Use of Quick Lime and Charcoal. 
The ancients put plaster in the vat in which they made 
their vintage work, instead of which the moderns use lime. 
“ Before putting the vintage in a vat, (says Chapfal, in his 
Treatise on Wines,) the precaution must be taken of cleansing 
it with the greatest care. For this reason, the vat is worked 
with lukewarm water, then rubbed strongly, and its sides 
plastered over with two or three layers of lime. This plaster 
has the advantage of getting saturated with part of the malic 
acid, of which there exists a great abundance in wine.” 
If this latter precaution is necessary for wine, with much 
stronger reason is it so for cider, under certain modifications. 
As quick lime, by getting combined with carbonic acid gas, 
is turned into chalk, and has also an affinity with malic acid, 
which it absorbs, there is every reason to suppose, that who¬ 
ever first imagined to transfer the use of it to the making of 
cider, did not do it by chance. The following experiments 
will show in what respects lime affects this latter beverage. 
First Experiment . —Having poured out a quart bottle of very 
brisk cider on three ounces of pulverised quick lime, the lat¬ 
ter was instantly deprived of its gas. 
Second Experiment. —Half a pint of water, artificially im¬ 
pregnated with carbonic acid gas, commonly known under 
the name of Seltzer Water, of the double strength, which 1 
poured on an ounce of quick lime, gave me the same result. 
Third Experiment. — An ounce of quick lime rendered com¬ 
pletely vapid, in less than a quarter of an hour, half a pint of 
% very strong cider vinegar. 
Fourth Experiment. —A pint of rain water, impregnated 
witii two ounces of sugar, and mixed for several days, with an 
ounce of quick lime, did not lose any of its sweetness. 
Fifth Experiment. —An ounce of spirits of wine poured on a 
drachm of quick lime, produced no effervescence, and several 
months after this mixture dissolved, wax as before. 
It is evident from these experiments, that a small quantity 
pf quick lime does not commimicate any bad taste to the cidei- 
ana 
