This term is applied to the manufacture of ardent spirits, through the agency of heat applied to a vessel called a still, which contains the fermented liquor from which the spirit is to be extracted; and the spirit as it is vaporized is condensed in tubes from which it distills, or falls in drops, into the vessel placed to receive it. Hence the application of the term distillation. We know little relative to the antiquity of this manufacture. To the nations of antiquity it seems to have been unknown, at least we have no distinct accounts of its preparation. It is commonly supposed to have been invented by the barbarians of the north of Europe as a solace to their cold and humid climate, and to have been made known to the more southern nations by Arnoldus de Villa Nova and his pupil Raymond Lully of Majorca. At the present day there are few nations above the stage of savages who do not manufacture an ardent spirit by a process of distillation. Whether these ardent spirits are prepared from the expressed juices of fruits, from the natural or expressed juices of trees and plants, or from infusions of grains or roots, chemistry has made known to us that they can alone be prepared from sugar, or from principles which, during the process of infusion and fermentation, are converted into sugar. In this country the great proportion of the ardent spirit is prepared from barley, which in its natural state contains no sugar; but, by the process followed, the large quantity of starch which it contains is converted into sugar; and the saccharine infusion being fermented the sugar becomes converted into alcohol, which is obtained from it by distillation.

Only two of the five species of sugars are of interest to the distiller in this country, viz., cane sugar and grape sugar; the other three, milk sugar, liquorice sugar, and manna sugar, are to the distiller mere curiosities, insomuch as manna sugar is unfermentable, liquorice sugar is only used in colouring and flavouring porter, and milk sugar, though capable of fermentation and furnishing an ardent spirit on distillation, is not met with in sufficient quantity to be of any value to him.

Cane sugar embraces many varieties, which, though furnished by different plants, are identical in properties and composition. Of these the chief are sugars from the sugar cane, from the palm trees and date (called jaggery) from the maple, maize, and millet. The juices of the plants yielding these sugars are distinguished from those yielding grape sugar by containing very little acid. All these sugars assume regular crystalline forms when fermented; they assume the form of the grape sugars before changing to carbonic acid and alcohol; and the fermented infusions or juices yield on distillation ardent spirits known by the names of rum, arrack, &c.

It is from the grape sugars, however, that the great proportion of the ardent spirit used in this country is produced. The grape sugars embrace many varieties procured from different sources, yet having all the same chemical composition. These embrace the sugar of the grape, honey, the sugar of most of our fruits, and the sugar made from starch. All the juices containing naturally grape sugar are more or less acid, and the chemical reason for this is, that acid possesses the property of converting cane sugar into grape sugar, in like manner as it converts starch into grape sugar. These sugars do not crystallize so readily as cane sugar, but they ferment with extreme facility, and furnish on distillation the spirits known by the names of brandy, whisky, gin, &c.

Milk sugar exists in milk, to which it imparts its sweetness. It is readily fermentable, and when distilled furnishes the ardent spirit called arracka, in use among the Tartars; while the fermented milk itself is largely used by various nations, and is styled koumiss by the Tartars, leban by the Arabs, and yauourt by the Turks.

When these sugars are dissolved in water, and fermented, as was explained under the article Brewing, they become resolved into carbonic acid gas, which escapes, and alcohol, which remains in the fluid. It is this alcohol (spirit, or spirit of wine) which is the substance producing the stimulant and intoxicating property in all the forms of ardent spirit; and it is the separation of this from the large quantity of water and impurities with which it is mixed in the fermented liquid which constitutes the art of distillation.

The several flavours peculiar to each separate kind of ardent spirit, and which serve to distinguish them from each other, are supposed to be owing to the presence of an essential oil, derived from the ingredients employed in the manufacture; but as yet chemists have only discovered the presence of cinnamic acid, camphoric ether, and oxyhydrate of amyle, substances which are sufficient of themselves to impart the peculiar odour, without supposing it to be owing to an essential oil whose presence has escaped detection. It is a singular fact, however, that these peculiarities of flavour or of odour are only imparted to the spirit when it is distilled from the fermented juice or sap itself; but when fermented infusions of the sugars prepared from these juices are subjected to distillation, no peculiarity of odour is manifested. Thus the fresh cane juice, when fermented and distilled, yields the high-flavoured spirit called rum; but sugar and molasses fermented and distilled in this country yield only plain spirits—whisky.

From whatever ingredient the ardent spirit is to be derived, the processes through which it must pass before being distilled are virtually the same. The saccharine juices or infusions, whether derived from the grape, sugar-cane, date, barley, or other grains, or potato, beet, or other roots, must first be fermented to change sugar into alcohol. The fermented liquor must then be put into a close covered vessel or still, which terminates in a conical head, to which is attached a convoluted tube, or scorod, as it is called, the end of which terminates in a vessel called a safe. This worm runs through or is placed in a large vessel called the worm-tub, or refrigerator, which receives a constant and plentiful supply of cold water. Fire or steam is then applied to the still, when the spirit, being more volatile than water, rises as vapour, passes through the worm where it is condensed, and runs in a fluid state through the safe into the receiver.

This is the method adopted by distillers who use the flat-bottomed old stills, and is the mode chiefly used on the Continent. Before a pure spirit of the requisite strength can be got by this plan, the product of the first distillation has to be redistilled once, twice, or even three times; and the use of the safe is to enable the man who works the still to test the quality of the running liquor, the pure being put into a receiver by itself, and the impure by itself to be redistilled.

The other stills in use are termed patent stills, and make the spirit of the proper strength and purity at one distillation. The operation of this kind of still will be explained afterwards.

As in this country the attention of the distiller is almost entirely limited to the manufacture of one kind of spirit, we shall first notice—

Whisky, a corruption of the Irish word usquebaugh. This ardent spirit may be manufactured from barley malt alone, from the raw or unmalted barley mixed with from a third to a ninth of malt, from a mixture of raw barley, wheat, rye, or oats, with from a sixth to a tenth of barley malt, or from a mixture of raw barley, or big, with sugar, or from sugar or molasses alone. When barley malt is alone used, the processes are simple, and the spirit produced has a more agreeable flavour, and is more esteemed; but, in consequence of the heavy duty on malt, distillers have been induced to employ large quantities of unmalted grain, and of late years no small proportion of sugar and molasses, adding merely enough of malt to induce the chemical conversion of the starch in the unmalted grain into grape sugar.

To save reference to what was stated under the article Brewing, it may be recapitulated here, that, during the germination of barley (as in its conversion into malt) a peculiar substance is generated in the grain called diastase, which acts chemically on the starch of the grain, converting it first into a kind of gum called dextrine, and then into a sweet substance identical in composition with grape sugar. It has been found that this diastase can convert 2000 parts of starch into grape sugar; and it is of this valuable property that the distiller avails himself when he adds malt to his raw grain. To save the more expensive article malt, he uses only so much as experiment has proved will suffice to change the starch of the raw grain into sugar when mixed with it in his mash tun. The distiller, therefore, to prepare the saccharine fluid for his operations, has to go through all the processes of brewing before he gets it ready for the still. The processes followed by him will therefore be shortly described under the heads of mashing, cooling, fermenting, and distilling.

Mashing.—The barley, big, rye, oats, or other grains to be used are reduced to a fine meal, and mixed with the proper proportion of malt which has been previously merely bruised. In some Scottish distilleries the following mixture of grains is used, but the proportions and kind of grains vary in each separate distillery—malt, 42 bushels; oats, 25 bushels; rye, 25 bushels; and barley, 158 bushels. If 40 bushels of barley, and 20 of malt, are the proportions to be used in one process, then 600 or 700 gallons of water, at the temperature of 150° Fahrenheit, are mixed with these in the mash tun, care being taken to break all the masses either by means of hand ears and rakes, or by those worked by machinery. This agitation and mixing is continued for an hour and half or longer; and to keep up the heat of the mass and furnish enough of fluid, additional 500 gallons of water are let in at intervals at a temperature of about 190°. A very superior machine has quite recently been patented, and is now being introduced into breweries and distilleries for the purpose of mashing the grain or malt. It consists of a cylindrical box about a foot in diameter, and six feet in length. Through this passes a strong wooden rod or axle fitted with wooden teeth set on at right angles, and so long as nearly to touch the sides of the cylinder. The bruised grains and hot water are then admitted at one extremity, and the toothed axle being caused to revolve rapidly mixes the grain and water more thoroughly than could be done by manual labour. The machine lies at a gentle slope, so that the mixed mass pours from its other extremity in a continuous stream into the mash tun. The mash is then covered up and allowed to rest for an hour or two. If the mash be tasted when first made, it is found to have little or no taste, but as it stands it becomes sweeter and sweeter, in consequence of the conversion of the starch into the grape sugar under the action of the diastase in the malt. If more care were taken to regulate the temperature of the mash, and keep it at that point which experiment has proved is most favourable to the action of the diastase on the starch (viz. 158° to 167°), and also allow the mash to infuse for a longer time, it cannot be doubted that the yield of saccharine matter would be greater, seeing that at present much of the starch escapes decomposition altogether. The distiller should also consider whether it would not be advantageous for him to expose his raw grain to the heat of 300° on the kiln before mashing it, seeing this heating process would convert the whole starch of the grain into dextrine, and thus facilitate after-operations. When the proportion of raw grain is greater than that indicated above, it is usual to add a quantity of the husks of the oat to the barley meal, in order to prevent it forming hard lumps, and to allow the water to percolate more freely through the mass.

When the mashing is thus finished, it is found that, in consequence of the thickness and adhesiveness of the barley meal, it is impossible to draw off the infusion or wort from below, as is done in brewing. It is therefore drawn off from the top, after the grains have subsided, by means of a perforated tube which rises above the grains in the mash tun.

A second, a third, and sometimes even a fourth infusion or mashing is made on the same grains, in order to obtain all the soluble matters from them. The first mash, with the above quantities, rarely yields more than 400 gallons of wort. The second mash, made with 500 gallons of water at the temperature of 190°, after standing an hour and half or two hours, will yield fully that quantity, as the grains, now deprived of much of their starch, part more freely with the water. The third mash is generally made with 800 gallons of boiling water, and when drawn off, is either added to the other to reduce them to the required strength, or is reserved for making the first infusion at a subsequent mashing.

In former days, in consequence of the restrictions imposed by the excise laws, the distiller was obliged to make his wort of great strength; and in those days the third mash was very generally boiled down, and often had various prohibited articles (as sugar and molasses) added to it in order to raise the wort to its required strength; but as these restrictions are now very much removed, and sugar and molasses are allowed to be used, it is found profitable to work with a much weaker wort. By the present excise laws, the distiller in England is bound to run his worts into the fermenting tun not weaker than 1050 of specific gravity, nor stronger than 1090. In Scotland and Ireland the distiller's wort when let into the fermenting tun must not be of lower specific gravity than 1030, nor higher than 1080. At this strength the fermentation is more complete, and the yield of spirit is greater than when the wort is of a higher specific gravity.

Cooling is the next process to which the wort is subjected. In small distilleries it is still customary to cool the wort in wide shallow coolers of wood or of iron, placed in an exposed part of the brewery. But as wort from grain has a much greater tendency to run to acidity than that from malt, it is of great advantage to get the temperature reduced as rapidly as possible. This is effected either by fitting up blowers or fans, which throw a brisk current of air over the flat coolers, or, better still, by the employment of refrigerators in which the hot wort is run through tin or copper tubes which pass through cold water. Wherever a full supply of cold water can be obtained, this plan possesses advantages over that of exposing the wort to the open air in the shallow open coolers. As the wort cools, a quantity of starchy matter is precipitated; but all is carefully transferred to the fermenting tun along with the wort, and undoubtedly contributes to increase the production of spirit. During the winter and temperate months the wort is cooled down to a temperature varying from 52° to 65°.

Fermentation of the wort is the most important of all the processes, as its perfection depends on the quantity of spirit which can be extracted from the wort. In former days the slow plan of fermentation used to be very generally followed. In this case it was customary to cool down the wort to 52°, and excite the fermentation by adding yeast, which distillers used formerly to procure from the London porter breweries under the idea it was the strongest and best. The whole yeast was not added at once, but a certain portion used to be added daily for the first three or four days, and the whole process of fermentation was protracted from seven to ten or even twelve days. By this plan of fermentation the wort was rarely reduced below 1002 or 1004 of specific gravity; in fact a very large proportion of the saccharine matter escaped fermentation. This old and slow process of fermentation is therefore now very generally exploded, and the quick process adopted. The wort is by this process poured into the fermenting tun at the temperature of 65° to 76°. Good yeast from any brewery is added, in the proportion of one or one and a half gallons for every 100 gallons of wort, according to the season; and a little more is often added next day if the fermentation does not seem to be going on with sufficient vigour. Active fermentation is thus excited in six or seven hours, and the whole process is finished by the second, and never later than the third day thereafter. By the excise laws relative to distillation, mashing or fermenting, and distillation of the wort, are not allowed to be carried on in the same building during the same days. To show the regularity then with which the modern distillers work, and the advantages of the quick plan of fermentation, it may be stated that in the course of writing this article we visited a distillery and found that for several years they have had, with one exception, 52 mashing periods, and 52 distilling periods annually; the mashings being made, and the fermentation carried through and completed every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, while the fermented wash was distilled on every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The first distillers name their mashing period—the second their distilling period—and in most well-regulated distilleries the above order is observed, so that they have 52 mashing and 52 distilling periods during the year. The fermentation should always be carried so far as to reduce the wort to the specific gravity of water, that is, 1000. When the wort is made from molasses or sugar, it is often reduced below this gravity, but rarely when the wort is made from a mixture of raw grains. Even by this great attenuation the whole saccharine matter is not thereby converted into alcohol; for the alcohol, as it increases in the wort, gradually arrests the decomposition of the sugar, and at length stops it altogether. Even, therefore, though the specific gravity of the wort be many degrees below that of water it does not indicate that the whole sugar has been converted into alcohol, seeing that the specific gravity of alcohol is so much lighter than that of water, that its presence in the wort reduces the specific gravity below that of water, even though a considerable amount of sugar remains undecomposed. It is the presence of this large quantity of undecomposed sugar in the spent wort (wort from which the spirit has been distilled) which gives it its sweet taste, and makes it valuable to the dairyman as an article for feeding his cows. The whole quantity, however, which escapes decomposition (or conversion into alcohol), is a loss to the distiller; but by refermenting the spent wash, or by using it for mashing a fresh quantity of grain, as is done in the manufacture of Hollands and of Rum, a considerable saving would be effected. When the wort is thus fermented, it is styled in the distiller's language the wash. If the fermentation flags, or is too long continued, or the temperature rises too high, a considerable loss of spirit is apt to occur in consequence of the alcohol becoming converted into acetic acid (vinegar). This change is known to occur by the wort increasing in density, the specific gravity of acetic acid being so much heavier than that of alcohol; and by the peculiar odour and taste of acetic acid becoming developed.

Distilling the wash is the next process; and the apparatus employed for this purpose is termed the still, of which there are many forms. The still is a chemical apparatus for separating the more volatile from the less volatile fluids, and it is connected with a part termed the refrigerator, in which the volatile vapour raised from the fluid in the still is condensed, and drops or distills into a vessel termed the receiver. The common still is a flat bottomed close vessel with a high head to prevent the fluid within boiling over. To the top of this head a tube is connected, which is carried in a spiral form round the inside of tubs or barrels filled with cold water, and from its twisted form this tube receives the name of the worm. The tube terminates at the bottom of the barrel, passing through it to the outside, and is conducted into the vessel termed the receiver, a stop-cock, or more commonly a vessel termed a safe, being usually placed on the tube where it leaves the refrigerator.

When the old excise laws, during the last century, charged the duty of spirit on the probable quantity which a still of a certain size would produce during the year, acting on the supposition that the still could only be emptied once a-week, the distillers, stimulated by the desire to evade a large portion of the duty, improved the forms of their stills, so that they emptied their stills in a few hours, instead of only once a-week. The evasion of duty thereby became at last so notorious, that a committee of the House of Commons was appointed in 1799 to investigate the matter; and the result was, that in Scotland the duty was laid on the distiller on the supposition that he could discharge an 80 gallon still every eight minutes during the whole working season. Stimulated, however, to escape the heavy duties, the distillers, by still further improvements in the form of the still, by lessening its depth, increasing its surface, and heightening its head, so improved it that stills capable of holding 80 gallons could be discharged every 3½ minutes, and those capable of holding 40 gallons in 2½ minutes. In the year 1815 this absurd law, which encouraged fraud, was repealed; and since then the duties have been levied on the quantity of spirit produced, irrespective of the time employed in its manufacture.

By all the old stills such a quantity of watery vapour was carried over along with the alcohol, that the distilled spirit (termed low wines and feints), had to be subjected to a second process of distillation (termed doubling), before it could be sent out of the proper legal strength. One of the greatest modern improvements, therefore, in this art, was the invention of a still which accomplished this end at one operation. This desirable improvement was first effected by a Frenchman, named Edouard Adam, an illiterate workman in a distillery, who, after hearing a chemical lecture on the contrivance known to chemists as the apparatus of Woulfe, applied the principle to the condensation of the vapour of alcohol. The Woulfian condenser was originally intended to impregnate water with gaseous vapours, and consisted of a range of beaked reservoirs or chambers, the beak of each of which dipped under the fluid contained in the reservoir placed after it. Adam applied this to the condensation of the vapour of alcohol; and by causing the hot vapours to chase the alcohol from chamber to chamber, he obtained in the successive chambers alcohol of any strength and purity. He took out a patent for his invention in 1801, but it was not till after the alteration of the excise laws here in 1815 that any attention could be paid to this form of still in this country. Since that period this form of still has received various important improvements in this country so as to adapt it to the more rapid and larger operations of the British distiller, and Mr Stein's still and Mr Coffey's still are among the most perfect of these. Coffey's still, indeed, is now recognised as the best, and the most economical for preparing ardent spirit of a high per centum above proof at one operation. It may also be called a continuous still, seeing that new wash is continuously supplied as long as the still is kept in operation.

The principle which has guided the improvements in the modern stills is founded on the fact that the boiling point of alcohol varies with its density or strength; the purer it is, the less heat is required to raise it into the state of vapour, and the more it is diluted with water the greater is the heat required to distil it. Thus alcohol of the specific gravity of .793 boils at 168°-5 Fahr.; that of strength .851 at 179°; and that of .912 specific gravity at 197°. Hence, if we wish alcohol of any specific strength we have merely to keep up the heat to the point at which that spirit boils, and the spirit evaporated will have the desired strength. Such spirit will also be much purer and freer from peculiar odours, seeing that the offensive volatile oils which taint spirits are less volatile than alcohol, and only exist in quantity when the spirit has been subjected to considerable heat and has much watery vapour carried over along with it.

Coffey's still brings these principles into play in full perfection. In it the wash is never exposed to the direct heat of the fire, but is exposed in a series of shallow chambers, placed one over the other to the vapour of steam, which rises through the perforated bottoms of each chamber, and carries off the alcoholic vapours into the condenser. This condenser also consists of a series of chambers separated from each other by perforated plates, and is so contrived that the cold wash passing in pipes through these chambers, in its way to feed the other series of chambers, acts as the condenser to the vapour of the alcohol, the wash being gradually heated thereby, as it passes through the successive chambers. The still, therefore, consists essentially of three separate but connected parts, viz., 1st, of a large square receiver at the base, which receives the spent wash after it has been deprived of its alcohol by passing through the series of evaporating chambers; 2d, of a large square upright box, termed "analyser," containing the series of evaporating chambers, each communicating with the one below by means of a valved tube, which only allows fluid to escape from the upper to the lower chamber, and having the dividing partition of each chamber perforated with fine apertures, to allow the steam which is admitted from below to pass from chamber to chamber through the shallow layer of wash in each. A safety or escape valve is also fitted to each chamber. The already heated wash enters the uppermost of these chambers in a continuous regulated stream, is gradually deprived of its alcohol by the steam as it passes from chamber to chamber, and at last escapes into the lower large receiver, from which it flows off after attaining a certain depth. The third part of the apparatus also consists of a square upright box, termed "condenser," divided into compartments by means of finely-perforated plates, and in each chamber is a link of the tube which carries the cold wash onwards to supply the evaporating chambers just described. The alcoholic vapours escaping from the uppermost of the evaporating chambers are carried by pipes to the lowermost of these chambers, and are partly condensed by each successive chamber being colder than the one below it, in consequence of the wash entering the pipes from above, and only getting gradually heated by contact with the alcoholic vapour as it advances from chamber to chamber. As in the lowest of these chambers the heat is greatest, the alcoholic vapour or the condensed spirit contains a large amount of water; but as the chambers are successively cooler, the alcoholic vapour and condensed spirit at last arrive at a temperature only sufficient to convert spirit of the strength wished into vapour, and by an adaptation of valves, and substituting an impervious partition for the perforated plate, and admitting the alcoholic vapour into the chambers cooled by the passage of the cold wash in its contained pipes, that spirituous vapour is condensed, and the spirit is drawn off at one operation, of the very strength which it ought to have, and of the utmost purity.

The flat-bottomed stills are considered the best for the distillation of malt spirit, as by them the flavour is preserved. Coffey's still, on the other hand, is the best for the distillation of grain spirit, as by it a spirit is obtained almost entirely destitute of flavour, and of a strength varying from 55 to 70 per cent. overproof. Spirit produced of this high strength evaporates at such a low temperature that scarcely any of the volatile oils on which the peculiar flavour of spirits depends are evaporated with it, hence the reason why it is not adapted for the distillation of malt whisky, which requires a certain amount of these oils to give it its requisite flavour. The spirit produced by Coffey's still, is, therefore, chiefly used for making gin and brandy by the rectifiers, or for being mixed with malt whiskies by the wholesale dealers. The old or flat-bottomed stills produce pure spirit at strengths varying from 11 to 45 per cent. overproof.

The distiller from malt should obtain at least two gallons of proof spirit from every bushel of malt used; and whether he procures this quantity or not, the present excise law makes him pay the duty on this quantity. If the yield be higher than this, he pays duty on the quantity produced. On the large scale the highest yield is 20 gallons of proof spirit for every quarter of malt; but 18 or 19 gallons is reckoned a fair average yield. When the yield is so low as 16 gallons per quarter of malt, it shows that the malt has been bad or that the fermentation has been badly conducted.

The maximum quantity of proof spirit obtained, on the large scale from raw grain, mixed with from a fourth to an eighth of malt, is 22 gallons from every quarter of grain. From 20 to 21 gallons, however, is reckoned a good average yield in a well-regulated distillery. Mr Sheridan, however, by a particular and expensive process, obtained so high a yield as 28 gallons of proof spirits per quarter of grain. This he effected by getting the whole saccharine matter in the wort thoroughly fermented and converted into alcohol, instead of losing nearly a fifth, as is done by the plans pursued at present. For this purpose he fermented the wash in close tuns, and by attaching to them a powerful air-pump he caused the alcohol to evaporate from the wort nearly as rapidly as it formed. No alcohol being, therefore, left in the wort to arrest the decomposition of the saccharine matter, the fermentation continued until the last particle of sugar was converted into alcohol. His plans, however, were not allowed to come into general use in consequence of the meddling interference of the excise, who do not allow the processes of fermentation and of distillation to be carried on in the same premises during the same day.

In consequence of the alteration in the excise laws, sugar and molasses are now largely used in the distilleries for the manufacture of whisky. They are either used alone, or along with raw grain. From carefully conducted experiments the excise officers estimate that every hundredweight or 112 lbs. of sugar ought to yield 11½ gallons of proof-spirit, and they charge the duty on this supposition. It re- quires 150 lbs. of molasses to yield the same amount of proof spirit.

The peculiar flavours met with in ardent spirits from different distilleries are given chiefly by the different modes of drying the malt, or rather by the substances used for drying the malt. Thus the peculiar peat smoke flavour of much of the Highland whisky is imparted to it by drying the malt with peats; and the birch oil, or Russia leather flavour, by drying the malt with birch wood.

At the end of this article we have appended three instructive tables, which exhibit several important points relative to the manufacture of ardent spirit in this country: the quantities manufactured each year during the last ten years; and the quantities manufactured from malt, from malt and raw grains, from sugar, molasses, &c.

It will render this account more complete if we very shortly notice the other distilled spirits—brandy, gin, rum, &c.

Brandy.—In the wine countries the inferior wines, or those which have been damaged by keeping, as well as the fermented mash of the pressed grapes, are subjected to distillation, and yield an ardent spirit. This spirit is known by the names of Brandy, Eau-de-vie, Aguardiente, &c. As a general rule, brandies are weaker in alcohol than the ardent spirit used in this country. They contain, in fact, more than the half of their weight of water; and, as a necessary consequence, have more flavour from having been subjected to a greater heat, and having more of the flavouring essential oil derived from the husk of the grape carried over with the watery vapour. It is the presence of this essential oil which gives the peculiar flavour to brandies; and the flavour is so different for each kind of brandy, that an experienced dealer can from the flavour alone distinguish the brandies of Cognac, Bordeaux, Armagnac, Naples, &c., from each other. French brandy contains a little acetic acid, acetic ether, and often some astringent matter. Some chemists think that the flavouring matter of the brandies chiefly resides in the extremely small proportions of camphorated ether and oxyhydrate of amyle, which are met with in all spirits, but seem to have peculiar odours in each. The colour is imparted to brandy by burnt sugar.

Gin.—The Dutch have been long famous for their manufacture of an ardent spirit flavoured with juniper, and known in this country by the names of Hollands, Scheidam, Gin, and Geneva; the last being derived from the word "genièvre," the juniper berry, and the word gin being a contraction thereof. The distillers at Scheidam seem for the last sixty years at least to have followed very much the same practice in the manufacture of this spirit, most of the accounts published during that period by individuals who have gone over to study the manufacture agreeing in the details.

Generally 112 lbs. of malt of big, weighing about 37 lbs. per bushel, and 228 lbs. of least unmalted rye from Riga, weighing about 54 lbs. per bushel, are mashed in about 100 gallons of water of the temperature of 162°. The tun is then carefully covered and left undisturbed for about two hours. The contents are then well stirred up, when the clearest part of the spent wash of a previous distillation, and as much cold water as will reduce the strength of the wort to about 33 of Dica's hydrometer, and lower the temperature to about 80° are added. About half a gallon of good yeast is then added; active fermentation is thus excited, the temperature rises to 90°, and the whole is over in two days. The whole wort (grains and all) is then transferred to the still, and the distillation is continued till spirit ceases to come over. A very weak spirit is thus obtained, as used to be the case in this country with the old form of still. This, or the low wines as it is termed, is subjected to a second distillation after having mixed with it some juniper berries and hops. Old juniper berries are preferred for this purpose, and they are added in the proportion of 2 lbs. of berries to the 100 gallons of low wines; a quarter pound of salt, and a handful of hops, are often also added.

These ingredients give the spirit that peculiar flavour which has led it to be styled genièvre—geneva—gin. The quantity of spirit obtained varies from 18 to 21 gallons per quarter of grain, a quantity fully as great as is yielded by the best conducted distilleries in this country.

Rum is the name given to a spirit manufactured in the West Indian Islands from molasses and the skimmings of the sugar boilers diluted with water, then fermented, and distilled. We know nothing about the origin of the word rum, or the time at which the manufacture of the spirit commenced. At present the manufacture is chiefly carried on in the islands belonging to Great Britain. Dr Ure states that in Jamaica the wort is made by adding together 120 gallons of molasses, 1000 gallons of the spent wash of a former distillation, 720 gallons of the skimmings of the sugar boilers, and 160 gallons of water; so that there is in the wort nearly 12 per cent. of solid saccharine matter. Other proportions, however, are used, bringing the proportion of saccharine matter up to nearly 15 per cent.; as, for instance, 100 gallons of molasses, 300 gallons of skimmings, 200 gallons of spent wash, and 400 gallons of water. The proportions vary in almost every estate, so that no certain rule can be laid down. The fermentation is in general conducted very slowly (apparently very unnecessarily so), occupying from 9 to 14 days. The saccharine matter is therefore very imperfectly converted into alcohol, and the yield of spirit is usually so low as 115 gallons of proof spirit for every 1200 gallons of wash. On some estates, and depending on the price of sugar in the market, the greater proportion of the sugar is converted into rum; and the same imperfect fermentation being followed, the average yield is said to be only 200 gallons of rum for every 3 hogsheads of sugar, whereas the proportion ought to be very nearly double.

It is from the skimmings, which are rich in aroma, that the peculiar flavour of rum is derived; for it is a curious fact, that sugar and molasses distilled in this country yield a spirit entirely destitute of all rum flavour, and in nothing distinguishable from the ordinary spirit derived from grain. Any depth of colour may be given to the rum by the addition of molasses or caramel, though it is commonly but erroneously stated that the colour of the rum is derived from the oak casks.

A spirit not to be distinguished from the ardent spirit, or whisky, manufactured in this country, is largely prepared on the Continent from the potato, but is purest and freest from peculiar flavour when manufactured from the pure potato starch. In the latter case the starch is previously converted into soluble grape sugar by subjecting it to the action of sulphuric acid, the sulphuric acid being afterwards removed as an insoluble sulphate by the addition of chalk. It is found that 1 lb. of commercial sulphuric acid (vitriol) mixed with 600 lbs. of water will convert 100 lbs. of starch into grape sugar in three hours, if the temperature be raised by pressure to 250°. After the removal of the insoluble sulphate the infusion is fermented and distilled, and yields a spirit of great purity.

Table showing the Total Number of Gallons of Proof Spirit distilled in England, Scotland, and Ireland respectively, during the year ending 5th January 1854.

| From Malt only | From Malt with unmalted Grains | Sugar or Molasses with unmalted Grains | From Sugar | Total Number of Gallons | |----------------|---------------------------------|----------------------------------------|------------|------------------------| | England | 6,319,690 | 999,010 | | 7,308,670 | | Scotland | 5,280,714 | 4,113,581 | 915,631 | 10,309,926 | | Ireland | 9,728 | 8,759,230 | 4,005 | 8,772,261 | | United Kingdom | 5,340,440 | 19,192,471 | 1,598,046 | 26,441,557 |

Distinction Table showing the number of Gallons of Proof Spirit on which Duty was paid for Home Consumption, in each of the three Kingdoms, with the rate per Gallon, and the Amount of such Duty, for the Year ending 5th Jan. 1854.

| | Gallons made from | | | | Total Gallons | Rate per Gallon | Amount of Duty | |----------------|-------------------|------------------|------------------|-----------------|---------------|----------------|---------------| | | Malt only. | A Mixture of Malt with unmalted grain. | Sugar or Molasses with unmalted grain. | Sugar. | Molasses. | | | | England | 578,370 | 8,452,105 | 1,019,511 | 21 | 10,350,307 | s. d. | £ 4,053,570 | | Scotland | 1,102,955 | 627,382 | 96,684 | | 1,827,021 | 3 8 | £ 1,433,400 | | Ireland | 2,538,659 | 1,772,604 | 378,364 | | 4,707,627 | 4 8 | £ 1,273,151 | | United Kingdom | 4,560,338 | 18,945,505 | 1,515,420 | 45 | 25,021,317 | s. d. | £ 6,760,422 |

Table showing the Total Number of Gallons of Proof Spirit distilled in England, Scotland, and Ireland respectively, during certain years, from 1831 to 1854.

| YEARS ended 5th January | ENGLAND | SCOTLAND | IRELAND | |------------------------|---------|----------|---------| | | Number of Gallons of Proof Spirits Distilled from | Number of Gallons of Proof Spirits Distilled from | Number of Gallons of Proof Spirits Distilled from | | | Grain, or Grain and Malt Mixed, or other Ingredients. | Malt only. | Total. | Grain, or Grain and Malt Mixed, or other Ingredients. | Malt only. | Total. | Grain, or Grain and Malt Mixed, or other Ingredients. | Malt only. | Total. | | 1831 | 4,656,443 | 4,656,443 | 3,861,829 | 6,021,584 | 9,883,413 | 8,542,807 | 151,935 | 8,694,742 | 1831 | | 1835 | 4,652,838 | 4,652,838 | 3,198,468 | 5,994,623 | 1,933,091 | 9,307,448 | 62,895 | 9,370,343 | 1835 | | 1840 | 5,685,698 | 5,685,698 | 3,208,453 | 6,663,200 | 9,871,653 | 10,156,906 | 75,685 | 10,231,591 | 1840 | | 1845 | 5,433,843 | 5,433,843 | 2,232,908 | 6,688,398 | 8,321,305 | 6,813,016 | 65,227 | 6,878,243 | 1845 | | 1846 | 5,866,593 | 5,866,593 | 2,741,784 | 6,676,879 | 9,418,663 | 8,299,992 | 104,467 | 8,397,459 | 1846 | | 1847 | 5,624,868 | 5,624,868 | 2,857,163 | 6,878,140 | 9,735,393 | 8,619,213 | 39,695 | 8,658,908 | 1847 | | 1848 | 5,356,794 | 5,356,794 | 2,916,439 | 6,262,233 | 5,642,216 | 5,713,142 | 24,546 | 5,737,687 | 1848 | | 1849 | 5,625,447 | 5,625,447 | 2,916,439 | 6,262,233 | 5,642,216 | 5,713,142 | 24,546 | 5,737,687 | 1849 | | 1850 | 5,573,411 | 5,573,411 | 4,788,548 | 6,658,036 | 10,846,634 | 8,269,327 | 85,746 | 8,355,083 | 1850 | | 1851 | 5,913,424 | 5,913,424 | 5,043,226 | 6,590,203 | 11,638,429 | 8,181,173 | 111,861 | 8,292,034 | 1851 | | 1852 | 6,127,181 | 6,127,181 | 4,656,814 | 5,724,158 | 10,380,972 | 7,891,621 | 143,883 | 8,035,504 | 1852 | | 1853 | 6,363,276 | 6,363,276 | 4,665,952 | 5,276,255 | 9,942,218 | 8,107,652 | 10,056 | 8,117,708 | 1853 | | 1854 | 7,308,670 | 7,308,670 | 6,029,212 | 5,330,714 | 10,339,926 | 8,763,235 | 9,726 | 8,772,961 | 1854 |