By C. H. GILL, Esq., of University College, London


P. 4. Direction to submit any wine _that is not sour_ to distillation.
(_Sour_ wine is deficient in alcohol; that body having been changed into
acetic acid by oxidation.) In the language of the mystical ideas which
prevailed in the dawn of Chemistry, the colouring matters, sugar, &c. of
the wine are called ‘the .4. elementis,’ or as it were the ‘rotten fæces
of wine’??

The direction to distill the wine seven times is a good practical
suggestion for the obtaining of strong alcohol which will burn well.
Then follows a description of the distilling apparatus, which seems to
have been arranged to ensure a very slow distillation, so as to obtain a
product as colourless and scentless as possible.

P. 5. The second way to make the Quinte essence depends on distillation
of alcohol by means of the heat of fermenting horse-dung; also the fifth
manner.

P. 6. The directions for gilding burning water are all nonsense; but as
the writer had no means of testing the truth of his statements, they may
have been made in good faith.

P. 7. The idea which he expresses, that this gilt burning water will
make you well and young, is difficult to explain, except on the
assumption that, it being the strongest of alcohol, a very little served
to produce that elevation of spirits which seemed to bring back the
spring of youth.