896 D I S T I L 
wafli : anchfuppofing that eighteen gallons of fpirits, one 
to ten over hydrometer proof, were taken from ioo gal¬ 
lons of wafh, the duty on the fpirits of that ftrength 
amounted to 2s. per gallon. The diftillers in Scot¬ 
land were allowed to' work hills of any capacity, on pay¬ 
ing only an annual licence duty of thirty (hilling per gal¬ 
lon,for as many gallons as their hills could hold, /. e. 
according to the content of theft hills; and the fpirits 
thus made were to be confirmed in Scotland. But they 
were allowed to fend their fpirits into England on pay¬ 
ing an additional duty of two drilling per gallon, of the 
ftrength of one to ten over hydrometer proof, when land¬ 
ed. Thus it was computed, that the annual licence duty 
of the Scotch diftillers would be equivalent to tire re¬ 
maining. 9^.d. per gallon paid by the Englihr diftillers; 
fo that both would be equally taxed in the market, on 
this fuppohtion, that diftillers could run off their (tills 
only once in twenty-four hours. 
The licence adt being fettled in this manner, and as 
the Englifh diftillers conlidered they had been thus far 
fuccefsful in fixing the Scotch to pay a certain duty of 
two (hillings per gallon, not to be evaded, they expected 
to have had the London market to themfelves : but they 
foon found they were deceived ; for the Scotch continued 
to fend increafed quantities to the London market, and 
the price fell very low in confequence. For, when the 
licence adt commenced in 1786, the diftillers continued 
to work otf their (tills five or fix times in the twenty-four 
hours ; by which the duty colt only from two-pence to 
three-pence per gallon on the fpirits. I11 1788, the duty 
was increafed to three pounds per gallon on the content 
of their (tills, and it continued at that rate for about five 
years : during this fpace they improved in running off 
their (tills to about twenty times in the twenty-four 
hours. They attained to this degree of difpatch by 
greatly reducing the fize of their (tills, and enlarging 
their furnaces ; and by this means the duty on the fpi¬ 
rits did not coft them above one penny per gallon. In 
1793, the annual licence duty on the Scotch (tills was 
increafed to nine pounds; and, in 1797, to fifty-four 
pounds per gallon, per annum, for the content of their 
ftills ; which is the prefent duty. Government had now 
every reafon to expedt that a large increafe of revenue 
would arife from this high duty; and yet it muft appear 
very furprifing that the revenue from the Scotcli diftil- 
lery has not increafed in any confiderable degree. This 
is not owing to a diminution in the confumption of fpi¬ 
rits ; for, the price of that article being fo low in De¬ 
cember 1799, as three (hillings per gallon, there can be 
no juft reafon to think that a lefs quantity has been ufed. 
When the Scotch diftillers found the licence duty raifed 
on them fo high as fifty-four pounds per gallon for the 
ftill, they tried every expedient in order to accelerate the 
procefs : and the houfe of commons, aftonilhed to find 
the revenue not bettered, inftituted a committee to in- 
veftigate the cattle ; and who eventually made a report 
of their enquiries, which contains the following intereft- 
ing ftatement: “ We have received information of a dif- 
iiller, who feveral months ago, by means of a new inven¬ 
tion, had made fuch a progrefs in diftillation, as to have 
been able to charge and difeharge his wafh-ftill in lefs 
than three minutes, and who fince, by an apparatus yet 
farther improved, has found that he can work at the 
rate of once in every two minutes and three quarters; 
and we have the opinion of a gentleman of great fcience 
and knowledge in the principles of diftillation, who dates 
that even that is not the laft attainable limit of rapidity. 
Thefe fadts excite furprife, accompanied with fome fuf* 
picion of error or inaccuracy. But if there is no miftake 
in the ftatements of the diftiller in queftion, what ordi¬ 
nary imagination can ftretch beyond his improvements, 
and conceive it poflible, if defirable, that this art fliould 
be Dtifhed on even beyond that boundary? That wadi, 
fayto the amount of (ixteen gallons, (hould, in the or¬ 
dinary courfe of an extenfive trade, be transfufed into a 
NATION. 
ftill, the low wines evaporated from it, and the fpent 
wafli run off, fo as to leave the ftill ready for the recep¬ 
tion of the next charge, in a fpace of time (hotter than 
the twenty-fecond part of an hour; and that this may be 
repeated at the fame rate more than 103,600 times in two 
hundred days. If there is any where in this bufinefs a 
conceivable ultimatum , where is the fancy to place it ? 
Are we to proceed in its purfuit to a frabtional part of a 
fecond, and dill to expect the charge of the veffel with 
cold wafh, which is to be raifed throughout its whole 
mafs to the heat of the boiling point, the evaporation of 
the fpirit, and the effufion of the fpent wafli, to go on 
in fucceflion, and yet all within that fpace or rather point 
of time, without imminent danger every moment of being 
flopped in our career by the hidden deftrudtion of the 
apparatus, and even of the workmen, and the inftanta- 
neous diflipation of that fpirit in the expanfe of the at- 
rriofphere, which one would, a priori, fuppofe no human 
art could, under fuch circumftanc.es, retain within the 
enclofure of any veffel, and force, as it were in the very 
inftant of its formation, at once lofing and refuming its 
liquidity, to proceed forwards in its difeharge, in that 
form, along the channel of the worm ?” 
This immenfe and almoft incredible rapidity of diflil- 
lation, the refult of a fyftem which drove the diftiller to 
work againft time, has been found to produce many more 
evils than the mere fubtradtion of duty from the reve¬ 
nue : it is faid to create a wafte not only of fuel but of 
grain; a wafte by which the public may be in certain 
caies mod materially injured. It alfo deteriorates the 
quality of the fpirit, and renders it at once worfe flavoured 
and lefs wholefome. But this appears now of little con¬ 
fequence in the market, ftnee the confumption of Britifh 
fpirits lies principally among the lower orders of the 
community, whofe gratification in the ufe of them feems 
chiefly to arife from the pungency of their tafte, and the 
low price at which they are retailed. 
In arriving at the aftoniihing rapidity of diflillation 
above deferibed, the Scotch diftillers found, that the 
more (hallow the ftills are made, and the bottoms en¬ 
larged, the more they can increafe the fize of the furnace, 
and apply a larger quantity of fuel, and confequently 
bring the wafli in the ftill to boil in a fhorter fpace of 
time. The liquor in the ftill being likewile on a more 
extended furface, the evaporation or procefs of diflilla¬ 
tion is performed in a more expeditious manner. Fig. 1, 
in the annexed engraving, reprefents a febtion of one of 
the common flat ftills uled by the Scotch diftillers. A, 
reprefents the afh-pit; b, the grate ; c, the furnace-door ; 
d, the flame palling on towards the flue; and e, the body 
of the ftill ; f, the bottom and fide feraper, an apparatus 
which is made to revolve continually during the procefs 
by means of an upright fliaftg, driven by machinery, and 
which paffes through a cup-mouthed aperture h. This 
is made fteam-tight by means of wool and greafe, held 
down by a plate of metal faltened by fcrews : ?, is a plate 
of copper, concave, or rather conical below, ftretching 
almoft to the fide of the ftill; m, a large hole in the cen¬ 
tre of this plate, through which the fteam generated at 
the bottom of the ftill efcapes into the head. This plate,- 
being made of quick afeent, facilitates the efcape of the 
fteam, which might otheewife be partially accumulated 
under the (houlder of the ftill, and, by its re-adtion on 
the fubcumbent liquor, caufe the ftill to run foul, or boil 
over: kk, the head of the ftill. To the feraping-ma- 
chine f, are attached chains, which, by the rotary motion 
of the feraper, are dragged with rapidity over the whole 
of the bottom, by which means the wadi is prevented 
from burning, and thereby generating any new compound 
injurious to the flavour or quality of the fpirit. Thefe 
ftills are ufually of from forty to fifty gallons content. 
The excife-duty for a licence to work a ftill of forty gal¬ 
lons content, at the rate of 54I. per gallon, amounts to 
2160I. per annum ; and for a ftill of fifty gallons content, 
to 2700I. per annum! Hence the advantage of running 
