ed to the aperture,
leaves an empty space, and gives an issue to the spirituous vapors,
which escaping with rapidity, thereby occasion a considerable loss of
spirit.

3dly. The presence of the grain in the still, converted into meal, is
not otherwise indifferent. It contains a kind of essential oil, more or
less disagreeable, according to its nature; which distils
with the spirit. That of Indian corn, in particular, is more noxious
than that of any other grain; and it is the presence of meal in the
stills, which causes the liquors obtained from grains to be so much
inferior to that of fruits.

4thly. There is a fourth defect, at which humanity shudders, and which
the laws ought to repress. Vinous liquors are more or less accompanied
with acetone acid, or vinegar; but those proceeding from grain contain
still more of this acid. The stills are generally made of naked copper;
the acid works upon that metal, and forms with it the _acetate of
copper_, or verdigrise, part of which passes with the whiskey. There is
no distiller, who, with a little attention, has not observed it. I have
always discovered it in my numerous rectifications, and at the end of
the operation, when nothing more comes from the still but what is called
the sweet oil of wine. An incontestable proof of this truth is, that as
the stills of the distillers are of a green color in their interior
part; that they are corroded with the acid, and pierced with numberless
little holes, which render them unfit for use in a very short time. It
is easy to conceive how hurtful must be the presence of verdigrise to
those who make use of whiskey as a constant drink: even those who use it
soberly, swallow a slow poison, destructive of their stomach; while to
those who abuse it, it produces a rapid death, which would still be the
consequence of abuse, if the liquor was pure, but is doubly accelerated
by the poison contained in the whiskey. It is easy to remedy so terrible
an evil. The acetous acid has no action upon tin. By tinning the stills,
the purity of the liquor will be augmented, and the distilling vessels,
already so expensive, will be longer preserved. This operation must be
renewed every year. The worms must likewise be tinned, if they are
copper; but they are better of tin, or of the purest pewter.

Such are the defects of the present method of distilling whiskey. Having
exposed them, I must present the means of bringing to perfection the
fabrication of a liq