e consumed in this country. But
nothing is more capable of being adulterated, or of producing more
pernicious effects on the human constitution, and therefore it requires
the strictest attention. A few simple means only will be sufficient to
detect such adulterations, and to prevent their fatal consequences. If
new white wine, for example, be of a sweetish flavour, and leave a
certain astringency on the tongue; if it has an unusually high colour,
disproportionate to its nominal age and real strength; or if it has a
strong pungent taste, resembling that of brandy or other ardent spirits,
such liquor may be considered as adulterated. When old wine presents
either a very pale or a very deep colour, or possesses a very tart and
astringent taste, and deposits a thick crust on the sides or bottom of
glass vessels, it has then probably been coloured with some foreign
substance. This may easily be detected by passing the liquor through
filtering paper, when the colouring ingredients will remain on the
surface. The fraud may also be discovered by filling a small vial with
the suspected wine, and closing its mouth with the finger: the bottle is
then to be inverted, and immersed in a basin of clear water. The finger
being withdrawn, the tinging or adulterating matter will pass into the
water, so that the former may be observed sinking to the bottom by its
own weight. Wines becoming tart or sour, are frequently mixed with the
juice of carrots and turnips; and if this do not recover the sweetness
to a sufficient degree, alum or the sugar of lead is sometimes added;
but which cannot fail to be productive of the worst effects, and will
certainly operate as slow poison. To detect the alum, let the suspected
liquor be mixed with a little lime water. At the end of ten or twelve
hours the composition must be filtered, and if crystals be formed, it
contains no alum. But if it be adulterated, the sediment will split into
small segments, which will adhere to the filtering paper on which it is
spread. In order to detect the litharge or sugar of lead, a few drops of
the solution of yellow orpiment and quicklime should be poured into a
glass of wine. If the colour of the liquor change, and become
successively dark red, black or brown, it is an evident proof of its
being adulterated with lead. As orpiment is poisonous, it would be
better to use a few drops of vitriolic acid for this purpose, which
should be introduced into a small quantity of the