Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
June,  1882.  J 
Bay  Rum  or  Bay  Spirit. 
279 
pea,  two  celled,  and  contain  six  to  eight  seeds.  The  leaves,  and  par- 
ticularly the  berries,  are  of  a  very  aromatic  odor.  The  tree  flowers 
from  June  to  August. 
There  exist  many  varieties  of  the  bayberry  tree  throughout  the  West. 
Indies,  scarcely  to  be  distinguished  botanically,  but  with  a  quite  differ- 
'  ent  odor  from  that  which  the  genuine  tree  has,  and  therefore  great 
care  must  be  taken  in  collecting  the  leaves  which  are  to  be  used  in  the 
distilling  of  bay  spirit,  as  the  admixture  of  a  small  quantity  of  the 
other  leaves  may  entirely  spoil  the  product  of  distillation. 
In  the  manufacture  of  distilled  bay  spirit  only  the  true  leaves  are 
used,  and  they  are  not  dried,  but  thrown  fresh  into  the  still,  as  expe- 
rience has  shown  a  great  difference  between  the  spirits  distilled  from 
good  fresh  and  from  dried  leaves,  the  odor  of  the  latter  being  mate- 
rially altered  by  the  necessary  exposure  to  the  sun  and  air  in  drying. 
The  leaves  are  mixed,  in  the  still,  with  the  ripe  berries  in  a  certain 
proportion.  The  ethereal  oil  of  the  berries  having  a  much  stronger 
aroma  than  that  of  the  leaves  alone^  a  bay  rum  distilled  partly  from 
the  berries  has,  therefore,  a  much  stronger  odor,  and  keeps  its  flavor 
much  longer  than  if  distilled  alone  from  the  leaves,  but  the  cost  of  the 
berries  is  also  from  fifteen  to  twenty  times  that  of  the  leaves,  since 
they  can  only  be  procured  with  great  difficulty. 
The  rum  used  for  the  distillation  must  be  selected  with  great  care. 
It  must  be  of  the  very  best  quality,  perfectly  pure,  and  without  any 
foreign  odor.  Rum  from  different  sources  cannot  be  used  indiscrimi- 
nately. A  good  St.  Croix  rum  serves  the  purpose  best,  but  it  must 
be  considerably  stronger  than  what  is  generally  brought  into  the  mar- 
ket from  there. 
After  having  thus  obtained  the  proper  materials  for  the  distillation, 
the  next  care  is  to  be  bestowed  upon  the  operation.  Distillation  by 
steam,  in  large  copper  stills,  ensures,  to  a  certain  extent,  a  uniform 
good  quality  of  distilled  bay  spirit;  it  never  gets  burnt;  the  distillation 
is  not  carried  too  far ;  nothing  of  the  fine  aroma  is  lost  by  this  process, 
which  generally  is  the  case  by  distilling  over  an  open  fire.  Nearly  all 
the  distilled  commercial  bay  rums  are  prepared  over  an  open  fire,  to 
the  great  detriment  of  the  flavor,  but  most  of  the  bay  rums  in  the 
market  are  not  the  product  of  distillation,  being  simply  a  solution  of 
bay  oil  of  a  more  or  less  good  quality  in  common  rum,  or  even  in 
alcohol. 
A  comparison  of  bay  spirit  distilled  from  fresh  material  by  steam 
