AMERICAN  PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATION. 
499 
Some  specimens  have  an  empyreumatic  taste,  owing  to  the  distillation  be- 
ing effected  by  a  naked  fire.  The  brandy  distilled  from  the  marc  has 
rather  an  unpleasant  taste,  and  contains  a  large  amount  of  fusel  oil,  and 
an  oil  derived  from  the  seeds  of  the  grape.  This  is  mellowed  down  and 
changed  in  its  character  by  age.  It  is  perhaps  now  too  new  to  decide 
what  it  may  become.  Catawba  brandy  is  used  medicinally  by  some  of  our 
physicians,  more  from  its  being  pure,  than  from  any  superiority  over  the 
foreign  article. 
The  greatest  objection  to  the  use  of  our  Catawba  wine  is  its  acidity,  the 
average  quantity  of  carbonate  of  potassa  required  to  saturate  the  acid 
present  in  a  gallon  of  French  or  Rhine  wine  of  ordinary  quality,  is  from  250 
to  260  grains.  The  average  of  19  samples  of  Catawba  wine  was  591  grains, 
some  specimens  requiring  as  much  as  9G0  grains.  This  excess  of  acid 
arises  from  pressing  the  grapes  before  they  are  properly  matured,  or  from 
pressing  the  marc  too  closely,  as  has  been  before  hinted  at." 
"Below  I  give  you  the  analysis  of  three  specimens  of  wine  made  by  Mr. 
Ross,  by  submitting  the  grapes  to  three  pressings.  The  wine  from  the  first 
pressing  contained  10.87  per  cent,  cf  alcohol,  and  required  375  grains  of 
potassa  to  neutralize  the  acid  in  a  gallon.  The  second  pressing  contained 
10.90  per  cent,  of  alcohol,  and  required  450  grains  of  alkali,  the  third  con- 
tained 10  per  cent,  of  alcohol,  and  required  600  grains  of  the  carbonate  per 
gallon. 
"  One  of  the  most  important  facts  connected  with  wine  growing— the  pro- 
bable amount  of  tartar  produced — I  can  give  but  little  information  upon. 
None  of  the  wine  growers  have  taken  any  interest  in  this  part  of  their  pro- 
ducts, and  its  a  difficult  matter  for  them  to  get  at  any  knowledge  of  it,  as 
the  tartar  deposits  but  slowly,  and  it  is  considered  to  be  of  advantage  to  the 
wine  to  let  it  remain  in  the  casks.  The  amount  deposited  cannot  be  ascer- 
tained. Catawba  wine  will  produce  as  much  as  the  wines  of  Europe,  but 
some  time  must  elapse  before  it  will  be  produced  in  sufficient  quantity  to 
make  it  an  article  of  trade.  The  only  information  I  have  obtained  is  that 
the  wine  deposits  about  3  lbs.  of  crude  tartar  from  100  gallons,  which,  al- 
lowing the  present  crop  to  be  400,000  gallons,  gives  12,000  lbs.  of  crude 
tartar  as  the  present  produce,  which,  I  presume,  is  about  correct." — From 
Proceedings  of  American  Pharm.  Association,  1855.    See  page  487. 
ON  A  NEW  BLISTERING  PREPARATION. 
By  Eugene  Dupuy. 
[The  following  extract  from  a  letter  from  our  friend  Mr. 
Dupuy,  of  New  York,  presents  a  novelty  of  its  kind. — Editor.] 
During  our  pleasant,  though  too  short,  interview  in  New  York, 
I  showed  you  a  plastic  mass,  which,  I  stated,  was  prepared  with 
