240 
Improving  Wines. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pha  em 
\     May  1,  1874. 
Liebig's  Fray 
Bentos  Extract. 
Total  nitrogen,  . 
Nitrogen  in  portion  soluble  in  alcohol 
Soda, 
Potassa, 
Lime, 
Magnesia, 
Oxide  of  iron, 
Chlorine, 
Sulphur,  . 
Sulphuric  acid  (S03), 
Phosphoric  acid  (P05) 
JSchool  of  Mines,  Colui 
San  Antonio  Meat 
Extract  Factory. 
9-12 
.  8-18 
3-19 
.  2-44 
9-20 
.  0-05 
0-56 
.  0-02 
2-98 
.  0-29 
0-03 
.  8-20 
bia  College,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  4,  1874. 
■ — American  Chemist,  April,  1874 
4-  75 
2-35 
7-55 
0-06 
0-50 
0-  07 
1-  95 
0-22 
0-03 
5-  64 
IMPROVING  WINES. 
By  J.  M.  Merrick,  B.  Sc. 
The  process  of  Pasteur  for  improving  wines  by  gently  heating 
them  is  well  known  and  practised  in  France.  I  have  not  heard  of 
its  application  in  this  country,  nor  have  I  been  informed  that  the 
use  of  neutral  tartrate  of  potash  is  here  in  vogue  to  remove  by  pre- 
cipitation a  suitable  fraction  of  the  excessive  amount  of  tartaric  acid 
present  in  the  juice  of  our  native  wines. 
I  call  the  attention  of  the  readers  to  these  two  well-known  methods, 
because  I  have  practised  both  on  a  small  scale,  and  can  testify  to 
their  practical  value. 
In  the  autumn  of  1871  I  made  from  Concord  grapes  of  my  own 
raising  a  cask  of  about  120  gallons  of  wine,  adding  one  and  one-half 
pounds  of  sugar  to  each  gallon  of  juice.  This  gave  a  beautiful  bright 
red,  clear  wine,  of  not  unpleasant  flavor,  and  containing  by  my  analy- 
sis, made  in  June,  1873,  17*5  per  cent,  of  alcohol.  The  fault  with 
it  was  that  it  was  undrinkably  sour,  good  judges  asserting  that  it  had 
gone  over  so  far  that  it  could  not  be  cured.  On  analysis,  I  found  it 
to  contain  a  little  more  than  one  per  cent,  of  free  acid,  mainly  tar- 
taric. I  added  in  September  last  about  seven  pounds  of  neutral  tar- 
trate of  potassa  to  the  cask  with  gratifying  results.  The  color  of  the 
wine  is  lightened,  the  flavor  uninjured,  and  the  hardness  and  sourness 
diminished,  so  t'lat  the  work  of  four  or  five  years  seems  to  have  been 
done  in  as  many  months. 
