bottles with the same energy as that of ten atmospheres at 25°.
Experiment has demonstrated that such stress corresponds to twelve
atmospheres in a space in which the temperature remains about 15°.

In addition, the elasticimeter is capable of giving other and no less
useful data. It permits of comparing the resistance of bottles and of
classifying them according to the degree of such resistance. After
numerous experiments, it has been found that first class bottles
easily support a pressure of twelve atmospheres without distortion,
while in those of an inferior quality the resistance is very variable.
The champagne wine industry should therefore use the former
exclusively.

Various precautions must be taken in the use of corks. The bottles
that lose their wine in consequence of the bad quality of their corks
are many in number, and it is not long since that they were the cause
of genuine disaster to the champagne trade.

Mr. Salleron has largely contributed to the improving of the quality
of corks found in the market. The physical and chemical composition of
cork bark is peculiarly favorable to the special use to which it is
applied; but the champagne wine industry requires of it an exaggerated
degree of resistance, inalterability, and elasticity. A 1¼ inch cork
must, under the action of a powerful machine, enter a ¾ inch neck,
support the dissolving action of a liquid containing 12 per cent. of
alcohol compressed to at least five atmospheres, and, in a few years,
shoot out of the bottle and assume its pristine form and color. Out of
a hundred corks of good quality, not more than ten support such a
test.