The article appears to have been written with a view of inducing a more
frequent use of that wholesome and invigorating beverage by adducing a
host of respectable names of antiquity. But I am somewhat inclined to
believe, that notwithstanding the classic lore and learned style in which
the article appears, that many there are, whose adverse temper, and whom
the present "march of intellect" has so far rendered callous to
_authoritative_ conviction, that they still remain sceptics of the
extraordinary good qualities and virtues, which the ancients believed
this beverage to contain; only because they have thought fit to adhere to
the common adage, that no opinion ought to be received upon men's
authority, without a sufficient reason assigned for its correctness. It
is with this view of the subject then, that I venture to make the few
following observations. In the first place, we will briefly consider the
nature and chemical properties of wines, and then their tendency
and action upon the constitution.

The characteristic ingredient of all wines is alcohol, the proportion and
quality of which, and the state and combination in which it exists,
constitute the essential properties of the numerous kinds of wines. The
colour of the red wines is produced from the husk of the grape, they
being used during fermentation; on the contrary, the colourless wines are
those where the husk of the grape is not used during the process of
fermentation. The colouring matter produced from the husks is highly
astringent, consequently the red and white wines are very different in
their qualities, and very different in their effect on the stomach.

All wines contain more or less acid; for British wines are considered
less salubrious than those of foreign, from their having an excess of
malic acid, which our fruits contain. The foreign wines are reckoned