ABSTRACT of the average Strength of Wines of various Countries shown at the International Exhibition of 1862, and subsequently analyzed by Dr. Keene. Comparative Value of French and English Degrees of The different modes of expressing the strength of liquors adopted in England and France, is the source of much inconvenience and confusion. In both countries the operation of testing or trying the strength is by distillation of a determinate quantity, and then taking the temperature and density of the distillate by thermometers and hydrometer, but here the similarity ends. The instruments, as used in the two countries, differ essentially, and therefore the results are shown in different terms. In England Fahrenheit's thermometer and Sykes' hydrometer are used; in France, the Centigrade thermometer and Gay-Lussac's hydrometer. These thermometers differ in the fact, that the range between the temperature of frozen and boiling water is divided in the latter (Centigrade) into 100 parts or degrees, and in the former into 180. Gay-Lussac's hydrometer is graduated to show 100 divisions or degrees between absolute alcohol of '796 specific gravity, at 15:5 Centigrade or 60° Fahrenheit, and pure water; while the scale of Sykes' hydrometer starts from a definite mixture of water and pure alcohol, nearly in equal volumes, having a specific gravity of 920 at 60° Fahrenheit, and called proof spirit, and the instrument shows whether the spirit under test is of greater or less strength than such proof. In various scientific works tables are given of the equivalent degrees of these two scales, but none of them exactly correspond. The following figures are very nearly exact : Under the excise laws of France, wine generally is not allowed to be fortified for home consumption; but, under certain limitations, spirit to the extent of 5 per cent. may be added to the produce of the eastern Pyrenees, the Aude, the Tarn, the Hérault, the Gard, and the Rhône. All wines for exportation may be fortified without restriction, and most vintages are so strengthened before being shipped,-Roussillon wines for Brazil to the extent of 10 per. cent.; and for England from 5 to 8 per cent. Aquitaine, 69 Arabian, 277 ANCIENT. Falernian, 42, 43, 57 Helveolan, 29 Lesbian, 41-44 Legean, 43 Lydian, 43 Mareotic, 42, 43, 217 Meröe, 42 Mareonean, 41, 46, 50 Naxos, 247 MODERN. Bucellas, 4, 117 Cahors, 156 Canary, 69, 75, 76, 234 Carcavellos, 117 Carigliano, 191 Carmignan, 182, 184 Chilian, 305 Chinese, 287 Château Lafitte, 138, 163 Latour, 138, 163 Claret, 76, 80, 104, 106, Clarry, 72 Clos Vougeot, 5, 143, 161 Eger, 207 Erlaure, 198 Etna Port, 62 Figueras, 123 Frontignan, 60, 131, 147, Ie, 142 In an Islamis, 258 Jubant sherrer. 179 Juraro, 164, 529 Lake Averno, 191 Lausanne, 177 80, 125, 127, 339 Malmsey, 69, 74, 229. Port, 62, 84, 99, 103, 104. Terre Forte, 193 PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE, LONDON In small Post 8vo. price 2s. 6d. cloth boards, A Brief Discourse on Tine, &c. &c. &c. SECOND THOUSAND. CRITICAL NOTICES. "It is a very flattering tribute to the taste and refinement of a people when their appetites are appealed to through their intellect, but no systematic attempt has to our knowledge been hitherto made to invest with an intellectual savour the viands of our daily use: such, however, is the object of A Brief Discourse on Wine. Commencing with a history of the cultivation of the vine, its ingenious author follows the fortunes of the grape through all its vicissitudes since its first cultivation on the sunny slopes of the Caucasian chain. The beverages and bowls of classic days are described with antiquarian minuteness, and some eminently practical hints on the choice and preservation of wine close a work, which in the able treatment of its subject yields to none we have ever read, investing as it does an apparently common-place topic with an interest which is at the same time calculated to instruct and charm the reader."-ATLAS. "In A Brief Discourse on Wine there is furnished an exceedingly readable collection of facts bearing upon the cultivation and produce of the vine in the various parts of the world. The author shows us how to choose wine, and how to use it.' The wines of France, Germany, Hungary, &c. are each noticed briefly, but in a light and agreeable strain."-DAILY NEWS. "A simple summary of the questions treated in this little work would be quite sufficient to recommend it; but when we say that the style is exceedingly lucid and elegant, that the arrangement of facts is such as to enable the reader to get a clear idea of their bearing and value, that the information conveyed is of a valuable and interesting sort, and that very considerable research is manifested throughout the book, we shall have said more than enough to induce many of our readers to get the book and read it for themselves."-CARDIFF GUARDIAN. "The author of this discourse, whoever he may be, has no reason to preserve his anonymity in the fear that he may have, after all, written an unprofitable work. He is perfectly master of his subject, and knows the vine as it grows in the vineyard, and not as it may be read of in books, and speaks of wine as if he had tasted of different qualities in cure and in cave. His directions for choosing good wine are simple and sensible. With such a writer we find ourselves under safe guidance..... As a literary production, apart from its utility as a treatise on wine, this small volume has many claims to public attention."-THE FIELD. "We commend this interesting brochure, not only to those who may have a desire to know how to choose good wine as well as to how use it, but to the general reader also, who will find in it many curious facts and figures concerning wines and their culture in various countries. The author evidently knows where to draw the best information on wine, and how to make it readable and instructive. The subject is one which might well lead a writer into many voluminous chapters, but the author of the little work before us has traversed the broad field which it affords with the utmost care and discrimination, compressing the result of his inquiries, personal experience, and knowledge into a reasonable compass, whilst he discourses of wine politically, poetically, critically, historically, commercially, and socially: we have it in all its phases."-BRISTOL MIRROR. "A careful digest of the history and qualities of the principal kinds of wine which have been popular in olden or modern times is a literary rarity; but since the days of Byron little has been added to our literature bearing in this direction. This Brief Discourse is by no means a heavy composition, but presents a large amount of information in small compass."-PLYMOUTH JOURnal. "Within a brief space this volume affords as much intelligence about wine as might make the reputation of half-a-dozen men through half-a-dozen after dinners, provided only they can continue to speak colloquially, and not by the card. The compiler has put together much interesting and profitable matter,less learnedly, perhaps, than authors who write more largely on the pleasant subject, but with scarcely less profit to his readers, thirsty or otherwise." ATHENAEUM. |