“Bibuli Consulis amphoram.”
Now as the poet was born in the Consulate of Manlius, as above stated,
which happened A. U. C. 688, and Bibulus was Consul in 694, the wine
must have been hoarded from the time Horace was six years of age.
Wine however might, according to the opinion of our Poet, be too old;
he terms wine of this description “Languidiora Vina,” and Plautus
compares old wine which has lost its relish and strength, to a man who
has lost his teeth by age, “Vinum vetustate edentulum.”
Nestor’s wine was eleven years old. Od. γ. 390.
The Romans had their wine cellars at the top of their houses; thus
Horace,
“descende Corvino jubente.”
The object of such an arrangement was that the wine might ripen sooner
by the smoke, for their fires were made in the middle of their rooms,
with an opening above to let out the smoke, which is described as
rolling to the top of the house, in the Eleventh Ode of the Fourth
Book.
“Rotantes vertice fumum.”
Footnote 704:
From the noxious effects which some persons experience from potations
of Champagne, it has been conjectured that this wine must possess some
narcotic principle like that which exists in many species of Fungi.
This, however, is extremely improbable.
Footnote 705:
ξηρος signifies dry. This is a curious coincidence.
Footnote 706:
The Sack of Shakespeare was probably Sherry; a conjecture which
receives additional strength from the following passage.
Falstaff.—“You rogue, here’s _lime_ in this Sack too: There is nothing
but roguery to be found in villainous man: yet a coward is worse than
a cup of sack with lime in it; a villainous coward.”
Huldrick Van Speagle, in his “Famous Historie of most Drinks”, says
“Sack is no hippocrite, for any man who knows what an Anagram is will
confesse that it is contained within the litteral letters and limmits
of its own name, which is to say. CASK, i. e. Sack.” See Taylor’s
Translation of the “Work of the painful and industrious Huldricke Van
Speagle, a grammatical Brewer of Lubeck. A.D. 1637.”
Footnote 707:
Expose equal parts of sulphur and powdered oyster shells to a white
heat for fifteen minutes, and when cold, add an equal quantity of
cream of tartar; these are to be put into a strong bottle with common
water to boil for an hour; and the solution is afterwards to be
decanted into ounce phials, adding 20 drops of muriatic acid to each.
This liquor will precipitate the least quantity of lead from wines in
a very sensible black precipitate. As iron might be accidentally
contained in the wine, the muriatic acid is added to prevent its
precipitation.
Footnote 708:
Lead will not only correct the acidity of wines, but remove the
rancidity of oils: a property which is well known to Painters, and
which affords an expedient for making an inferior oil pass for a good
one.
Footnote 709:
The quantity of rectified spirit and water ordered will be found on
admixture to produce a spirit nearly of the above strength.
Footnote 710:
WARD’S RED DROP. A strong vinous solution of Tartarized Antimony.
Footnote 711:
FORD’S LAUDANUM. This is similar to the Vinum Opii of the present
Pharmacopœia.
Footnote 712:
Laudanum. Paracelsus first bestowed the term Laudanum upon a
preparation of Opium, a LAUDATA ejus efficacia, LAUDATUM medicamentum.
Footnote 713:
According to the experiments of M. Vogel, Annales de Chimie, (t. lxiv.
p. 220) this ointment is nothing more than metallic mercury mixed with
grease, the division of which has been carried to such an extent as to
impart a blackish colour to the mixture.
Footnote 714:
It is to be hoped that a quantity of the ointment will be prepared
according to these views, and be submitted to a more extended series
of experiments. The oxide may be procured by decomposing Calomel by a
solution of pure potass, or by pouring a solution of the nitrate of
mercury into a caustic alkaline solution; this oxide should be at
first triturated with a little lard, in the cold, to make the
penetration complete, taking care that the lard be quite free from
common salt, or else Calomel will be the ultimate result: the mixture
is then to be submitted to the action of heat, and it is very
important to attend to the necessary temperature, for at 212° the
oxide and lard will not unite, at 600° the oxide will be decomposed
and the mercury volatilized, at 500° and 400° the oxide is partially
decomposed, some red oxide being formed and mercury reduced; the
proper temperature is between 300° and 320°, at which it should be
maintained for an hour, and the ointment should be stirred until cold.
Footnote 715:
Four ounces, troy, of mercurial ointment, prepared six months before,
were kept at 212°, when it separated into two distinct strata, viz.
the upper one which was light grey, and extremely active as a
medicine, and the under one, which upon being triturated with
magnesia, yielded a large proportion of metallic mercury, and which
was not found to possess any activity.
Footnote 716:
Whenever it is our object to direct the mercurial impression to any
particular organ, we should if possible rouse its excitability by some
specific stimulus. An exception, however, to this doctrine would seem
to offer itself in the fact, that children at the period of dentition
are not readily salivated; _a priori_, we should have certainly
supposed that a predisposition to a flux of saliva would have produced
a contrary effect. As it is, we can only conclude that those organs
are not disposed to take on any action that may be incompatible with,
or adverse to, that of dentition.
Footnote 717:
The Unguentum Werholfii, so long celebrated on the Continent, was a
combination of this kind.
Footnote 718:
Basilicon, i. e. the _Royal_ Ointment.
BAILEY’S ITCH OINTMENT. This is a very complicated combination;
containing Nitre, Alum, Sulphate of Zinc, and Cinnabar, made into an
ointment with Olive oil and Lard, and perfumed with the essential oils
of Anise Seeds, Origanum, and Lavender; and coloured with Alkanet
root.
The Indians use an ointment in inveterate itch, which is said to prove
very successful, and consists of finely powdered Cocculus Indicus
mixed with a little warm Castor oil.
Footnote 719:
I have been lately informed by a practical chemist, that he has
occasionally found his hydrogen, when produced by zinc and dilute
acid, to contain a portion of Arsenuretted hydrogen; a fact which
confirms the assertion of Roloff.
Footnote 720:
The various quack remedies advertised for the cure of the hooping
cough are either Opiates, or medicines composed of sulphate of zinc.
The nostrum, sold under the name of Anti-pertussis, contains this
metallic salt as its principal ingredient.
Footnote 721:
OXLEY’S CONCENTRATED ESSENCE OF JAMAICA GINGER.—A mere solution of
Ginger in Rectified spirit.
GINGER BEER POWDERS.—White sugar, ʒj ℈ij, ginger grs. v. sub-carbonate
of soda grs. xxvj, in blue paper. Tartaric acid grs. xxx, in each
white paper. These proportions are directed for half a pint of water.
GINGER BEER.—The following is the receipt by which this popular
beverage is prepared. Take of lump sugar half a pound; of cream of
tartar half an ounce; Bruised Ginger an ounce; boiling water one
gallon. Ferment for twenty-four hours with yeast.
PRESERVED GINGER.—That from India is almost transparent, while that
manufactured in Europe is always opaque and fibrous.
------------------------------------------------------------------------