120 
REMARKS  ON  THE  ANALYSIS  OF  BRANDY. 
school  have  a  higher  aim  than  illegal  gain.  The  apothe- 
cary should  be  qualified  to  test  all  his  articles,  both  chemically 
and  microscopically,  and  then  we  would  have  a  different  class  of 
articles  passing  through  the  hands  of  the  wholesale  jobbing 
houses,  for  they  would  have  to  supply  the  demand  or  fall. 
The  system  of  analysis  I  would  suggest  as  simple  and  ade- 
quate to  the  apothecary's  wants  on  the  subject,  would  comprise 
five  divisions  : 
1st.  Per  centage  of  alcohol. 
2d.  The  quality  and  origin  of  liquor  used  as  the  base  of  the 
factitious  brandy. 
3d.  Detection  of  bitter  almond  oil,  almond  cake,  and  cherry 
laurel  water. 
4th.  Detection  of  aromatics. 
5th.  Detection  of  mineral  poisons. 
1st.  Percentage  of  Alcohol. 
Take  of  the  suspected  brandy  a  pint,  introduce  it  into  a 
tubulated  retort,  and  distill  eleven  fluid  ounces. 
Take  the  specific  gravity  of  the  liquid  distilled,  and  from  the 
tables  under  the  head  of  alcohol  in  the  U.  S.  Dispensatory, 
find  the  percentage  of  alcohol ;  reserve  both  the  distillate  and 
the  residuum  in  the  retort  for  f  urther  tests. 
2d.  The  quality  and  origin  of  the  liquor  used  as  the  base  of  the 
FICTITIOUS  BRANDY. 
I  would  suggest  that  "Molnar's  Test,"  (transactions  of  the  Am. 
Pharm.  Association  of  1858,  or  59,)  be  used  for  this  purpose.  It 
is  also  given  in  the  Annual  of  Scientific  Discovery,  in  one  of 
those  years.  In  connection  also  employ  "Gay  Lussac's  dry 
distillation  process.  As  most  of  your  readers  may  not  be  con- 
versant with  the  process,  I  give  it  below  in  full. 
About  two  ounces  of  the  suspected  brandy  is  mixed  to  the 
consistence  of  a  thick  mortar,  with  powdered  fused  carb.  potassa. 
The  vino-ethereal  odor  will  be  unimpaired  if  the  specimen  was 
pure.  If  not,  the  peculiar  odor  of  the  liquor  forming  the 
base  of  the  article  will  be  brought  out  clearly. 
