PART I.——METRIC EQUIVALENTS._Cooley's Cyclopædia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades..., Sixth Edition, Volume II

Table of the values of the principal denominations of measures and weights

on the metric system, expressed by means of denominations of imperial

measures and weights, and of the values of the principal denominations of

measures and weights of the imperial system, expressed by means of metric

weights and measures.

_Measures of Length._

-------------------------------+--------------------------------------

Metric Denominations and Values| Equivalents in Imperial Denominations

-------------------------------+------+------+-----+------------------

--------------------+----------+------+------+-----+------------------

| | | | |

Myriametre | 10,000 |{ 6 | 376| 0 | 11·9

| |{ or |10,936| 0 | 11·9

Kilometre | 1000 | ... | 1093| 1 | 10·79

Hectometre | 100 | ... | 109| 1 | 1·079

Decametre | 10 | ... | 10| 2 | 9·7079

Metre | 1 | ... | 1| 0 | 3·3708

Decimetre | 1/10 | ... | ...| ... | 3·9371

Centimetre | 1/100 | ... | ...| ... | 0·3937

Millimetre | 1/1000 | ... | ...| ... | 0·0394

--------------------+----------+------+------+-----+------------------

_Measures of Surface._

----------------------------------+------------------------

Metric Denominations and Values. | Equivalents in Imperial

| Denominations.

--------------------------+-------+------+-----------------

|Square |Acres.|Square Decimals.

|Metres.| |Yards.

--------------------------+-------+------+-----------------

Hectare, _i.e._ 100 Ares |10,000 |{ 2 | 2280·3326

| |{ or | 11960·3326

Decare, _i.e._ 10 Ares | 1000 | ... | 1196·0333

Are | 100 | ... | 119·6033

Centiare, _i.e._ 1/100 Are| 1 | ... | 1·1960

--------------------------+-------+------+-----------------

_Measures of Capacity._

+---------------------------------------+-----------------------------+

| Metric Denominations and Values. | Equivalents in Imperial |

| | Denominations. |

+------------------------------+--------+---+---+---+---+---+---------+

| | | | | | | | |

| | Cubic | Q | | | | | D |

| |Metres. | u | B | | | | e |

| | | a | u | | G | Q | c |

| | | r | s | P | a | u | P i |

| | | t | h | e | l | a | i m |

| | | e | e | c | l | r | n a |

| | | r | l | k | o | t | t l |

| | | s | s | s | n | s | s s |

| | | . | . | . | . | . | . . |

+------------------------------+--------+---+---+---+---+---+---------+

|Kilolitre _i.e._ 1000 Litres | 1 | 3| 3| 2| 0| 0|0·77 |

|Hectolitre, _i.e._ 100 Litres | 1/10|...| 2| 3| 0| 0|0·077 |

|Decalitre, _i.e._ 10 Litres | 1/100|...|...| 1| 0| 0|1·6077 |

|Litre | 1/1000|...|...|...|...|...|1·76077 |

|Decilitre, _i.e._ 1/10 Litre | 1/10000|...|...|...|...|...|0·176077 |

|Centilitre, _i.e._ 1/100 Litre|1/100000|...|...|...|...|...|0·0176077|

+------------------------------+--------+---+---+---+---+---+---------+

+--------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+

|Metric Denominations and Values.| Equivalents in Imperial Denominations. |

+-------------------+------------+-----+-------+-------+-------+-----------+

| | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | D D |

| | | | | | | a c |

| | | | | | | m . |

| | | | | | | s |

| | | | | | | . |

+-------------------+------------+-----+-------+-------+-------+-----------+

|Millier | 1,000,000 | 19 | 5 | 6 | 9 |15·04 |

|Quintal | 100,000 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 6·304 |

|Myriagram | 10,000 | ... | 1 | 8 | 0 |11·8304 |

|Kilogram | 1,000 |{... | ... | 2 | 3 | 4·3830 |

| | |{ (or 15432·3487 grs.) | |

|Hectogram | 100 | ... | ... | ... | 3 | 8·4383 |

|Decagram | 10 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 5·6438 |

|Gram | 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 0·56438 |

|Decigram | 1/10 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 0·056438 |

|Centigram | 1/100 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 0·0056438 |

|Milligram | 1/1000 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 0·00056438|

+---------+---------+------------+-----+-------+-------+-------+-----------+

_Measures of Length._

+-------------------+-----------------------------------------------+

| | Equivalents in Metric Measures. |

|Imperial Measures. |-----------+----------+------------+-----------+

+-------------------+-----------+----------+------------+-----------+

|Inch |= 25·39954 | | | |

|Foot or 12 inches | ... |= 3·04794 |= 0·30479| |

| or 36 inches | ... | ... |= 0·91428| |

| or 6 feet | ... | ... |= 1·82877| |

|Pole or 5-1/2 yards| ... | ... |= 5·02911| |

| or 22 yards | ... | ... |= 20·11644| |

| or 220 yards | ... | ... |= 201·16437| = 0·20116 |

| or 1760 yards | ... | ... |= 1609·31493| = 1·60931 |

+-------------------+-----------+----------+------------+-----------+

_Measures of Surface._

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

| | Equivalents in Metric Measures. |

|Imperial Measures. +------------------+---------------+----------+----------+

+--------------------------------+------------------+---------------+----------+----------+

|Square inch | = 0·06451 | | | |

| inches | = 9·28997 | = 0·092900 | | |

| or 1296 square inches | = 83·60971 | = 0·836097 | | |

| yards | ... | = 25·291939 | | |

| square yards | ... | ... |=10·116776| |

| yards | ... | ... | ... |= 0·40467 |

|Square mile or 640 acres | ... | ... | ... |=258·98945|

+--------------------------------+------------------+---------------+----------+----------+

_Measures of Capacity._

+---------------------+-----------------------------------------------+

| | Equivalents in Metric Measures. |

|Imperial Measures. +-----------+----------+-----------+------------+

+---------------------+-----------+----------+-----------+------------+

|Gill | = 1·41983 | = 0·14198| | |

|Pint or 4 gills | = 5·67932 | = 0·56793| | |

|Quart or 2 pints | ... | = 1·13587| | |

|Gallon or 4 quarts | ... | = 4·54346| | |

|Peck or 2 gallons | ... | = 9·08692| = 0·90869 | |

| or 4 pecks | ... | ... | = 3·63477 | |

|Quarter or 8 bushels | ... | ... | ... | = 2·90781 |

+---------------------+-----------+----------+-----------+------------+

_Cubic Measure._

+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------+

| | Equivalents in Metric Measures. |

|Imperial Measures. +------------+-----------+----------+

+-------------------------------+------------+-----------+----------+

|Cubic inch | 16·38618 | | |

|Cubic foot or 1728 cubic inches| ... | 28·31531 | |

|Cubic yard or 27 cubic feet | ... | ... | 0·76451 |

+-------------------------------+------------+-----------+----------+

_Weights._

+---------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+

| | Equivalents in Metric Weights. |

|Imperial Weights. +-----------+----------+------------+-----------+

+---------------------------+-----------+----------+------------+-----------+

|Grain |=0·06479895| | | |

|Dram |=1·77185 | | | |

| 16 drams, or 437·5 grains|=28·34954 |= 2·83495| | |

| drams, or 7000 grains |=453·59265 |= 45·35927|= 0·45359| |

|Hundredweight or 112 lbs. | ... | ... |= 50·80238| |

|Ton or 20 cwt. | ... | ... |= 1016·04754|= 1·01605 |

|Ounce, troy, or 480 grains |=31·103496 |= 3·11035| | |

+---------------------------+-----------+----------+------------+-----------+

=WELD.= _Syn._ WOALD. The _Reseda luteola_ (Linn.), an herbaceous annual

employed by the dyers. A decoction of the stems and leaves gives a rich

yellow to goods mordanted with alum, tartar, or muriate of tin. See YELLOW

PIGMENTS.

=WELSH RARE′BIT.= _Prep._ Cut slices of bread, toast and butter them; then

cover them with slices of rich cheese, spread a little mustard over the

cheese, put the bread in a cheese-toaster before the fire, and in a short

time serve it up very hot.

=WEN.= The popular name of pulpy, encysted, and fleshy tumours of the face

and neck.

=WET (to keep out from Gun Locks).= In giving hints to sportsman going to

Norway, Mr. Lock, in his book on ‘Sport in Norway,’ gives some capital

advice on this subject, which would be equally serviceable in wet weather

in England. Sportsmen will do well, he says, to remove the locks from

their rifle and gun, oil them with a little Rangoon oil, lay them on the

hob of the fireplace until they are quite hot, and then wipe them as dry

as possible with a little cotton waste, so that there will be no

superfluous oil left to clog the works. While the locks are getting hot

get a little beeswax and melt it in a cup, and with the tip of a penknife

carefully pay, as though you were using putty to place in a pane of glass,

though more sparingly, the wooden ledges where the lock-plates rest when

in their places, in such a manner that none of the wax gets into the

places hollowed out to receive the works of the lock. When the warm locks

are put back in their places, and screwed up tight, the wax will adhere to

the edge of the lock-plates and the wood wherein they bed, and effectually

render them impervious to wet. The sportsman can afterwards, when

stalking, push his rifle through wet grass, and use his fowling-piece when

the water, after a shower, drops from the trees upon him as he forces his

way between the wet branches, without fear of the wet making its way into

the locks.

=WHEAT.= _Syn._ TRITICUM, L. The ripe seed or fruit of several varieties

of _Triticum vulgare_ (Linn.), of which the principal are _Triticum

œstivum_, or spring wheat, _Triticum hybernum_, or winter wheat, and

_Triticum turgidum_, or turgid wheat, the last two of which include

several red and white sub-varieties. Of all the cereal grains wheat

appears to be that best adapted for bread corn, not merely on account of

its highly nutritious character, but also on account of the power it

possesses from its richness in gluten, of forming a light and agreeable

loaf by the process of fermentation.

According to Sir H. Davy, good English wheat contains of gluten, 19%;

starch, 77%; soluble matter, 4 to 5%.

The average weight of good wheat per bushel is from 58 to 60 lbs.; and its

average yield of flour is fully 12-1/2 lbs. for every 14 lbs. The weight

of the straw is said to be about double that of the grain. The produce per

acre varies from 12 to 60, or even 64, bushels an acre. See FLOUR, STARCH,

&c.

=Buckwheat.= _Syn._ FAGOPYRUM. The seed of _Fagopyrum esculentum_, a plant

of the natural order _Polygonaceæ_. It makes excellent cakes, crumpets,

and gruel. In North America, buckwheat cakes, or rather fritters, are in

general use at breakfast, eaten with molasses. In England, buckwheat is

cultivated as food for pheasants.

=Wheat, Indian.= See MAIZE.

=Wheat, Steeps for.= Quicklime, sulphate of zinc, or white vitriol,

sulphate of copper or blue vitriol, and arsenious acid or white arsenic,

are the substances chiefly employed for this purpose. About 5 lbs. of the

first (slaked and made into a milk with water), 1-1/4 lb. of the second, 1

lb. of the third, and 3 or 4 oz. of the last, are regarded as sufficient

for each sack of seed. The method of applying them is either to dissolve

or mix them with just sufficient water to cover the seed, which is then to

be soaked in the mixture for a few hours, or a less quantity of water is

employed, and the more concentrated solution is, at intervals, well

sprinkled, by means of a ‘watering pot,’ over the seed wheat spread upon

the barn floor, the action being promoted by occasional stirring.

_Obs._ The first two substances above named have been separately proved to

be amply sufficient to destroy the ‘smut’ in seed wheat, and are perfectly

harmless in their effects, which renders them greatly preferable to

arsenic, or even to sulphate of copper. Nearly all the numerous advertised

‘anti-smuts,’ or nostrums to prevent the smut in wheat, contain one or

other of the last three of the above substances.

=WHEY.= _Syn._ SERUM LACTIS, L.; PETIT LAIT, Fr. The liquid portion of

milk after the curd has been separated. It consists chiefly of water,

holding in solution 3 or 4% of sugar of milk. A pound of milk mixed with a

tablespoonful of proof spirit allowed to become sour, and the whey

filtered from the sediment, yields, in the course of a few weeks, a good

vinegar (whey vinegar), free from lactic acid (Scheele). Skimmed milk may

be used.

=Whey, Al′um.= _Syn._ SERUM LACTIS ALUMINATUM, L. _Prep._ Take of powdered

alum 1 dr.; hot milk, 1 pint; simmer a few seconds, let it repose for a

short time, and strain the whey from the coagulum. Used in diarrhœa, &c.;

a wine-glassful after every motion. Acid whey (SERUM LACTIS ACIDUM) may be

prepared in a similar manner by substituting 1/2 dr. of tartaric or citric

acid for the alum. Orange whey and lemon whey are prepared from the juice

of the respective fruits, with a little of the yellow peel to impart

flavour.

=WHEY POWDER.= _Prep._ 1. From whey gently evaporated to dryness, and

powdered along with about 1-3rd of its weight of lump sugar.

2. Sugar, 7 oz.; sugar of milk, 2 oz.; gum Arabic, 1 oz. (all in fine

powder); mix well. 1 oz. dissolved in 1-1/4 pint of water forms

extemporaneous whey.

=WHIS′KY.= Dilute alcohol obtained from the fermented wort of malt or

grain. That from the former is the most esteemed. The inferior qualities

of this spirit are prepared from barley, oats, or rye, a small portion

only of which is malted, or from potatoes mashed with a portion of barley

malt, the resulting wash being carelessly fermented and distilled, and

purposely suffered to burn, to impart the peculiar empyreumatic or smoky

flavour so much relished by the lower orders of whisky drinkers. The malt

whisky, sold as such, of the principal Scotch and Irish distillers is

fully equal in quality to London gin, from which it merely differs in

flavour. The peculiar flavour of whisky may be imitated by adding a few

drops each of pure creosote and purified fusel oil to 2 or 3 gallons of

good London gin; and the imitation will be still more perfect if the

liquor be kept for some months before drinking it.

We are indebted to ‘Land and Water’ for the following interesting

particulars relating to Irish whiskey:

“Genuine unadulterated Irish whisky has, of late years, become a great

desideratum as a wholesome and agreeable beverage, and in the article

produced by the large and successful company whose premises and business I

am about to describe, the consuming public have every guarantee of its

excellence and purity, as far as can be insured by the use of the very

best materials, great skill and care in the manufacturing processes, and

the valuable and extensive buildings in which the spirit is stored until

it attains the maturity and mellowness which age alone can confer.

“No blending process of new whiskies can effect this, no distiller who has

not very extensive bonded warehouses is to be trusted. Acre after acre of

cellars, vault after vault, corridor after corridor, each and all dim,

damp, and dark, and guarded by the exciseman’s talismanic padlock——all

these are necessary for the soundness of the distillery. For to secure age

and quality, the effect of several years storage in these vaults is

required. If you wish to see such store-rooms to perfection, go to Cork,

which may be considered the capital of the Irish whisky trade. Even

Dublin, with its Jamiesons, its Powers, and its Roes, must bow down before

it.

“But what is most singular of all, one company represents that important

branch of manufacture, and have therefore a good right to their title of

‘Cork Distilleries Company.’ A little over a quarter of a century ago

there were five distilleries in Cork——Wise’s, Hewett’s, Daly’s, Murphy’s,

and Waters’. In 1867, however, an amalgamation took place, and the present

company was started, and the work of the five distilleries was

concentrated into three——the North Mall, still known as Wise’s (that

proprietor wisely allowing himself to be bought out, after having made one

of the largest private fortunes in Ireland); the Midleton, situated at a

pretty village of that name, about ten miles from Cork, and the

Watercourse, in the north-western suburb of the city. The three

distilleries are capable of producing 1,000,000 gallons each per annum,

which represents an annual duty of one million and a half pounds sterling.

Their paid-up capital is a quarter of a million, and a very large rest

fund. Their works and property are insured for over three-quarters of a

million sterling, and they find employment for about 1000 men.

“_The Brewing Process._——I shall have occasion to describe each of these

three distilleries during the course of this paper, but it would perhaps

be as well to run hurriedly through the several processes of whisky

distillation. It may be divided roughly into brewing and distilling. Malt

and barley, are, of course, the ingredients used. Barley as it comes from

the market is distinguished by the appellation ‘green.’ This is either

steeped and converted into malt, or kiln-dried and ground. It is then

removed to the mash-tuns, where water is added, and the whole mixed by

revolving machinery. After some hours’ steeping, the water has soaked all

the desired properties from the grain, and is known as wort. This is led

away or pumped by a complicated series of pipes to the top of the

manufactory, where it undergoes a cooling process. When of the desired

temperature it is conducted to the fermenting vats——vast wooden vessels of

imposing appearance ranged in rows. The brewing processes end with this

fermentation.

“_The Distilling Processes._ When this is done, which generally takes five

days, the fermented liquor is conducted to the ‘wash’ charger, and from

thence pumped to the intermediate charger, where it is heated before

undergoing the first process of distillation, which now takes place. The

still is a vast copper vessel, shaped exactly like an inverted funnel,

with the pipe leading to the roof. The ‘wash’ or liquor from the charger

is conducted into this vessel. Beneath it are two furnaces, which soon

raise the temperature of the vessel to boiling point. When evaporation

commences the steam (which is the spirit, and is technically known as ‘low

wines’) is conducted up the copper pipe into a refrigerator, known as the

‘worm.’ This worm is, in reality, a continuation of the pipe of the still

twisted into regular coils in and about a vessel filled with the coldest

water obtainable. By this means the steam is converted into liquor. This

liquor passes into the close safe, a glass vessel somewhat like an

aquarium tank. The distiller stands by and watches the running liquor, and

his practised eye and educated palate immediately detects any fault in the

distillation. He is not allowed to open his tank, however, except by

notice in the presence of the excise officer, one or more of whom are

always present in every distillery. Through this tank it runs into ‘low

wines’ receiver, a large tank placed below, and from these it again passes

to ‘feints chargers’ _en route_ to the ‘low wines still,’ where the second

distillation takes place. I forgot to say that the refuse liquor left

after the first distillation is much valued by farmers for its

milk-producing qualities, and is bought up by them for cow food. The

refuse liquor from the second distillation, however, is only water, and

the refuse liquor from the third and final distillation is water also.

“The second distillation is like the first——the same process of ‘worm’

cooling, conducting, and charging is carried on. The third still is known

as the spirit still. The spirit is now considered perfect, and is led off

to the large vats in the spirit stores, where it is reduced to desired

strength, racked off into casks, and removed to bonded warehouses for

maturity. Such are the processes carried on here——such are the processes

carried on by all honest distillers during the last century; but modern

science has discovered that many very common——tasteless, I grant, but

easily flavoured——vegetables will yield ardent spirits, and there are not

wanting those who will take advantage of the discovery.

“_Within a Distillery._ But the distillery itself, who can describe

it——its story upon story of granaries——its kilns, floored with perforated

tiles——its steeping vats and its low-roofed malting sheds——its roaring

mills——its terrible and mysterious tanks——its inextricable machinery——its

innumerable rafters and false roofs——its ladders perched up in

inaccessible places——its bewildering passages——and far away, above all,

its immense chimneys towering up to the sky? But this is not all——the

bonded warehouses have to be gone through. The excise officer has to be

called, and the sealed lock has to be broken, and you enter into the vast

cool place. Black as night is everything around you; the lamps which the

attendants hold are utterly incapable of dissipating the darkness, and

only cast a strong orange glare upon the faces of the men who hold them.

To show one the dimensions of the place a man is sent to the opposite end.

Away he goes, only traceable by the lamp he bears, and before he waves it

to show that the opposite end of the vault is reached, it has become a

scarcely discernible glimmer. As we become more used to the darkness we

see straight passages leading in every direction, and lined on every side

by barrels piled almost to the ceiling.

“_The North Mall._ The first of the Cork distilleries I visited was the

one at North Mall, formerly, and, in fact, still known as Wise’s. It is in

a western suburb of the town out among the meadows. The Lee winds its

silvery course between tall alders close by it, and a branch stream is

made to do much of the work of the immense manufactory. On approaching it

it has a picturesque effect. It lies underneath a tall bank, over which

the road to Sunday’s Well leads. Looking down from this road the whole of

its vast dimensions can be taken in at a glance. The extensive yard, where

one would imagine enough coal was stored to supply the whole city, is

being raised from the adjoining fields. I was looking over an old history

of Cork, published by a certain Dr Smith, over a century ago, and I find

that formerly on this spot a Franciscan monastery stood. Such discipline

was preserved here that it was called the Mirror of Ireland, and their

sacerdotal character was so great that they had the power of curing sore

eyes. The only remains of this ancient edifice now visible is a carved

stone built into the wall of the great bonded warehouses in the Sunday’s

Well Road. It was here that the noted water oozed out of the red-stone

rock Whether it is ever now used in making the agreeable beverage

manufactured from the old whisky stored below I did not ascertain. These

old Franciscan fathers had, doubtless, a good cellar of their own; but

what would they have said of the vast, well-filled vaults which now are

found upon perhaps the identical spot? But, large as these are, they are

not large enough for the requirements of the distillery, and other

extensive premises have been secured in Leitrim Street, which are now used

as bonded warehouses.

“The whisky produced at this distillery is, if possible, still better now

than it was in Wise’s time; the same distiller who worked the concern for

him for twenty years is still there, and none but the very finest

description of malt and barley (a large proportion of the former) is used.

Its production, as well as those of the other two distilleries of the

company, gained a first-class medal last year at Philadelphia, and the

jurors described it as ‘very fine, full flavour, and good spirit.’ As a

natural consequence, there is a demand for this whisky all over the world,

and there are very few large towns in either hemisphere where it is not

represented by an agent.

“_The ‘Watercourse,’_ By-the-bye these lie on our way to the celebrated

Watercourse Distillery, the second of those used by this great firm.

Entering through the broad portals, long ranges of old-fashioned buildings

spread out on every side. Here is the mill, gaunt and square and stolid;

those jealously guarded doors to the right are the bonded warehouses; the

buildings across the yard are devoted to the coopers’ and smiths’ work,

which in all three distilleries is done on the premises.

That tall black and white building far away on the opposite side is the

grain store; this, nearer to you, with the irregular roofs, the

complicated piping and open walled structures running away overhead, is

the distillery proper. This distillery is about of equal size to that at

North Mall. It has an older and more venerable appearance. It turns out as

good and extensive work, and, like it, is not satisfied with the extensive

storing facilities at its command, but must needs go abroad to an old,

unused distillery, further in the suburbs, where it hides most of its rich

and treasured productions. A picturesque old place is this; the ruins of

the old works are still standing, and their architecture is such that it

only requires a mantle of ivy to transform it into a remnant of feudal

savagery.

“_The Midleton Distillery._ The company have handsome and extensive

offices on Morrison’s Island, in the centre of the city, and close to the

water’s edge. Here the directors sit day after day, and the scores of

clerks attend to the interests of 4000 customers. But I cannot linger

here, for I have another distillery to visit. Another, the brightest of

all, far out in the beautiful country, at the town of Midleton, situate at

the north-east extremity of Cork’s magical harbour. Approaching the

distillery from the town, it has somewhat the appearance of a fortress. A

massive stone gateway bars the entrance, and heavy walls encompass it. But

when once admittance is gained the sternness of the approach vanishes.

Great buildings loom aloft, but they have all a bright look; trees are on

every side, and handsome garden plots, and clinging ivy, relieve the

monotony of the high square structures. Here, I believe, is the largest

still in the world——certainly the largest in Ireland. No work was in

progress at the time of my visit, save the work of repairs and the storage

of coal. Here, as at North Mall, water gives considerable aid in driving

the machinery, a canal having been raised after considerable engineering

difficulties and much expense. The vast works of Midleton Distillery cover

over eight acres. It was a hot July day when I paid my visit, not at all

the day to attempt remarkable pedestrian feats. Will it be forgiven me,

therefore, if I forsook Irish whisky for Irish hospitality? Under the very

shadow of the tall manufactory, yet altogether hidden from it, there is a

luring lawn, a cool shrubbery, and an elegant villa radiant with flowers.

Is it not more pleasant to lounge through conservatories than to climb

staircases, to drink iced claret cup than to sip raw spirit, or to examine

the points of a horse than to note the intricacies of machinery? Beyond

the garden and the tennis court and the conservatory is a grotto, so

cunningly placed that none but the initiated can find it; the air there is

deliciously cool, a luxuriant growth of honeysuckle and dog rose and fern

surrounds you, and at your feet is a spring of as pure water as ever

mortal tasted. With pleasant society, and chat and gossip to while away

the time, will it be deemed strange that I stayed there until it was

impossible to see more of the distillery, and that it would only be

possible to catch my last train by a hard and almost break-neck gallop?”

See GIN, SPIRITS, and USQUEBAUGH.

=WHITE AR′SENIC.= ARSENIOUS ACID.

=WHITE-BAIT.= The _Clupea Latulus_ (_Clupea alba_, Yarrell), a very small

and delicate fish, common in the brackish waters of the Thames from April

to September. When fried in oil it is esteemed a great luxury by epicures.

=WHITE COPPER.= See GERMAN SILVER and PACKFONG.

=WHITE HEL′LEBORE.= _Syn._ VERATRUM (Ph. L. & E.); VERATRI ALBI RADIX, L.

“The rhizome of _Veratrum album_, Linn., or white hellebore.” (Ph. L.) A

powerful acrid cathartic, emetic, and sternutatory. It is now seldom

exhibited internally, and its external use over a large or ulcerated

surface is not unaccompanied with danger.——_Dose_, 1/2 to 2 gr. of the

powder, made into a pill; in gout, mania, &c.; or 1 to 3 gr., carefully

triturated with 12 or 15 gr. of liquorice powder, as an errhine, in

amaurosis, &c.

=WHITE LEAD.= _Syn._ FINE WHITE, FLAKE W., CARBONATE OF LEAD, CERUSE,

MAGISTERY OF LEAD; CERUSSA, PLUMBI CARBONAS (B. P., Ph. E. & D.), L. Made

by suspending rolls of thin sheet lead over malt liquor, or pyroligneous

acid, in close vessels, the evaporation from the acid being kept up by the

vessels being placed in a heap of dung, or a steam bath.

_Obs._ Commercial carbonate of lead, however prepared, is not the pure

carbonate of lead, but always contains a certain proportion of hydrate. It

is generally largely adulterated with native sulphate of baryta (‘heavy

spar’), and sometimes with chalk. The former may be detected by its

insolubility in dilute nitric acid, and the latter by the nitric solution

yielding a white precipitate with dilute sulphuric acid, or a solution of

oxalic acid or oxalate of ammonia, after having been treated with

sulphuretted hydrogen, or a hydrosulphuret, to throw down the lead. “Pure

carbonate of lead does not lose weight at a temperature of 212° Fahr.; 68

gr. are entirely dissolved in 150 minims of acetic acid diluted with 1 fl.

oz. of distilled water; and the solution is not entirely precipitated by a

solution of 60 gr. of phosphate of soda.” (Ph. E.) The solution in nitric

acid should not yield a precipitate when treated with a solution of

sulphate of soda.——Used as a superior white paint, and, in medicine, as an

external astringent, refrigerant, and desiccant. The particles of

carbonate of lead prepared by precipitation, or by any of the quick

processes, are in a somewhat crystalline and semi-translucent condition,

and hence do not cover so well as that just noticed. The following are

some of the varieties of ‘white lead’ found in commerce:

1. (DUTCH WHITE LEAD.)——_a._ (Finest.) From flake white, 1 cwt.; cawk, 3

cwt.——_b._ (Ordinary.) Flake white, 1 cwt.; cawk, 7 cwt. These form the

best white lead of the shops.

2. (ENGLISH WHITE LEAD.) Flake white lowered with chalk. Covers badly, and

the colour is inferior to the preceding.

3. (FRENCH WHITE LEAD; BLANC DE PLOMB, Fr.) From litharge dissolved in

vinegar, and the lead thrown down by a current of carbonic acid gas from

coke. Does not cover so well as flake white.

4. (GRACE’S WHITE LEAD.) Made from sheet lead, with the refuse water of

the starch-maker’s, soured brewer’s grain, &c.

5. (HAMBURG WHITE, HAMBURG WHITE LEAD.) From flake white, 1 cwt.; cawk, 2

cwt. Also sold for best Dutch white lead.

6. (VENETIAN WHITE, VENETIAN WHITE LEAD; CERUSA VENETA, L.) From flake

white, or pure white lead and cawk, equal parts. (_See below._)

=White Precip′itate of Lead.= _Syn._ MINIATURE PAINTER’S WHITE, SULPHATE

OF LEAD. From an acetic or nitric solution of litharge, precipitated by

adding dilute sulphuric acid, and the white powder washed and dried. The

clear liquid decanted from the precipitate is poured on fresh litharge,

when a second solution takes place; and this may be repeated for any

number of times. Used in miniature painting, being a beautiful and durable

white.

=Whi′′ting.= The same as prepared chalk, but prepared more carelessly, in

horse-mills.

=White, Wilkinson’s.= From litharge ground with sea water until it ceases

to whiten, and then washed and dried.

=White, Zinc (Hubbuck’s).= A hydrated oxide of zinc. It possesses the

advantage of being innocuous in use, and not being blackened by

sulphuretted hydrogen, like white lead.

=WHITE PIG′MENTS.= _Syn._ PIGMENTA ALBA, L. The following list embraces

the more important white pigments of commerce:

=White, Alum.= _Syn._ BAUMÉ’S WHITE. Take of powdered Roman alum, 2 lbs.;

honey, 1 lb.; mix, dry, powder, calcine in a shallow dish to whiteness,

cool, wash, and dry. A beautiful and permanent white, both in oil and

water.

=White, Derbyshire.= From cawk or heavy spar, by grinding and elutriation.

=White, Flake.= The finer kinds of white lead are so called.

=White, Min′eral.= Precipitated carbonate of lead.

=White, Newcastle.= White lead made with molasses vinegar.

=White, Nottingham.= White lead made with alegar. Permanent white is now

commonly sold for it.

=White, Pearl.= _Syn._ FARD’S SPANISH WHITE. Trisnitrate of bismuth.

=White, Per′manent.= Artificial sulphate of baryta, prepared by

precipitating chloride of barium with dilute sulphuric acid, or a solution

of glauber salts. A good fast white, unchanged by sulphurous fumes. Used

to mark jars and bottles for containing acids or alkalies, as it is

affected by very few substances; also to adulterate white lead.

=White, Spanish.= _Syn._ BLANC D’ESPAGNE, BLANC DE TROYES, Fr. The softest

and purest white chalk, elutriated, made into balls, and well dried. Used

as a cheap white paint.

=WHITE SWEL′LING.= _Syn._ HYDRARTHRUS, L. A variety of indolent,

malignant, scrofulous tumours, attacking the knee, ankle, wrist, and

elbow, especially the first.

=WHITES (Sharp).= _Prep._ 1. From wheaten flour and powdered alum, equal

parts, ground together.

2. (STUFF; BAKER’S STUFF.) From alum, ground to the coarseness of common

salt, 1 lb.; common salt, 3 lbs.; mix together. Both the above are used by

bakers for the purpose of clandestinely introducing alum into their bread.

=WHITE′WASH.= Whiting is made into a milk with water, and a small quantity

of melted size or dissolved glue added. It is applied to walls or

ceilings with a broad, flat brush, worked in a uniform direction. Should

the surface have been previously whitewashed, it is requisite first to

remove the dirt by washing it with a brush and abundance of clean water.

“LIME-WASHING is, from the cleansing action of the quicklime, much the

more effectual mode of purification, but is less frequently had recourse

to, from the general ignorance respecting the proper mode of preparing the

lime-wash. If glue is employed, it is destroyed by the corrosive action of

the lime, and, in consequence, the latter easily rubs off the walls when

dry. This is the case also if the lime be employed, as is often absurdly

recommended, simply slaked in water, and used without any fixing material.

Lime-wash is prepared by placing some freshly-burned quicklime in a pail,

and pouring on sufficient water to cover it; ‘boiled oil’ (linseed) should

then be immediately added, in the proportion of a pint to a gallon of the

wash. For coarser work, any common refuse fat may be used instead of the

boiled oil. The whole should then be thinned with water to the required

consistency, and applied with a brush. Care should be taken not to leave

the brush in the lime-wash for any length of time, as it destroys the

bristles.” (W. B. Tegetmeier.)

=WHI′′TING.= See WHITE PIGMENTS.

=WHITING.= The _Gadus merlangus_ (Linn.), a member of the cod family of

fishes. It is a very light and nutritious fish, and well adapted to

dyspeptics and invalids; but it has too little flavour to be a favourite

with gourmands.

=WHIT′LOW.= _Syn._ WHITLOE; PARONYCHIA, L. A painful inflammation, tending

to suppuration and abscess, at the ends of the fingers, and mostly under

or about the nails. Emollient poultices are useful in this affection;

extreme tension and pain may be relieved by an incision, so as to allow

the exit of the pus or matter from under the nail. The treatment must also

be directed to establish the general health, as without this local

remedies often fail.

=WHOOP′ING-COUGH.= _Syn._ CHIN-COUGH, HOOPING-C., KIN-C.; PERTUSSIS, L. A

convulsive strangling cough, characterised by peculiar sonorous or

whooping inspirations, from which its popular name is taken. It comes on

in fits, which are usually terminated by vomiting. It is infectious,

chiefly attacks children, and, like the small-pox, only occurs once during

life.

The treatment of whooping-cough consists, chiefly, in obviating

irritation, and in exciting nausea and occasional vomiting. For the first,

aperients and sedatives (hemlock or henbane), in small doses, may be

given; for the second intention, an extremely weak sweetened solution of

tartarised antimony, or a mixture containing squills or ipecacuanha, may

be administered in small doses every hour or two, according to the effect

produced. In full habits, blisters and leeches may be resorted to; and in

all cases opiate and stimulating embrocations may be applied to the chest

and spine with advantage. Whenever the head is affected, the use of

narcotics is contra-indicated. The hot bath is often serviceable. “A

mixture of cochineal and carbonate of potassa is by some regarded as

almost a specific for this disease; but our own observations lead us to

look with more favour on anatomical nauseants and emetics.” (Cooley.)

Other medicinal agents employed in pertussis are alum, bromide of

ammonium, sulphate of zinc, belladonna, tincture of myrrh, carbolic acid,

and lobelia. See ANTIMONIALS, DRAUGHTS, MIXTURE, OXYMEL, SYRUP, WINES, &c.

=WHOR′TLEBERRY.= (Bear’s). _Syn._ UVÆ URSI FOLIA (B. P.), UVA URSI (Ph.

L., E., & D.), L. The leaf of _Arctostophylos Uva Ursi_, trailing arbutus,

or Bearberry, Astringent.——_Dose_, 10 to 30 gr. of the powder, thrice

daily. See DECOCTION and EXTRACT.

=WIK′ANA.= _Syn._ WACAKA DES INDS, Fr. _Prep._ (Guibourt.) Roasted

chocolate nuts (ground), 2 oz.; powdered cinnamon, 2 dr.; powdered

vanilla, 1/2 dr.; ambergris, 3 gr.; musk, 1-1/2 gr.; sugar, 6 oz.; well

mixed together. A teaspoonful is boiled with 1/2 pint of milk, or

arrow-root, as a stimulating diet for convalescents.

=WILD CHERRY.= The _Prunus Virginiana_, a beautiful tree, growing wild in

the western states of America. The inner bark (wild-cherry bark) is

officinal in the Ph. U. S., and is a valuable sedative tonic. It is

specially adapted for the alleviation of the distressing cough which is so

harassing to patients with pulmonary disease. See INFUSION.

=WILD′FIRE RASH.= _Strophulus volaticus._

=WILLOW.= _Syn._ SALIX, L. The barks of _Salix alba_ or white willow,

_Salis fragilis_ or crack willow, and _Salix Caprea_ or great round-leaved

willow (WILLOW BARKS; SALICIS CORTICIS——Ph. E.), were officinal in the Ph.

D. 1826; and, with that of _Salix Russelliana_, and other species, are

rich in salicin, and hence possess considerable febrifuge power.——_Dose_,

1/2 to 1 dr., either in powder or made into a decoction; as a substitute

for Peruvian bark, in agues, hectics, debility, dyspepsia, &c.

=WIN′DOWS.= A prismatic or crystalline appearance may be imparted to

windows by several expedients:

1. Mix a hot solution of sulphate of magnesia (Epsom salt) with a clear

solution of gum Arabic, and lay it on hot. For a margin, or for figures,

wipe off the part you wish to remain clear with a wet towel as soon as the

surface has become cold and hard. The effect is very pretty, and may be

varied by substituting oxalic acid, red or yellow prussiate of potash, or

any other salt (not efflorescent), for the sulphate of magnesia. Sulphate

of copper gives a very beautiful crystallisation of a blue colour.

2. Evenly cover the surface of the glass with a layer of thin gum water,

and sprinkle any of the saline crystals before noticed over it whilst wet.

The gum water may be tinged of any colour to vary the effect.

A blinded appearance, more or less resembling ground glass, may be given

as follows:

1. By evenly dabbing the surface with a piece of soft glazier’s putty.

2. A coating of stained rice jelly, laid on with a painter’s brush (sash

tool), and afterwards dabbed with a duster brush, applied endways.

3. Tissue paper, either white or coloured, applied by means of clear gum

water or some pale varnish. The pattern may be lined with a pencil, and,

when the whole is somewhat dry, but not hard, the lines may be cut

through, and the pattern stripped off with the flat point of a knife.

4. The surface of the glass being coated with mucilage, or any pale

varnish, as before, coarsely powdered glass or quartz, reduced to a

uniform state of grain by a sieve, may be sprinkled over it; when dry, the

loose portion should be removed with a soft brush.

=WINE.= _Syn._ VINUM, L.; VIN, Fr. The fermented juice of the grape. The

general characters and quality of wine are principally influenced by

climate, soil, and aspect, the nature and maturity of the grape, and the

method of conducting the fermentation. The sp. gr. of the ‘must’ varies

from 1·063 to 1·285, from which the proportion of saccharine matter and

the ultimate alcoholic richness of the wine resulting from its

fermentation may be inferred. That of Rhenish grapes seldom exceeds 1·095

to 1·100. Want of space compels us to confine our remarks chiefly to the

properties, uses, and management of grape juice after it has passed

through the stage of fermentation, or, in reality, become wine.

_Officinal Wine._ The only wine ordered by the British Colleges is sherry

(WHITE WINE; VINUM XERICUM——B. P., Ph. L.; VINUM ALBUM——Ph. E.; VINUM

HISPANICUM——Ph. D.); but several other wines are employed in medicine, as

tonics, stimulants, antispasmodics, and restoratives, according to the

circumstances of the case or the taste of the patient. In pharmacy, the

less expensive Cape or marsala, or even raisin wine, is usually

substituted for sherry in the preparation of the medicated wines of the

Pharmacopœias.

_Varieties, characteristics, &c._ The following Tables will convey much

useful information on this subject in a condensed form.

I. TABLE _of the Quantity of Alcohol in Wine_. By DR.

CHRISTISON

------------------------------------------+-----------+----------

| Alcohol | Proof

Name, &c. | of ·7937 | spirit

| per cent. | per cent.

| by weight | by volume

------------------------------------------+-----------+----------

{ Weakest | 14·97 | 31·31

{ Mean of 7 samples | 16·20 | 34·91

Port { Strongest | 17·10 | 37·27

{ White | 14·97 | 31·31

| |

{ Weakest | 13·98 | 30·84

{ Mean of 13 wines, excluding } | 15·37 | 33·59

{ those very long kept in cask } | |

Sherry { Strongest | 16·17 | 35·12

{ Mean of 9 wines long kept in } | 14·72 | 31·30

{ cask in the East Indies } | |

{ Madre da Xeres | 16·90 | 37·06

| |

{ Long kept in cask in } Strongest | 16·90 | 37·06

Madeira{ the East Indies } Weakest | 14·09 | 30·86

| |

Teneriffe (long in cask at Calcutta) | 13·84 | 30·21

Cercial | 15·45 | 33·65

Lisbon (dry) | 16·14 | 34·71

Shiraz | 12·95 | 28·30

Amontillado | 12·63 | 27·60

Claret (a first growth of 1811) | 7·72 | 16·95

Chateau-Latour (ditto 1825) | 7·78 | 17·06

Rosan (second growth of 1825) | 7·61 | 16·74

Ordinary Claret (Vin Ordinaire) | 8·99 | 18·96

Rivesaltes | 9·31 | 22·35

Malmsey | 12·86 | 28·17

Rüdesheimer. 1st quality | 8·40 | 18·44

Rüdesheimer. Inferior | 6·90 | 15·19

Hambacher. Superior quality | 7·35 | 16·15

------------------------------------------+-----------+----------

II. _Quantity of Alcohol_ (sp. gr. ·825[270] at 60°

Fahr.) _in 100 parts of Wine by volume_.

[Footnote 270: Alcohol of ·825 contains 92·6% of real or anhydrous

alcohol; or, in the language of the Excise, is about 62-1/2% o.p., and in

round numbers may be said to be of about twice the strength of brandy or

rum, as usually sold.]

+-----------------------+----------------------+------------------+

| Names of Wines. | Alcoholic content. | Authority. |

+-----------------------+----------------------+------------------+

| Alba Flora | 17·26 | Brande. |

| Barsac | 13·86 | do. |

| Bucellas | 18·49 | do. |

| Burgundy (average) | 14·57 | do. |

| Ditto | 12·16 | Prout. |

| Calcavella (average) | 18·69 | Brande. |

| Cape Madeira (do.) | 20·51 | do. |

| Cape Muschat | 18·25 | do. |

| Champagne (average) | 12·61 | do. |

| Ditto | 12·20 | Fontenelle. |

| Claret (average) | 15·10 | Brande. |

| Colares | 19·75 | do. |

| Constantia (White) | 19·75 | do. |

| Ditto (Red) | 18·92 | do. |

| Ditto (average) | 14·50 | Prout. |

| Côte Rôtie | 12·32 | Brande. |

| Currant | 20·55 | do. |

| Elder | 8·79 | do. |

| Frontignac (Rivesalte)| 12·79 | do. |

| Gooseberry | 11·84 | do. |

| Grape (English) | 18·11 | do. |

| Hermitage (Red) | 12·32 | do. |

| Ditto (White) | 17·43 | do. |

| Hock (average) | 12·08 | do. |

| Lachryma Christi | 19·70 | do. |

| Lisbon | 18·94 | do. |

| Lissa (average) | 25·41 | do. |

| Ditto (do.) | 15·90 | Prout. |

| Lunel | 15·52 | Brande. |

| Madeira (average) | 22·27 | do. |

| Ditto (do.) | 21·20 | Prout. |

| Malaga | 17·26 | Brande. |

| Ditto | 18·94 | do. |

| Malmsey Madeira | 16·40 | do. |

| Marsala (average) | 25·09 | do. |

| Ditto (do.) | 18·40 | Prout. |

| Nice | 14·63 | Brande. |

| Orange (average) | 11·26 | do. |

| Port (do.) | 20·64 | Prout. |

| Ditto (do.) | 22·96 | Brande. |

| Raisin (do.) | 25·41 | do. |

| Ditto (do.) | 15·90 | Prout. |

| Red Madeira (do.) | 20·35 | Brande. |

| Roussillon (do.) | 18·13 | do. |

| Sauterne | 14·22 | do. |

| Shiraz | 15·52 | do. |

| Sherry (average) | 19·17 | do. |

| Ditto (do.) | 23·80 | Prout. |

| Syracuse | 20·00 | do. |

| Ditto | 15·28 | Brande. |

| Teneriffe | 19·79 | do. |

| Tent | 13·30 | do. |

| Tokay | 9·88 | do. |

| Vidonia | 19·25 | do. |

| Vin de Grave | 13·94 | do. |

| Zante | 17·05 | do. |

+-----------------------+----------------------+------------------+

_Composition._ The constituents of wine are——alcohol, which is one of its

principal ingredients, and on which its power of producing intoxication

depends; sugar, which has escaped the process of fermentation, and which

is most abundant in the sweet wines, as tokay, tent, frontignac, &c.;

extractive, derived chiefly from the husk of the grape, and is extracted

from it by the newly formed alcohol; tartar, or bitartrate of potassa,

which constitutes the most important portion of the saline matter of wine;

odoriferous matter, imparting the characteristic vinous odour, depending

chiefly upon the presence of œnanthic acid and ether; bouquet, arising

from essential oil or amyl-compounds, probably existing under the form of

ethers. Besides these, small quantities of tannin, gum, acetic and malic

acid, acetic ether, lime, &c., are found in wine. The specific gravity of

wine depends on the richness and ripeness of the grapes used in its

manufacture, the nature of the fermentation and its age. It varies from

about ·970 to 1·041.

_Purity._ The most frequent species of fraud in the wine trade is the

mixing of wines of inferior quality with those of a superior grade. In

many cases the inferior kinds of foreign wines are flavoured and

substituted for the more expensive ones. This is commonly practised with

Cape wines, which, after having a slight ‘nuttiness’ communicated to it by

bitter almonds or peach kernels, a lusciousness or fulness by honey, and

additional strength by a little plain spirit or pale brandy, is made to

undergo the operation of ‘fretting in,’ and is then sold for ‘sherry.’

Formerly, it was a common practice of ignorant wine-dealers to add a

little litharge or acetate of lead to their inferior wines to correct

their acidity, but it is believed that this highly poisonous substance is

now never employed in this country, ‘salt of tartar’ being made to perform

the same duty. The lead which is frequently detected in bottled wine, and

which often causes serious indisposition, may be generally traced to shot

being carelessly left in the bottles, and not to wilful fraud. Sherry is

commonly coloured in Spain by the addition of must boiled down to 1/5 of

its original volume; and in England, by burnt brown sugar, or spirit

colouring. Amontillado (a very nutty wine) is frequently added to sherries

deficient in flavour. Various other ingredients, as the essential oil of

almonds, bitter almonds in substance, cherry-laurel leaves, cherry-laurel

water, &c., are also employed for a like purpose. In Portugal the juice of

elderberries is very commonly added to port wine to increase its colour,

and extract of rhatany for the double purpose of improving its colour and

imparting an astringent taste. In England beet-root, Brazil wood, the

juices of elderberries and bilberries, the pressed cake of elder wine,

extract of logwood, &c., are frequently added to port to deepen its

colour; and oak sawdust, kino, alum, and extract of rhatany, to increase

its astringency. But the most common adulterant of port wine, both in

Portugal and this country, is ‘jerupiga,’ or ‘geropiga,’ a compound of

elder juice, brown sugar, grape juice, and crude Portuguese brandy. That

imported here contains about 45% of proof spirit, and is allowed by the

Custom-house authorities to be mixed with port wine in bond. A factitious

bouquet is also commonly given to wine by the addition of sweetbriar,

orris root, clary, orange flowers, elder flowers, esprit de petit grain,

&c.

_Tests._ These, for the most part, are applicable to all fermented

liquors:

1. Richness in alcohol. This may be found by any of the methods noticed

under ALCOHOLMETEY, PORTER, and TINCTURE.

2. SACCHARINE and EXTRACTIVE MATTER. The sp. gr. corresponding to the

alcoholic strength, last found, is deducted from the real sp. gr. of the

sample, the difference divided by ·0025, or multiplied by 400, gives the

weight of solid matter (chiefly sugar) in oz. per gallon (nearly).

3. NARCOTICS. These may be detected in the manner noticed at page 1630.

4. LEAD. The presence of lead or litharge in wine may be readily detected

by sulphuretted hydrogen, or a solution of any alkaline sulphydrate, which

will, in that case, produce a black precipitate. See WINE-TESTS.

5. POTASSA or SODA improperly present. A portion of the wine is evaporated

nearly to dryness, and then agitated with rectified spirit; the filtered

tincture, holding in solution acetate of potassa, is then divided into two

portions, one of which is tested for acetic acid, and the other for the

alkali.

6. ALUM. A portion of the wine is evaporated to dryness, and ignited; the

residuum is then treated with a small quantity of hydrochloric acid, the

mixture evaporated to dryness, again treated with dilute hydrochloric

acid, and tested with liquor of potassa. If a white bulky precipitate

forms, which is soluble in an excess of caustic potassa, and which is

reprecipitated by a solution of sal ammoniac, the sample examined

contained alum.

7. OIL OF VITRIOL.——_a._ A drop or two of the suspected wine may be poured

upon a piece of paper, which must then be dried before the fire. Pure wine

at most only stains the paper, but one containing sulphuric acid causes it

to become charred and rotten. The effect is more marked on paper which has

been previously smeared with starch paste.

_b._ According to M. Lassaigne, pure red wine leaves, by spontaneous

evaporation, a violet or purple stain on paper; whilst that to which

sulphuric acid has been added, even in quantity, only equal to 1/2000 to

1/3000th part, leaves a pink stain in drying.

8. SPURIOUS COLOURING-MATTER.——_a._ Genuine red wine yields greenish-grey

precipitates with sugar of lead, and greenish ones with potassa; but

those coloured with elderberries, bilberries, litmus, logwood, and

mulberries, give deep blue or violet precipitates, and those coloured with

Brazil wood, red sanders wood, or red beet, give red ones.

_b._ Pure red wine is perfectly decoloured by agitation with recent

hydrate of lime.

_c._ Dissolve a piece of caustic potash in a small quantity of the liquid

to be experimented upon. If no deposit is formed, and the wine assumes a

greenish shade, there is no artificial coloration. A violet-coloured

deposit indicates the presence of elderberries or mulberries, a red one

indicates the presence of beetroot for Brazil wood, red violet that of

logwood. If the deposit is blue violet, privet berries have been employed;

and if of a pale violet the coloration is due to litmus.

_d._ For the detection of the principal colouring matters employed in the

sophistication of wines, M. Chancel proceeds as follows:——He takes 10 c.

c. of wine, and adds 3 c.c. of a dilute solution of subacetate of lead,

allowing the mixture to subside for a few minutes to make sure that the

precipitation is complete. If this is not the case a slight excess of the

reagent is added.

After stirring and heating for a few moments it is thrown on a very small

filter, the filtrate collected in a test-tube, and the precipitate washed

three or four times in hot water. If the filtrate is coloured magenta is

present, and may be sought for by the aid of the spectroscope. But if the

wine contains a mere trace of this colour, it is retained in the

precipitate, and is sought for in the manner directed below. To discover

the colouring matter which may be contained in the plumbic precipitate, it

is treated upon the filter with a few c.c. of a solution of carbonate of

potassa (2 parts of the dry salt to 100 of water), taking care to repass

_the same solution_ several times through the precipitate. Any magenta

present is thus extracted, along with carminamic (ammoniacal cochineal)

and sulphindigotic acid. The colouring matters of logwood and of alkanet

remain undissolved.

With a genuine wine the alkaline liquid takes a very faint yellow, or

greenish-yellow tint. For the detection of magenta the filtrate is mixed

with a few drops of acetic acid, and it is then shaken up with amylic

alcohol. The magenta dissolves in this alcohol with a fine rose tint, and

its presence is proved by spectroscopic examination. Carminamic and

sulphindigotic acids remain in the aqueous solution, and are decanted off.

A couple of drops of sulphuric acid are added, and the mixture is again

shaken up with amylic alcohol, which now dissolves the ammoniacal

cochineal. It may be detected by the spectroscope. The sulphindigotic acid

remains undissolved in the amylic alcohol, and may be found in the blue

aqueous residual liquor by means of the spectroscope. Logwood is most

conveniently sought for in a fresh portion of the wine by digestion with a

little precipitated carbonate of lime, adding a few drops of lime-water,

and filtering. In a natural wine the filtrate has a faint greenish-yellow

colour, but if logwood is present it takes a fine red shade, and the

absorption bands of logwood may be detected with the spectroscope. On

treating the lead precipitate above mentioned with an alkaline sulphide,

washing with boiling water, and then treating with alcohol, the colouring

matter of alkanet, if present, is dissolved, and may be detected by

spectroscopic examination.[271]

[Footnote 271: ‘Comptes Rendus’, February 19th, 1877 (‘Chem. News’, xxxv,

106).]

_e._ (Dr Dupré.) The colouring matter of pure red wine does not pass

through the dialyser. The dialysate from pure wine is therefore

colourless, or shows but a slight purplish coloration, such as water would

assume on the addition of a small quantity of the wine. A yellow or

brownish-yellow dialysate indicates an adulteration with logwood, Brazil

wood, or cochineal, the colouring matters of which may be identified by

the chemical and optical tests employed for this purpose. The ammoniacal

solution of the colouring matter of cochineal yields three well-marked

absorption bands.

_f._ For the detection in wine of fuchsine only, the following methods are

given by M. E. Jacquemin: 1. A small quantity of gun cotton is heated for

a few minutes in 10-20 c.c. of the wine, and then washed with the water.

The nature of the coloration (if any) imparted to the cotton is now

identified by means of solution of ammonia, which decolorises rosaniline,

but turns archil violet.

2. 100 c.c. of the wine are boiled to expel the alcohol, and then boiled

for some time with white Berlin wool, previously moistened with water. The

colour imparted to the wool by fuchsine is retained after washing, and may

be distinguished from archil by ammonia.

3. 100-200 c.c. of the wine are boiled to expel the alcohol, then allowed

to cool, mixed with ammonia in excess, and shaken with ether. By immersing

white wool in the ethereal solution, and evaporating the latter, the wool

acquires the characteristic colour of fuchsine.

9. ARTIFICIAL FLAVOURING. This can only be detected by a discriminating

and sensitive palate,

10. ARTIFICIAL BOUQUET. The substances added for this purpose may often be

readily detected by a comparison of the sample with another of known

purity.

_Uses._ The uses of wine as a beverage are too well known to require

description. As a medicine, port wine is most esteemed as an astringent

and tonic; and sherry and Madeira as stimulants and restoratives, in

diseases where the acidity of the former would be objectionable;

champagne is reputed diuretic and excitant, but its effects are not of

long duration; and the Rhenish wines are regarded as refrigerant,

diuretic, and slightly aperient. Claret, Rhenish, and Moselle wines are

said to be the most wholesome. In _pharmacy_, wine is used as a menstruum.

MANAGEMENT OF WINE.

_Age._ The sparkling wines are in their prime in from 18 to 30 months

after the vintage, depending on the cellaring and climate. Weak wines, of

inferior growths, should be drunk within 12 or 15 months, and be preserved

in a very cool cellar. Sound, well-fermented, full-bodied still wines are

improved by age, within reasonable limits, provided they be well preserved

from the air, and stored in a cool place, having a pretty uniform

temperature. See _Maturation_ (_below_).

_Bottling._ The secret of bottling wine with success consists in the

simple exercise of care and cleanliness. The bottles should be all sound,

clean, and dry, and perfectly free from the least mustiness or other

odour. The corks should be of the best quality, and immediately before

being placed in the bottles should be compressed by means of a

‘cork-squeezer.’ For superior or very delicate wines, the corks are

usually prepared by placing them in a copper or tub, covering them with

weights to keep them down, and then pouring over them boiling water

holding a little pearlash in solution. In this state they are allowed to

remain for 24 hours, when they are well stirred about in the liquor,

drained, and re-immersed for a second 24 hours in hot water, after which

they are well washed and soaked in several successive portions of clean

and warm rainwater, drained, dried out of contact with dust, put into

paper bags, and hung up in a dry place for use. The wine should be clear

and brilliant, and if it be not so, it must undergo the process of

‘fining’ before being bottled. In fact, it is a common practice with some

persons to perform this operation whether the wine require it or not; as,

if it had been mixed and doctored, it “amalgamates and ameliorates the

various flavours.” The bottles, corks, and wine, being ready, a fine clear

day should be preferably chosen for the bottling, and the utmost

cleanliness and care should be exercised during the process. Great caution

should also be observed to avoid shaking the cask so as to disturb the

‘bottoms.’ The remaining portion that cannot be drawn off clear should be

passed through the ‘wine-bag,’ and, when bottled, should be set apart as

inferior to the rest. The coopers, to prevent breakage and loss, place

each bottle, before corking it, in a small bucket, having a bottom made of

soft cork, and which is strapped on the knee of the bottler. They thus

seldom break a bottle, though they ‘flog in’ the corks very hard. When the

process is complete the bottles of wine are stored in a cool cellar, and

on no account upright, or in damp straw, but on their sides, in sweet,

dry sawdust, or sand.

_Bouquet._ See _Flavouring_ and _Perfuming_.

_Brandying._ Brandy is frequently added to weak or vapid wines, to

increase their strength or to promote their preservation. In Portugal, one

third of brandy is commonly added to port before shipping it for England,

as without this addition it generally passes into the acetous fermentation

during the voyage. A little good brandy is also usually added to sherry

before it leaves Spain. By the regulation of the Customs of England, 10%

of brandy may be added to wines in bond, and the increased quantity is

only charged the usual duty on wine. The addition of brandy to wine

injures its proper flavour, and hence it is chiefly made to port, sherry,

and other wines, whose flavour is so strong as not to be easily injured.

Even when brandy is added to wines of the latter description, they require

to be kept for some time to recover their natural flavour. To promote this

object, the wine-doctors employ the process called ‘fretting in,’ by which

they effect the same change in 3 or 4 weeks, as would otherwise require

some months, at the very least.

_Cellaring._ A wine-cellar should be dry at bottom, and either covered

with good hard gravel or be paved with flags. Its gratings or windows

should open towards the north, and it should be sunk sufficiently below

the surface to ensure an equable temperature. It should also be

sufficiently removed from any public thoroughfare, so as not to suffer

vibration from the passing of carriages. Should it not be in a position to

maintain a regular temperature, arrangements should be made to apply

artificial heat in winter, and proper ventilation in summer.

_Colouring._ Wines are as commonly doctored in their colour as their

flavour. A fawn-yellow and golden-sherry yellow are given by means of

tincture or infusion of saffron, turmeric, or safflower, followed by a

little spirit colouring, to prevent the colour being too lively. All

shades of amber and fawn, to deep brown and brandy colour, are given by

burnt sugar. Cochineal (either alone or with a little alum) gives a pink

colour; beet-root and red sanders give a red colour; the extracts of

rhatany and logwood, and the juice of elderberries, bilberries, &c., give

a port-wine colour.

_Crusting._ To make port wine form a crust on the inside of the bottles, a

spoonful of powdered catechu, or 1/2 a spoonful of finely powdered cream

of tartar, is added to each bottle before corking it, after which the

whole is well agitated. It is also a common practice to put the crust on

the bottle before putting the wine into it, by employing a hot saturated

solution of red tartar, thickened with gum and some powdered tartar.

_Deacetification._ This is effected by the cautious addition of either

salt of tartar or carbonate of soda. Wine so treated soon gets insipid by

exposure and age; and, without care, the colour of red wines is thus

frequently spoiled.

_Deacidification._ See _Detartarization_ (_below_).

_Decanting._ This only refers to small quantities of wine, ready for

consumption. In decanting wine, care must be taken not to shake or disturb

the crust when moving it about or drawing the cork, particularly of port

wine. Never decant wine without a wine-strainer, with some clean fine

cambric in it, to prevent the crust and bits of cork going into the

decanter. In decanting port wine, do not drain it too close; as there are

generally two thirds of a wine-glassful of thick dregs in each bottle,

which ought to be rejected. In white wine there is not much settling; but

it should nevertheless be poured off very slowly, the bottle being raised

gradually.

_Decolouring._ The colour of wine is precipitated by age and by exposure

to the light. It is also artificially removed by the action of skimmed

milk, lime water, milk of lime, and fresh burnt charcoal. Wine merchants

avail themselves of this property for the purpose of whitening wines that

have acquired a brown colour from the cask, or which are esteemed pale;

and also for turning ‘pricked’ red or dark-coloured wines into white

wines, in which a small degree of acidity is not so much perceived. In

this way brown sherry is commonly converted into pale or gold-coloured

sherry. For the latter purpose, 2 to 3 pints of skimmed milk are usually

sufficient; but to decolour red wine 2 to 3 quarts or more will be

required, according to the nature and intensity of the colour, or the

shades of paleness desired. Charcoal is seldom used, as it removes the

flavour as well as colour, but a little milk of lime may sometimes be

advantageously substituted for milk, when the wine has much acidity, more

particularly for red wines, which may even be rendered quite colourless by

it.

_Detartarization._ Rhenish wines, even of the most propitious growths, and

in the best condition, besides their tartar, contain a certain quantity of

free tartaric acid, on the presence of which many of their leading

properties depend. The excess of tartar is gradually deposited during the

first years of the vatting, the sides of the vessels becoming more and

more encrusted with it; but, owing to the continual addition of new wine

and other causes, the liquid often gains such an excess of free tartaric

acid as to acquire the faculty of redissolving the deposited tartar, which

thus again disappears after a certain period. The taste and flavour of the

wine are thus exalted, but the excess of acid makes the wine less

agreeable in use, and probably less wholesome. Amateurs and manufacturers

should therefore welcome a means of taking away the free tartaric acid

without altering, in any respect, the quality of the wine. This is pure

neutral tartrate of potash. When this salt, in concentrated solution, is

added to such a fluid as the above, the free acid combines with the

neutral salt, and separates from the liquid under the form of the

sparingly soluble bitartrate of potash. “If to 100 parts of a wine which

contains one part of free tartaric acid we add 1-1/2 part of neutral

tartrate of potash, there will separate on repose at 70° to 75° Fahr., 2

parts of crystallised tartar; and the wine will then contain only 1/2 part

of tartar dissolved, in which there are only ·2 part of the original free

acid; ·8 part of the original free acid having been withdrawn from the

wine.” (Liebig’s ‘Annalen.’) This method is particularly applicable to

recent must and to wines which do not contain much free acetic acid; but

when this last is the case, so much acetate of potash is formed as

occasionally to vitiate the taste of the liquor.

_Fining._ Wine is clarified in a similar manner to beer. White wines are

usually fined by isinglass, in the proportion of about 1-1/2 oz.

(dissolved in 1-1/2 pint of water, and thinned with some of the wine) to

the hogshead. Red wines are generally fined with the whites of eggs, in

the proportion of 15 to 20 to the pipe. Sometimes hartshorn shavings, or

pale sweet glue, is substituted for isinglass.

_Flatness._ This is removed by the addition of a little new brisk wine of

the same kind; or by rousing in 2 or 3 lbs. of honey; or by adding 5 or 6

lbs. of bruised sultana raisins, and 3 or 4 quarts of good brandy, per

hogshead. By this treatment the wine will usually be recovered in about a

fortnight, except in very cold weather. Should it be wanted sooner, a

table-spoonful or two of yeast may be added, and the cask removed to a

warmer situation.

_Flavouring._ Various ingredients are added to inferior wines, to give

them the flavour of others more expensive, and to British wines, to make

them resemble those imported. Substances are also added in a similar

manner to communicate the aroma of the high-flavoured grape wines. Among

the first are bitter almonds, almond cake, or the essential oil of

almonds, or, preferably, its alcoholic solution, which are used to impart

a ‘sherry’ or ‘nutty’ taste to weak-flavoured wines, as poor sherry, white

cape, and malt, raisin, parsnip, and other similar British wines; rhatany,

kino, oak sawdust and bark, alum, &c., to convey astringency,

and——tincture of the seeds of raisins, to impart a ‘port wine’ flavour.

Among the substances employed to communicate the bouquet of the finer

wines, may be mentioned——orris root, eau de fleurs d’oranges, neroli,

essence de petit grain, ambergris, vanilla, violet petals, essence of

cedrat, sweet briar, clary, and elder flowers, quinces, cherry-laurel

water, &c. By the skilful, though fraudulent use of the above flavouring

substances and perfumes, the experienced wine-brewer manages to produce,

in the dark cellars of London, from white cape, currant, gooseberry,

raisin, rhubarb, parsnip, and malt wine, very excellent imitations of

foreign wine, and which pass current among the majority of English

wine-drinkers as the choicest productions of the grape, “genuine as

imported.”——A grain or two of ambergris, well rubbed down with sugar and

added to a hogshead of claret, gives it a flavour and bouquet much

esteemed by some connoisseurs.

_Fretting-in._ See _Sweating-in_ (_below_).

_Improving._ This is the cant term of the wine trade, under which all the

adulteration and ‘doctoring’ of wine is carried on. A poor sherry is

improved by the addition of a little almond flavour, honey, and spirit; a

port deficient in body and astringency, by the addition of some red tartar

(dissolved in boiling water), some rhatany, kino, or catechu, and a little

honey or foots, and brandy. See _Mixing_ (_below_).

_Insensible Fermentation._ See _Maturation_ (_below_).

_Insipidity._ See _Flatness_ (_above_).

_Maturation._ The natural maturation or ‘ripening’ of wine and beer by age

depends upon the slow conversion of the sugar which escaped decomposition

in the ‘gyle tun,’ or fermenting vessel, into alcohol. This conversion

proceeds most perfectly in vessels which entirely exclude the air, as in

the case of wine in bottles; as when air is present, and the temperature

sufficiently high, it is accompanied by slow acetification. This is the

case of wine in casks, the porosity of the wood allowing the very gradual

permeation of the air. Hence the superiority of bottled wine over draught

wine, or that which has matured in wood. Good wine, or well-fermented

beer, is vastly improved by age when properly preserved; but inferior

liquor, or even superior liquor, when preserved in improper vessels or

situations, becomes acidulous, from the conversion of its alcohol into

vinegar. Tartness or acidity is consequently very generally, though

wrongly, regarded by the ignorant as a sign of age in liquor. The peculiar

change by which fermented liquors become mature or ripe by age is termed

the ‘insensible fermentation.’ It is the alcoholic fermentation impeded by

the presence of the already formed spirit in the liquor, and by the

lowness of the temperature. See _Ripening_ (_below_).

_Mixing._ Few wines are sold without admixture. It is found that the

intoxicating properties of wine are increased by mixing them with other

wines of a different age and growth. In many cases the flavour is at the

same time improved. Thus, a thin port is improved by the addition of a

similar wine having a full body, or by a little Malaga, Teneriffe, or rich

sherry; and an inferior old sherry may be improved by admixture with a

little full-bodied wine of the last vintage. In this consists the great

art of ‘cellar management,’ and to such an extent is this carried, both

abroad and in England, that it may be confidently asserted that few wines

ever reach the consumer in an unmixed or natural state.

_Mustiness._ This may generally be removed by violently agitating the wine

for some time with a little of the sweetest olive oil or almond oil. The

cause of the bad taste is the presence of an essential oil, which the

fixed oil seizes on, and rises with to the surface, when it may be skimmed

off; or the liquor under it may be drawn off. A little coarsely powdered

fresh-burnt charcoal, or even some slices of bread toasted black, will

frequently have a like effect. A little bruised mustard seed is also

occasionally used for the same purpose.

_Perfuming._ This is chiefly performed on British wines for family use.

For its application to foreign wine, see Flavouring (_above_). Wines may

be perfumed by the simple addition of any odorous substances previously

well mixed with a little of the wine, or dissolved in a few fluid ounces

of rectified spirit.

_Racking._ This should be performed in cool weather, and preferably early

in the spring. A clean syphon, well managed, answers better for this

purpose than a cock or faucet. The bottoms, or foul portion, may be

strained through a wine-bag, and added to some other inferior wine.

_Ripening._ To promote the maturation or ripening of wine, various plans

are adopted by the growers and dealers. One of the safest ways of

hastening this, especially for strong wines, is not to rack them until

they have stood 15 or 18 months upon the lees; or, whether ‘crude’ or

‘racked,’ keeping them at a temperature ranging between 50° and 60° Fahr.,

in a cellar free from draughts and not too dry. Another method is to

remove the corks or bungs, and to substitute bladder tied or fastened

air-tight over the openings. Bottled wine, treated in this way, ripens

very quickly in a temperate situation. Some dealers add a little dilute

sulphuric acid to the coarser wines for the same purpose; but a small

quantity of concentrated acetic acid or tartaric acid would be preferable,

since these acids are found in all wines. 4 or 5 drops of the former,

added to a bottle of some kinds of new wine, immediately give it the

appearance of being 2 or 3 years old.

_Ropiness, viscidity; Graisse._ This arises from the wine containing too

little tannin or astringent matter to precipitate the gluten, albumen, or

other azotised substance, occasioning the malady. Such wine cannot be

clarified in the ordinary way, because it is incapable of causing the

coagulation or precipitation of the finings. The remedy is to supply the

principle in which it is deficient. M. François, of Nantes, prescribes the

bruised berries of the mountain ash (1 lb. to the barrel)__ for this

purpose. A little catechu, kino, or, better still, rhatany, or the bruised

footstalks of the grape, may also be conveniently and advantageously used

in the same way. For pale white wines, which are the ones chiefly attacked

by the malady, nothing equals a little pure tannin or tannic acid

dissolved in proof spirit. See VISCOUS FERMENTATION, MALT LIQUORS, &c.

_Roughening._ See Flavouring (_above_).

_Second fermentation; La-pousse._ Inordinate fermentation, either primary

or secondary, in wine or any other fermented liquor, may be readily

checked by sulphuration, or by the addition of mustard seed or sulphite of

lime. 1 oz. of brimstone, 3/4 to 1 lb. of bruised mustard seed, and about

4 to 8 oz. of sulphite of lime, are fully sufficient for a hogshead. This

substance seldom fails of arresting the fermentation.——In addition to the

above remedies, a little sulphuric acid is sometimes employed, and the use

of black oxide of manganese, or chlorate of potash, has been proposed on

theoretical grounds.

_Souring._ This is either occasioned by the wine having been imperfectly

fermented, or from its having been kept in too warm a cellar, where it has

been exposed to draughts of air or to continual vibrations, occasioned by

the passage of loaded vehicles through the adjoining thoroughfare. The

remedy commonly recommended in books for this purpose is to saturate the

acid with chalk, milk of lime, or calcined oyster shells; but such

additions, made in sufficient quantity to effect this object, destroy the

character of the wine, and render it sickly and vapid. The best and only

safe remedy is a little neutral tartrate of potash, cautiously added; or

it may be mixed with a considerable portion of full-bodied new wine of its

class, adding at the same time a little brandy, and in two or three weeks

fining it down, when it should be either at once put into bottles, or

consumed as soon as possible. See Deacetification and Detartarisation.

(_above_).

_Sparkling, creaming, and briskness._ These properties are conveyed to

wine by racking it into closed vessels before the fermentation is

complete, and while there still remains a considerable portion of

undecomposed sugar. Wine of this description, which has lost its

briskness, may be restored by adding to each bottle a few grains of white

lump sugar or sugar candy. This is the way in which champagne is treated

in France. The bottles are afterwards inverted, by which means any

sediment that forms falls into the necks, when the corks are partially

withdrawn, and the sediment is immediately expelled by the elastic force

of the compressed carbonic acid. If the wine remains muddy, a little

solution of sugar and finings are added, and the bottles are again placed

in a vertical position, and, after two or three months, the sediment is

discharged, as before.

_Sweating-in._ The technical terms ‘sweating-in’ and ‘fretting in’ are

applied to the partial production of a second fermentation, for the

purpose of mellowing down the flavour of foreign ingredients (chiefly

brandy), added to wine. For this purpose 4 or 5 lbs. of sugar or honey,

with a little crude tartar (dissolved), are commonly added per hogshead;

and when the wine is wanted in haste, a spoonful or two of yeast, or a few

bruised vine leaves, are also mixed in, the cask being placed in a

moderately warm situation until the new fermentation is established, when

it is removed to the wine cellar, and, after a few days, ‘fined down.’

_Taste of Cask._ The remedies for this malady are the same as those for

mustiness.

⁂ For further information connected with the nature and management of

wines, and other fermented liquors, see BREWING, FERMENTATION, MALT

LIQUORS, PORTER, SUGAR, SYRUP, VINOUS FERMENTATION, VISCOUS F., WORT,

YEAST, &c., and _below_.

=Wine, British.= The various processes in British wine-making depend upon

the same principles, and resemble those employed for foreign wine.

The FRUIT should be preferably gathered in fine weather, and not until

mature, as evinced by its flavour; for if it be employed whilst unripe,

the resulting wine will be harsh, disagreeable, and unwholesome, and a

larger quantity of sugar and spirit will be required to render it

palatable. The common practice of employing unripe gooseberries for the

manufacture of British champagne arises from a total ignorance of the

scientific principles of wine-making. On the other hand, if ordinary

British fruit be employed in too ripe a state, the wine is apt to be

inferior, and deficient in the flavour of the fruit.

The FRUIT, being gathered, at once undergoes the operation of picking or

garbling, for the purpose of removing the stalks and unripe or damaged

portions. It is next placed in a tub, and is well bruised, to facilitate

the solvent action of the water. Raisins are commonly permitted to soak

about 24 hours previously to bruising them, but they may be advantageously

bruised or minced in the dry state. The bruised fruit is then put into a

vat or vessel with a guard placed over the tap-hole, to keep back the

husks and seeds of the fruit when the must, juice, or extract is drawn

off. The water is now added, and the whole is allowed to macerate for 30

to 40 hours, more or less, during which time the magma is frequently

roused up with a suitable wooden stirrer. The liquid portion is next drawn

off, and the residuary pulp is placed in hair bags, and undergoes the

operation of pressing, to expel the fluid which it contains. The sugar,

tartar (in very fine powder or in solution), &c., are now added to the

mixed liquors, and the whole is well stirred or ‘rummaged’ up for some

time. The temperature being suitable, the vinous fermentation soon

commences, when the liquor is frequently skimmed (if necessary), and well

‘roused’ up, and, after 3 or 4 days of this treatment, it is run into

casks, which should be quite filled, and left purging at the bung-hole. In

about a week the flavouring ingredients, in the state of coarse powder,

are commonly added, and well stirred in; and in about another week,

depending upon the state of the fermentation, and the attenuation of the

must, the brandy or spirit is added, and the cask is filled up, and bunged

down close. In four or five weeks more the cask is again filled up, and,

after some weeks, (the longer the better), it is ‘pegged’ or ‘spiled,’ to

ascertain if it be fine or transparent; if so, it undergoes the operation

of racking; but if, on the contrary, it still continues muddy, it must be

either again bunged up, and allowed to repose for a few weeks longer, or

it must pass through the process of fining. Its future treatment is

similar to that already noticed under FOREIGN WINE. (See _above_.)

The must of many of the strong-flavoured fruits, as black currants,

mulberries, &c., is improved by being boiled before being made into wine.

The flavour and bouquet of the more delicate fruits are either greatly

diminished or utterly dissipated by boiling.

_General Formulæ_ for the _Preparation_ of BRITISH WINES:

1. From ripe saccharine fruits. Take of the ripe fruit, 4 to 6 lbs.; clear

soft water, 1 gall.; sugar, 3 to 5 lbs.; cream of tartar (dissolved in

boiling water), 1-1/4 oz.; brandy, 2 to 3% flavouring, as required. If the

full proportions of fruit and sugar are used, the product will be good

without the brandy, but better with it. 1-1/2 lb. of raisins may be

substituted for each pound of sugar.

In the above way are made the following wines:——Gooseberry wine (‘British

champagne’);——currant wine (red, white, or black);——mixed fruit wine

(currants and gooseberries, or black, red, and white currants, ripe

black-heart cherries, and raspberries, equal part), a good family

wine;——cherry wine;——colepress’s wine (from apples and mulberries, equal

part); elder wine;——strawberry wine;——raspberry wine;——mulberry wine (when

flavoured, makes ‘British port’);——whortleberry wine (bilberry wine),

makes a good factitious ‘port’;——blackberry wine;——damson wine (makes good

factitious ‘port’);——morella wine;——apricot wine;——apple wine;——grape

wine, &c.

2. From dry saccharine fruit (as raisins). Take of the dried fruit, 4-1/2

to 7-1/2 lbs.; clear soft water, 1 gall.; cream of tartar (dissolved), 1

oz.; brandy, 1-1/2 to 4%. Should the dried fruit employed be at all

deficient in saccharine matter, 2 to 3 lbs. of it may be omitted, and half

that quantity of sugar, or two thirds of raisins added. In the above way

are made——date wine,——fig wine,——raisin wine, &c.

3. From ACIDULOUS, ASTRINGENT, or SCARCELY RIPE FRUITS, or those which

are deficient in saccharine matter. Take of the picked fruit, 2-1/2 to

3-1/2 lbs.; sugar, 3-1/2 to 5-1/2 lbs.; cream of tartar (dissolved), 1/2

oz.; water, 1 gall.; brandy, 2 to 6%.

In the above way are made——gooseberry wine (‘British champagne’);——bullace

wine (which makes an excellent ‘factitious port’);——damson wine, &c.

4. From FOOTSTALKS, LEAVES, CUTTINGS, &c. By infusing them in water, in

the proportion of 3 to 6 lbs. to the gall., or q. s. to give a proper

flavour, or to form a good saccharine liquor; and adding 2-1/2 to 4 lbs.

of sugar to each gall. of the strained liquor, 1-1/2 lb. of raisins may be

substituted for each lb. of sugar.

In the above way are made——grape wine (from the pressed cake of

grapes);——English grape wine;——rhubarb wine (‘Bath champagne,’ ‘patent

c,’), from garden rhubarb;——celery wine, &c.

5. From SACCHARINE ROOTS and STEMS OF PLANTS. Take of the bruised, rasped,

or sliced vegetable, 4 to 6 lbs.; boiling water, 1 gall.; infuse until

cold, press out the liquor, and to each gall. add of sugar 3 to 4 lbs.;

cream of tartar, 1 oz.; brandy, 2 to 5%. For some roots and stems the

water must not be very hot, as they are thus rendered troublesome to

press.

In the above way are made——beet-root wine (‘British Roussillon’);——parsnip

wine (‘British malmsey’);——turnip w., &c.

6. From FLOWERS, SPICES, AROMATICS, &c. These are prepared by simply

infusing a sufficient quantity of the bruised ingredient for a few days in

any simple wine (as that from sugar, honey, raisins, &c.) after the active

fermentation is complete, or, at all events, a few weeks before racking

them.

In the above way are made——clary wine (‘muscadel’), from flowers, 1

quart to the gall.;——cowslip wine (flowers, 2 quarts to the

gall.);——elder-flower wine (‘Frontignac’), flowers of white-berried elder,

3/4 pint, and lemon juice, 3 fl. oz., to the gall.;——ginger wine (1-1/4

oz. of ginger to the gall.);——orange wine (1 dozen sliced oranges per

gall.);——lemon wine (juice of 12 and rinds of 6 lemons to the

gall.);——spruce wine (1/4 oz. of essence of spruce per gall.);——juniper

wine (berries, 3/4 pint per gall.);——peach wine (4 or 5 sliced, and the

stones broken, to the gall.);——apricot wine (as peach wine, or with more

fruit);——quince wine (12 to the gall.); rose clove gillyflower, carnation,

lavender, violet, primrose, and other flower wines (distilled water, 1-1/2

pint, or flowers, 1 pint to the gall.);——balm wine (balm tops, 4 oz. per

gall.) &c.

7. From SACCHARINE JUICES, or INFUSIONS, or from fermented liquors. Take

of the juice or liquor, 1 gall.; honey or sugar, 2 to 3 lbs. (or raisins,

3 to 5 lbs.); cream of tartar, 1-1/4 oz.; brandy, 2 to 4%.

In this way are made——English grape wine;——mixed fruit wine——pine-apple

wine;——cider wine;——elder wine;——birch wine (from the sap, at the end of

February or beginning of March); sycamore wine (from the sap);——malt wine

(‘English Madeira’), from strong wort;——and the wines of any of the

saccharine juices of ripe fruit.

8. From SIMPLE SACCHARINE MATTER. Take of sugar, 3 to 4, lbs.; cream of

tartar, 1/2 oz.; water, 1 gall.; honey, 1 lb.; brandy, 2 to 4%. A handful

of grape leaves or cuttings, bruised, or a pint of good malt wort, or mild

ale, may be substituted for the honey. Chiefly used as the basis for other

wines, as it has little flavour of its own; but makes a good ‘British

champagne.’

_Obs._ In all the preceding formulæ lump sugar is intended when the wines

are required very pale, and good Muscovado sugar when this is not the

case. Some of the preceding wines are vastly improved by substituting good

cider, perry, or pale ale or malt wort, for the whole or a portion of the

water. Good porter may also be advantageously used in this way for some of

the deep-coloured red wines. When expense is no object, and very strong

wines are wanted, the expressed juices of the ripe fruits, with the

addition of 3 or 4 lbs. of sugar per gall., may be substituted for the

fruit in substance, and the water.

Examples of BRITISH IMITATIONS OF FOREIGN WINES:

AMERICAN HONEY WINE. From good honey, 21 lbs.; cider, 12 galls.; ferment,

then add, of rum, 5 pints; brandy, 2 quarts; red or white tartar

(dissolved), 6 oz.; bitter almonds and cloves, of each, bruised, 1/4 oz.;

powdered capsicum, 3 dr. This is also called ‘mead wine.’ With the

addition of 3 oz. of unbleached Jamaica ginger (finely grated), it forms

the best American ginger wine.

BRITISH BURGUNDY. By adding a little lemon juice, and a ‘streak’ of orris

or orange-flower water, to ‘British port,’ the ingenious wine-brewer

converts it into ‘British Burgundy.’ It is also made by mixing together

equal parts of ‘British port’ and claret.

BRITISH CAPE. 1. (White.) Raisin wine, well attenuated by fermentation,

either alone or worked up with a little cider and pale malt wort.

2. (Red.) British white cape, sound rough cider and mulberry wine, equal

parts; well mixed and fined down.

BRITISH CHAMPAGNE. 1. From stoned raisins, 7 lbs.; loaf sugar, 21 lbs.;

water, 9 galls.;. crystallised tartaric acid, 1 oz.; cream of tartar, 1/2

oz.; Narbonne honey, 1 lb.; sweet yeast, 1/4 pint; ferment, skimming

frequently, and, when the fermentation is nearly over, add, of coarsely

powdered orris root, 1 dr.; eau de fleurs d’oranges, 1/4 pint; and lemon

juice, 1 pint; in 3 months fine it down with isinglass, 1/4 oz.; in 1

month more, if not sparkling, again fine it down, and in another fortnight

bottle it, observing to put a piece of double-refined white sugar, the

size of a pea, into each bottle; lastly, wire down the corks, and cover

them with tin-foil, after the manner of champagne.

2. As the preceding, but substituting 32 lbs. of double-refined sugar for

the sugar and raisins therein ordered, with the addition of 3 galls. of

rich pale-coloured brandy.

3. From amber hairy champagne gooseberries, English grape juice, or the

stalks of garden rhubarb, and lump sugar; with a little sweetbriar, orris,

or orange-flower water, to impart a slight bouquet. The last forms what is

known as ‘patent’ or ‘Bath champagne.’

4. (Pink.) To either of the preceding add red currant juice, q. s. to

colour; or 1 oz. of coarsely powdered cochineal to each 10 or 12 galls. at

the time of racking.

_Obs._ It is notorious that two bottles of wine out of every three sold

for ‘genuine champagne’ in England is of British manufacture. “We have

ourselves seen sparkling gooseberry, rhubarb, and white sugar wines, sold

for imported champagne, at 7s. 6d. per bottle, and the fraud has passed

undetected, even by habitual wine drinkers. (Cooley.)

BRITISH CLARET. 1. Rich old cider or perry and port wine, equal parts.

2. To each gall. of the last add of cream of tartar (genuine), 3 dr., with

the juice of 1 lemon. Sometimes 1/4 pint of French brandy is also added.

_Obs._ If these mixtures are well fined down, and not bottled for at least

a month or 5 weeks, they closely resemble good ‘Bordeaux.’ A mixture of 4

parts of raisin wine, with 1 part each of raspberry and barberry or damson

wine, also forms, when so treated, an excellent factitious ‘claret.’

BRITISH CYPRUS. From the juice of white elderberries, 1 quart, and Lisbon

sugar, 4 lbs., to water, 1 gall.; together with 1/2 dr. each of bruised

ginger and cloves. When racked, add minced raisins and brandy, of each 2

oz.

BRITISH HOCK, BRITISH RED HOCK. From cream of tartar, 1-1/4 oz.; tartaric

acid, 1/2 oz. (both in extremely fine powder); juices of the purple plum,

ripe apples, and red beet, of each (warmed), 5 pints; lemon juice, 1 pint;

with white sugar, 2-1/2 lbs. per gall.

BRITISH MADEIRA. From very strong pale malt wort, 36 galls., sugar candy,

28 lbs., and cream of tartar, 3 oz.; fermented with yeast, 2 lb., adding,

when the fermentation is nearly finished, raisin wine, 2-1/2 galls.;

brandy and sherry wine, of each 2 galls.; rum and brandy, of each 3 pints;

after 6 or 9 months, fine it down, and in another month bottle it. See

BRITISH SHERRY (_below_).

BRITISH MALMSEY. From sliced or grated parsnips, 4 lbs.; boiling water, 1

gall.; when cold, press out the liquor, and to each gallon add of cream of

tartar, 1/2 oz., and good Muscovado sugar, 3 lbs.; ferment, rack, and add

of brandy, 3 to 5%. Good Malaga raisins may be substituted for the sugar.

BRITISH RED MOSELLE. The last, coloured with clarified elderberry juice.

BRITISH SPARKLING MOSELLE. From rich cider apples (carefully peeled and

garbled), pressed with 1-4th of their weight of white magnum-bonum plums

(previously stoned), and the juice fermented with 2-1/2 lbs. of

double-refined sugar per gall., as champagne.

BRITISH MUSCADEL. As ‘British sparkling Moselle,’ with some infusion of

clary, or of the musk plant, to flavour it.

BRITISH PORT, LONDON P., SOUTHAMPTON P. 1. From red cape, 2 galls.; damson

or elder wine, 1 gall.; brandy, 1/2 pint; powdered kino, 1/2 oz.

2. Strong old cider, 6 galls.; elderberry juice, 4 galls.; sloe juice, 3

galls.; sugar, 28 lbs.; powdered extract of rhatany, 1 lb.; at the time of

racking add, brandy, 1/2 gall.; good port wine, 2 galls.

3. Good port, 12 galls.; rectified spirit, 6 galls.; French brandy, 3

galls.; strong rough cider, 42 galls.; mix in a well-sulphured cask.

(‘Publican’s Guide.’)

4. Port wine, 8 galls.; brandy, 6 galls.; sloe juice, 4 galls.; strong

rough cider, 45 galls.; as the last. (‘Licensed Victuallers’ Companion.’)

5. Cider, 24 galls.; juice of elderberries, 6 galls.; sloe juice, 4

galls.; rectified spirit, 3 galls.; brandy, 1-1/2 gall.; powdered rhatany.

7 lbs.; isinglass, 4 oz., dissolved in a gall. of the cider; bung it down;

in 3 months it will be fit to bottle, but should not be drunk until the

next year; if a rougher flavour is required, the quantity of rhatany may

be increased, or alum, 5 or 6 oz. (dissolved), may be added.

BRITISH SHERRY. 1. From cape or raisin wine, slightly flavoured with a

very little bitter-almond cake, or, what is more convenient, a little of

the essential oil dissolved in alcohol (essence of bitter almonds). A mere

‘streak’ or ‘thread’ of sweet-briar, eau de fleurs d’oranges, or orris, is

occasionally added by way of bouquet; but care must be taken not to overdo

it.

2. To each gallon of strong raisin must, add, when racking, 1 Seville

orange, and 3 or 4 bitter almonds, both sliced. By omitting the almonds,

and adding 1 green citron to each 2 or 3 gallons, this forms ‘British

madeira.’

3. Very strong pale malt wort, 36 galls.; finest Muscovado sugar, 1 cwt.;

yeast, 1 pint; ferment; on the third day add of raisins, stoned, 14 lbs.,

and in another week add, of rectified spirit, 1 gall., rum, 1/2 gall., and

bitter almonds, grated, 1-1/4 oz.; bung down for 4 months, then draw it

off into another cask, add of brandy, 1 gall., and in 3 months bottle it.

4. Teneriffe, slightly flavoured with cherry-laurel or bitter almonds,

forms an excellent ‘British sherry,’ either alone or diluted with an

equal quantity of cape or raisin wine, or good perry.

BRITISH TOKAY. To good cider, 18 galls.; add, of elderberry juice, 1/2

gall.; honey, 28 lbs.; sugar, 14 lbs.; red argol (powdered), 3/4 lb.;

crystallised tartaric acid, 3 oz.; mix, boil, ferment, and, when the

active fermentation is complete, add of brandy, 1 gall., and suspend in

the liquor, from the bung-hole, a mixture of cassia and ginger, of each

1/2 oz.; cloves and capsicum, of each 1/4 oz.; the whole bruised, and

loosely enclosed in a coarse muslin bag. It will be ripe in 12 months.

_Obs._ Some of the preceding formulæ, by skilful management, produce very

good imitations of some of the imported wines; but (prejudice aside) many

of the British fruit wines possess an equally agreeable flavour, and are

frequently more wholesome. All British wines require to be kept at least a

year, to ‘mellow.’ Much of the superiority of foreign wines arises from

its age.

=WINES (Culinary).= _Syn._ WINES FOR KITCHEN USE. These are prepared in a

similar manner to the MEDICATED WINES noticed below.

=Wine, Basil.= _Prep._ From green basil leaves, 4 or 5 oz.; sherry, cape,

or raisin wine, 1 pint; digest for 10 days, press, and strain. Used to

give a turtle flavour to soups and gravies. In a similar way may be made

the wines of celery leaves, celery seed, sage, shallots, and the various

green and dried herbs used in cookery.

=Wine, Cayenne.= _Prep._ From capsicum or cayenne, 1 oz.; cape, 1 pint;

steep for a fortnight, and strain.

_Obs._ In a similar way may be made currie (powder), ragout (spice), and

several other similar wines used in the kitchen.

=WINES (Medicated).= _Syn._ IMPREGNATED WINES; VINA MEDICATA, L. The

medicated wines of pharmacy are prepared by cold maceration, in

well-closed vessels, in precisely the same way as the tinctures. In the

Ph. L. of 1824, a diluted spirit was substituted for wine, without

altering the name of the preparation; but the use of wine (sherry) was

restored in that of 1836. The druggists commonly use cape or raisin wine

as a menstruum, from its being cheaper than sherry, and, perhaps, scarcely

less power as a solvent. The ‘vinum’ of the Ph. U. S. was formerly

Teneriffe. Dr B. Lane’s process for preparing medicated wines by

fermentation is noticed at the end of the alphabetical list given below.

“Medicated wines should be kept in stoppered glass vessels, and be

frequently shaken during maceration.” (Ph. L.)

The following are the principal medicated wines at present in use:

=Wine of Acetate of Iron.= _Syn._ VINUM FERRI ACETATIS. (Soubeiran.)

_Prep._ Acetate of iron, 32 gr. white wine, 16 oz.

=Wine, Alkaline Diuretic.= _Syn._ VINUM ALKALINUM DIURETICUM; (Sydenham).

_Prep._ Ashes of broom, 12 oz.; Rhenish wine, 4 pints.——_Dose_, 3 oz.

twice a day.

=Wine of Al′oes.= _Syn._ VINUM ALOËS (B. P., Ph. L. & E.), TINCTURA

SACRA†, TINCT. HIERÆ PICRÆ†, L. _Prep._ 1. (B. P.) Socotrine aloes, 1-1/2

oz.; ginger, in coarse powder, 80 gr.; cardamom seeds, bruised, 80 gr.;

sherry, 40 oz.; digest seven days, strain, and make it up to 40.——_Dose_,

1 to 2 dr.

2. (Ph. L.) Powdered Socotrine or hepatic aloes, 2 oz.; powdered canella,

1/2 oz.; sherry, 1 quart; macerate for 14 days, and filter. In the Ph. E.

cardamoms and ginger, of each 1-1/2 dr., are substituted for

canella.——_Dose._ As a purgative, 1/2 to 2 fl. oz.; as a stomachic, 1 to 2

fl. dr.

=Wine of Aloes (Al′kaline).= _Syn._ VINUM ALOËS ALKALINUM, L. _Prep._ (Dr

A. T. Thomson.) Carbonate of soda, 3 oz.; myrrh and extract of aloes, of

each 6 dr.; sesquicarbonate of ammonia, 4-1/2 dr.; sherry, 24 fl. oz. (say

1-1/4 pint); macerate, as before. In dyspepsia, chlorosis, &c.——_Dose._ As

the last.

=Wine, Antimo′′nial.= _Syn._ TARTAR EMETIC WINE; WINE OF POTASSIO-TARTRATE

OF ANTIMONY; VINUM ANTIMONII POTASSIO-TARTRATIS (Ph. L.), V. ANTIMONIALE

(B. P., Ph. E.), L. _Prep._ 1. (B. P.) Tartarated antimony, 2 gr.; sherry,

1 oz.——_Dose_, 10 to 60 minims. (In consequence of the insolubility of the

tartarated antimony in the sherry, Squire recommends it to be dissolved in

about ten times its weight of hot water, and that the wine be added to the

solution.)

2. (Ph. L. & E.) Potassio-tartrate of antimony, 40 gr.; sherry, 1 pint;

dissolve. Each fluid oz. contains 2 gr. of emetic tartar.——_Dose._ As a

diaphoretic and expectorant, 10 to 30 drops, frequently; as a nauseant, 1

to 2 fl. dr.; as an emetic, 2 to 4 fl. dr. The corresponding compound of

the Ph. D. is ANTIMONII TARTARIZATI LIQUOR. See SOLUTION OF

POTASSIO-TARTRATE OF ANTIMONY.

=Wine, Antiscorbutic.= _Syn._ VINUM ANTISCORBUTICUM (P. Cod.). _Prep._

Fresh horseradish root, 3 oz.; scurvy-grass, 1-1/2 oz.; watercress leaves,

1-1/2 oz.; buckbean, 1-1/2 oz.; mustard seed, 1-1/2 oz.; chloride of

ammonium, 5-1/2 dr.; wine, 5 pints; compound spirit of scurvy-grass, 1-3/4

oz.

=Wine, Aromatic.= _Syn._ VINUM AROMATICUM. (P. Cod.) _Prep._ Aromatic

species, 1 oz.; vulnerary tincture, 1 oz.; red wine, 10 oz. For outward

use. M. Ricord sometimes adds from 1 to 6 per cent. of tannin.

=Wine of Bark.= _Syn._ VINUM CINCHONÆ (P. Cod.) Yellow bark, 3 oz.; proof

spirit, 6 oz. (by weight). Macerate 24 hours and add, red wine, 5 pints.

Macerate for 10 days, shaking it occasionally; strain with expression, and

filter.

=Wine of Bark (Compound).= _Syn._ VINUM CINCHONÆ COMPOSITUM. (P. Cod.)

_Prep._ Yellow bark, 1 oz.; bitter orange peel, 44 gr.; chamomiles, 44

gr.; alcohol, (·864) 1 oz. (by weight); white wine, 9 oz. (by weight).

Macerate for 10 days.

=Wine of Bark, Muriated.= _Syn._ VINUM CINCHONÆ MURIATUM. _Prep._

Ammonio-citrate of iron, 1/2 oz.; wine of pale Peruvian bark, 5 pints

(made with double the quantity of bark contained in the yellow); dissolve

the ammonio-citrate in twice its weight of distilled water, and add to the

wine.

=Wine of Bitter Sweet.= _Syn._ VINUM DULCAMARÆ (Dr Currie). _Prep._

Dulcamara stalks and leaves, 1 lb.; sherry, 2 pints. Macerate for 14 days,

and strain.

=Wine of Buchu.= _Syn._ VINUM BUCHU (Brandes). _Prep._ Buchu leaves, 2-1/2

oz.; white wine, 1 pint.

=Wine of Cachina.= _Syn._ VINUM CACINÆ. _Prep._ Cachina, bruised, 1 oz.;

Malaga wine, 16 oz. Macerate for 6 days, and strain.

=Wine, Camphorated.= _Syn._ VINUM CAMPHORATUM. (Ph. G.) Camphor and gum

acacia in powder, of each 1/2 oz. Mix accurately and gradually. Add 24 oz.

(by weight) of white wine.

=Wine of Cascarilla.= _Syn._ VINUM CASCARILLÆ (Bernardeau). _Prep._

Cascarilla, 1 oz.; Malaga wine, 1 pint.——_Dose_, 1 oz., twice a day in

consumption.

=Wine of Catechu.= _Syn._ VINUM CATECHU (Soubeiran). _Prep._ Tincture of

catechu, 1 part; red wine, 12-1/2 parts. Mix, and after a few days,

filter.

=Wine of Centaury (Compound).= _Syn._ VINUM CENTAURII COMPOSITUM.

HOFFMAN’S ELIXIR VISCERALE. _Prep._ Centaury, orange peel, extract of

blessed thistle, gentian, myrrh, cascarilla, each 1 dr.; sherry, 2 pints.

=Wine, Chalyb′eate.= See WINE OF IRON.

=Wine of Cinnamon.= _Syn._ VINUM CINNAMOMI (Beral). _Prep._ Cinnamon, 1

oz.; alicant wine, 16 oz.; macerate and filter. Sugar is sometimes added.

=Wine of Citrate of Iron.= _Syn._ VINUM FERRI CITRATIS. (B. P.) Dissolve

140 grains of citrate of iron and ammonia in 1 pint of orange wine; let

the solution remain for 3 days in a closed vessel, shaking occasionally;

then filter.

=Wine of Col′chicum.= _Syn._ WINE OF COLCHICUM ROOT; VINUM COLCHICI (B.

P.); VINUM RADICIS COLCHICI (Ph. L. & E.), L. _Prep._ 1. (B. P.) Colchicum

corms, dried and sliced, 4; sherry, 20; macerate seven days and

strain.——_Dose_, 20 to 30 minims.

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