Temperance prize essays / By Drs. Mussey and Lindsly.

Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Temperance prize essays / By Drs. Mussey and Lindsly. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    155/210 (page 149)
    a ee ne ge eee ee ee WITH INTOXICATING ARTICLES. . 149 : gal, and Sicily, are rendered remarkable in this country by the addition of brandy, and must con- sequently contain uncombined alcohol, the pro- portion of which however will not necessarily bear a ratio to the quantity added, because at the period of its admixture a renewed fermentation is produced by the scientific vintner, which will assimilate and combine a certain portion of the foreign spirit with the wine: this manipulation in . _ technical language is called fretting-in. The free alcohol may, according to the experiments of Fabbroni, be immediately separated by saturating the vinous, fluid with sub-carbonate of potass, while the combined portion will remain undis- turbed: in ascertaining the fabrication and salu- brity of a wine, this circumstance ought always to constitute a leading feature inthe inquiry; and the tables of Mr. Brande would have been greatly . enhanced in practical value had the relative pro- _ portions of uncombined spirit been appreciated in his experiments, since it is to this, and not to the combined alcohol that the injurious effects of wine are to be attributed. It is well known, observes Dr. Macculloch, that diseases of the liver are the most common, and the most formidable of those produced by the use of ardent spirits ; it is equally certain that no such disorders follow the intempe- rate use of pure wine, however longindulged in: to the concealed and unwitting consumption of spirit, therefore, as contained in the wines com- monly drunk in this country is to be attributed the excessive prevalence of those hepatic affec- tions which are comparatively little known to our continental neighbors. Thus much is certain, t3*