DISTIL 
treacle, or burnt fugar, will imitate the genuine colour 
of old French brandy, yet neither of them will Hand the 
tell of the* vitriolic folution, which is a fure way to de¬ 
left the fraud. 
The fpirit diffcilled in England from melafles or trea¬ 
cle, is ufually very pure. It is made from common 
treacle difTolved in water, and fermented in the fame 
manner as the wafli or wort for the common malt fpirit. 
But if fome care is not ufed in diddling this fpirit, it 
will not prove fo vinous as malt fpirit, but more vapid, 
and lefs pungent, though otherwife much cleaner tailed, 
as its empyreumatic oil is of a lefs offenfive flavour. 
Therefore, if good frefli wine-lees, abounding in tartar, 
be well fermented with the melafles, the fpirit will ac¬ 
quire a greater vinofity and brilknefs, and approach much 
nearer to the nature of foreign fpirits. Where the me¬ 
lafles fpirit is brought to the common proof ftrength, if 
it is found not to have a fufflcient vinofity, it will be 
proper to add fome dulcified fpirit of nitre; and if the 
fpirit be clean worked, it may, by this addition only, be 
made to pafs for French brandy. Great quantities of 
this fpirit are ufed in adulterating foreign brandy, rum, 
and arrack. Melafles, like all other fpirits, is entirely 
colourlefs when firlt extracted ; but the art of the dif- 
tiller gives it as nearly as poflible the colour of foreign 
fpirits. 
’ If thefe principles hold good, the imitation of foreign 
fpirits of all kinds mud be practicable, by procuring 
fome of thofe fubftances from which the foreign fpirit is 
drawn, and diftilling. with water, the eflential oil will 
always give the flavour defired. Thus, to imitate Ja¬ 
maica rum, it will only be necefiary to procure fome of 
the tops or other ufelefs parts of the fugar-canes ; from 
which an eflential oil being drawn, and mixed with clean 
melafles fpirit, will give it the true flavour. The prin¬ 
cipal difficulty as obferved above, is in firft procuring 
a fpirit totally, or nearly, free from all flavour of its 
own. The fpirit drawn from the refufe of a fugar-houfe 
has been commended as fuperior to that drawn from me¬ 
lafles ; though it is very probable, that to procure an 
abfolutely flavourlefs fpirit is impoflible. The belt me¬ 
thod, therefore, of imitating foreign fpirits feems to be, 
by choofing fuch materials as will yield a fpirit flavoured 
as much like them as poflible; and the materials mod 
recommended, and probably the bell that can be ufed, 
are raid ns. 
With regard to the diflillation of compound fpirits, it 
chiefly depends on obferving-the following general rules : 
. i. To be careful to ufe a well-reftified fpirit, or one freed 
from its own empyreumatic oil ; for, as a compound wa¬ 
ter is nothing more than a fpirit impregnated with the 
eflential oil of the ingredients, it is necellary that the 
fpirit fhould have previoufly depofited its own. 2. Let 
the time of previous digeftion be proportioned to the te¬ 
nacity of the ingredients, or the ponderolity of their oil, 
3. Let the ftrength of the fire alio be proportioned to 
the ponderolity of the oil intended to be railed with the 
fpirit. 4. Let only a due proportion of the fineft parts 
of the eflential oil be united with the fpirit. A careful 
obfervance of thefe rules will render this part of diftilla- 
tion much more perfeft than it has been. For the me¬ 
thod of diftilling compound waters, fee Pharmacy. 
The art of diftilling malt fpirit, is Amply as follows : 
1. To obtain the fpirit free from the oil of malt. 2. To 
raife the vapours in the moft economical manner. 3. To 
condenfe them as fpeedily as poflible. 4. To prevent 
empyreuma. The firft may be done, as noticed above, 
by mixing a fmall quantity of nitre, or fulphuric acid, 
with the wadi ; and the remaining three by a proper 
conftruftion of the (till, and the necellary care in diftil- 
lation. The ftill fhould be fo conftrufted as to be ca¬ 
pable of containing a column of fermentable matter 
confiderably broader than high, to prevent the liquor at 
the bottom from being burnt before the upper part is 
heated. The top fhould be fufficiently capacious, to 
LATION, 895 
give the vapours free and complete liberty to efcape ; 
which, by the common conftruftion of ftills, are incef- 
fantly returned into the boiler, efpecially at the com¬ 
mencement of the procefs. 
The ftill recommended by Chaptal is well calculated 
for the diflillation of ardent fpirit. The bottom is con¬ 
cave, in order that the fire may be nearly at an equal 
diftance from all the points of its furface : the bides arc 
elevated perpendicularly, in fuch a manner, that the 
body exhibits the form of a portion of a cylinder; and 
this body is covered with a large capital, furrounded by 
its refrigeratory. This capital has a groove or channel 
projecting two inches at its lower part within : the tides 
have an .inclination of fixfy-five degrees. The beak of 
the capital is as high, and as wide, as the capital itfelf, 
and infenfibly diminifhes, till it comes to the worm-pipe. 
The refrigeratory is a tub or veflel conftantly filled with 
cold water, through which the fpiral tube or worm pafles, 
for the purpofe of condenfing the vapours which pafs 
through it from the ftill. It has a cock at its farther 
end, which buffers the water to run out, while it is re¬ 
placed by other cold water, which inceflantly flows in 
from above. When the water of the refrigeratory be¬ 
gins to be warm, a cock is opened, that it may efcape, 
in proportion as the refrigeratory is fupplied with cold 
water from above. Thus the diflillation of the wafli, or 
wort, may be kept up, until the quantity limited by aft 
of parliament is obtained ; or until the preduft is no 
longer inflammable. 
Various contrivances have been adopted by the diftil- 
lers, tp prevent the wafli from burning in the ftill. A 
bundle of clean flicks is fometimes thrown loofe into 
the liquor, to agitate the fame during the ebullition. 
But this is more eft'eftually done by a cylinder, fixed in 
fuch a manner that it will turn by the action of the fleam, 
and continue a more regular agitation, by means of chains 
of wood, or metal, connefted with the cylinder; but 
thefe precautions are fcarcely necellary, if the wafli has 
been previoufly rendered fufficiently limpid. 
After the fpirits are diflilled, the rcElification is fimple 
and eafy, provided the previous operations have been 
well managed ; but, if an empyreuma has been contraft- 
ed in the ftill, or the feetid oil has been combined with 
the fpirit, then it becomes more difficult. On the con¬ 
trary, if thefe have been avoided, nothing more is necef- 
fary than to mix the fpirit with an equal quantity of pure 
water, and re-commit it to diflillation, when it will come 
over pure. But if the liquor has been burnt in the ftill, 
it ought to be kept, for fome weeks, in charred veflels ; 
and a quantity of charcoal fhould be mixed with the fpi¬ 
rit and water, previous to the rectification. 
But the progrefs recently made in diflillation in Scot¬ 
land, by a very fimple conftruftion of the ftill, abun¬ 
dantly lurpaffes the apparatus of Chaptal, and performs 
the operation with fuch rapidity as even to aftonifh men 
of fcience, and to fhew that the progrefs of the arts have 
fcarcely any limit, when ftimulated by intereft, and con- 
dufted with ingenuity. The circumftances which led to 
this improvement are briefly as follow : The Scotch dif- 
tillers, previous to the year 1786, had fent large quan¬ 
tities of fpirits to the London market, which had occa- 
fioned a reduftion of the price ; and it was found alfo 
that the revenue of the diftillery had diminifhed. From 
this circumftance it was fufpefted that frauds were com¬ 
mitted againft the revenue to a great extent; and the 
London diflillers, having received certain information of 
the manner in which the duties were evaded in Scot¬ 
land, fuggefted to government the neceflity of making 
feparate and diftinft laws for raifing the duties in the dif¬ 
ferent kingdoms. Therefore, in July 1786, the licence 
aft for Scotland commenced, and was to continue for two 
years. The principle on which this aft was framed, be¬ 
tween the contending and rival diflillers of the two king¬ 
doms, was in this manner: The duty at that time paid 
by the Englifh diflillers, was fixpence per gallon on the 
wafli ; 
