1. SWEET WINES; which contain the greatest proportion of extractive and
saccharine matter, and generally the least ardent spirit, though this is
often rather disguised than absent; as in these wines a proportion of
sugar has remained unchanged during the process of vinification, they
must be considered as the results of an imperfect fermentation, and are
in fact mixtures of wine and sugar; accordingly, whatever arrests the
progress of fermentation, must have a tendency to produce a sweet wine;
thus boiling the _must_ or drying the fruit will, by partially
separating the natural leaven and dissipating the water, occasion such a
result as is exemplified by the manufacture of the wines of Cyprus, the
_vino cotto_ of the Italians and the _vinum coctum_ of the ancients, by
that of _Frontignac_, the rich and luscious wines of _Canary_, the
celebrated _Tokay_, _Vino Tinto_ (Tent of Hungary) the Italian
_Montefiascone_, the Persian _Schiras_, the _Malmsey wines of Candia_,
_Chio_, _Lesbos_, and _Tenedos_, and those of the other islands of the
Archipelago. The wines of the ancients, as Chaptal observes, were so
concentrated by boiling, that they rather deserve the name of extracts
or syrups, than that of wines; they, must have been very sweet, and but
little fermented; apparently to remedy this, they were kept for a great
length of time; according to Aristotle and Galen, seven years was the
shortest period necessary for keeping wine before it was fit to drink,
but wines of a century old were not uncommon at the tables of the
luxurious citizens of ancient Rome, and Horace boasts of his drinking
_Falernian_, born as it were with him, or which reckoned its age from
the same consuls.[703]
2. SPARKLING OR EFFERVESCING WINES, as Champagne, are indebted for their
characteristic properties to the presence of carbonic acid; they rapidly
intoxicate, in consequence of the alcohol, which is suspended in, or
combined with the gas, being thus applied in a sudden and very divided
state to a large extent of nervous surface; for the same reason, their
effects are as transitory as they are sudden.[704]
3. DRY AND LIGHT. These are exemplified by the more esteemed German
wines, as _Hock_, _Rhenish_, _Mayne_, _Moselle_, _Necker_, and _Elsass_,
and those highly flavoured wines, _Burgundy_, _Claret_, _Hermitage_, &c.
They contain a very inconsiderable degree of ardent spirit, and combine
with it the effect of an acid.
4. DRY AND STRONG, as _Madeira_, _Port_, _Sherry_, &c. The name _Sec_,
corruptly written Sack, signifies dry; the _Sec_ wine prepared at
Xeres[705] in Spain, is called according to our orthography, _Sherris_,
or _Sherry_. In the manufacture of Sherry, _Lime_[706] is added to the
grapes, a circumstance, observes Dr. Macculloch, apparently conducive to
its well known dry quality, and which probably acts by neutralizing a
portion of _malic_ or _tartaric_ acid.
By the adulteration and medication of wines, three principal objects are
attempted, viz. 1. _To give them strength_, which is effected by adding
any ardent spirit; but the wine is slowly decomposed by it. 2. _To
perfect or change their colour._ It is very usual to change _white_
wines, when they have grown brown or rough, into _red_ wines, by means
of sloes, or other colouring matter. 3. _To lessen, or remove their
acidity._ It is well known that lead in different forms has frequently
been employed for this purpose; the practice, however, is attended with
most dangerous consequences; but which Dr. Macculloch is inclined to
believe has been over-rated, since the compounds which this metal forms
with the tartaric and malic acids are insoluble; but against this
argument, the decisive results of experience may be opposed, and
Fourcroy conceived that by the addition of Vinegar, a soluble triple
salt, an _aceto-tartrate_ of lead, was produced. The fraud may be easily
detected by the test[707] invented by Dr. Hahnemann. The ancients, it
appears, were acquainted with this property in lead, for according to
Pliny, the Greeks and Romans improved the quality of their wines by
immersing a plate of lead in them.[708] Wine, as a pharmaceutical agent,
has been employed to extract several of the principles of vegetables,
and to dissolve certain mineral bodies: as a solvent, however, it is
liable to many serious objections, as inequality of strength, and
uncertainty of composition; thus sound and perfectly fermented dry wine,
as _Sherry_, is frequently unable to dissolve iron, while tartarized
antimony is instantly decomposed by every other. As a menstruum, to
obtain an extract, it is quite inadmissible on account of the residuum
which it leaves by evaporation. From such considerations the London
College have at length substituted a weak spirit, for the wine formerly
employed, although the term “_Vinum_” is still retained in the
Pharmacopœia, to obviate those embarrassments which must ever attend a
change of name, with a corresponding change of properties. The Committee
were fully prepared to expect the captious objections which are urged
against this measure, but as the name is _chemically_ and _medicinally_
correct, the etymologist may be fairly allowed to enjoy his assumed
triumph without molestation.
VINUM ALOES. L.E.D. This solution contains all the virtues of the Aloes,
and is more agreeable than the tincture. It is a warm stomachic in doses
of fʒj to fʒij, and a stimulating purgative when given from f℥j to f℥ij.
By referring to the Pharmacopœia, it will be perceived that alcoholic
menstrua of different strengths, have been employed for the different
preparations. The proportions were deduced from careful experiments, and
are adapted to the composition of the substances which the spirit is
intended to dissolve: _e. g._
Proof Spirit. Water.
Vinum Aloes 1 part 1.
—— Antimonii Tartariz: 1 ditto[709] 1.
—— Colchici 1 ditto 2.
—— Ferri 1 ditto 1½.
—— Ipecacuanhæ 1 ditto 1⅔.
—— Opii 1 ditto 1⅔.
—— Veratri 1 ditto 1½.