Am-fc£rn "  1  SWWMf  £w<?»r<?  of  Ginger.  497 
Mr.  Umney  thought  that  for  this  paper  the  Conference  was  much 
indebted  to  Mr.  Thresh,  especially  the  Irish  members,  for  in  no  place 
of  an  equal  population  was  the  manufacture  of  aerated  waters  so  exten- 
sively carried  on.  A  good  essence  of  ginger  was  still  a  desideratum. 
He  had  for  some  time  been  trying  to  make  a  good  soluble  essence.  He 
had  made  considerable  quantities  by  a  process  similar  to  that  now  indi- 
cated, but  with  the  omission  of  the  spirit,  using  dilute  glycerin  only. 
He  found  that  this  did  not  take  up  the  resinous  principle,  but  the  essen- 
tial oil  only,  and  as  far  as  he  could  judge,  this  essence  was  merely  a 
solution  of  the  essential  oil.  He  was  glad  to  find  that  Mr.  Thresh 
was  investigating  this  matter,  as  he  had  previously  investigated  capsicin 
very  successfully,  and  he  felt  sure  that  if  he  carried  on  his  experiments 
much  benefit  would  result.  There  was  no  doubt  the  different  varieties 
of  ginger  had  a  great  effect  on  the  resulting  essence.  He  had  tried  all 
kinds,  and  had  found  some  specimens  of  Jamaica  ginger  so  mucilaginous 
that  there  was  no  doing  anything  with  them.  This  process  of  exhaus- 
tion by  spirits  of  wine  and  precipitation  of  resinous  matter  by  means  of 
some  mechanical  body,  such  as  carbonate  of  magnesia,  seemed  a  good 
one,  but  he  was  not  prepared  to  say  that  the  process  was  wholly 
mechanical.  If  crude  animal  charcoal  were  used  he  presumed  it  would 
have  some  chemical  effect. 
Mr.  Savage  said  this  was  one  of  those  practical  papers  which  were 
alwa^  appreciated  by  the  trade.  Some  time  ago  a  ginger  beer  maker 
called  upon  him,  and  said  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  using  essence  of 
ginger,  but  he  always  found  the  beer  became  opaque.  He  found 
the  remedy  was,  instead  of  using  strong  spirit,  to  use  it  in  the  proportion 
now  given,  two  of  spirit  to  three  of  water.  This  did  not  dissolve  the 
resin,  and  the  compound  was  satisfactory. 
Dr.  Symes  had  found,  in  examining  samples  of  ginger  with  regard 
to  their  suitability  for  preparing  essence,  that  a  good  method  was  to 
prepare  a  small  quantity  by  treating  it  with  a  small  quantity  of  spirit 
and  adding  a  few  drops  of  the  essence  so  obtained  to  a  large  quantity 
of  water,  say  ten  minims  to  an  ounce  of  water.  The  water  seemed 
to  have  the  property  of  throwing  up  the  flavor  and  making  it  apparent, 
and  strong  essences  of  ginger,  which  while  they  contained  strong  spirit 
were  not  readily  distinguishable,  could  in  this  way  be  easily  distin- 
guished.     The   deep    colored    specimens   referred  to    might  have 
3a 
