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SELECTED ARTICLES. 
the vapor of water in a tube with chloride of calcium, we 
have found the composition the same as that assigned to it by 
M. Guibourt. 
We have tried to substitute for the carbonic acid the strong 
acetic acid, employed in very slight excess; the precipitate in 
this case has been antimonic acid, containing only some traces 
of antimoniate of potassa. 
Journ. de Pharmacie. 
ART. XLII1.— NOTICE OF THE ALCOHOLIC STRENGTH 
OF WINES. By Dr. Christison. 
Various accounts have been given of the alcoholic strength 
of wines, by Brande, Julia-Fontenelle, and others. The 
author has been engaged for some time, in experiments for 
determining the proportion of alcohol, contained in various 
wines of commerce, and also, the circumstances which occa- 
sion a variety in this respect. The present paper, is an 
interim notice of the result. 
The method of analysis consisted in the mode of distillation, 
which was applied with such contrivances for accuracy, that 
nearly the whole spirit and water were distilled over with- 
out the loss of more than between two and six grains in 2000. 
From the quantity and density of the spirit, the weight of 
absolute alcohol, of the density of 793.9, as well as the 
volume of proof spirit of the density of 920, was calculated 
from the tables of Richter, founded on those of Gilpin. 
The author has been led to the general conclusion, that the 
alcoholic strength of many wines has been overrated by some 
experimentalists, and gives the following table as the result of 
the investigations he has hitherto conducted. The first 
column is the per centage of absolute alcohol, by weight, in the 
wine; the second, the per centage of proof spirit by volume. 
