1857 The Bordeaux wine and liquor dealers' guide

MANUFACTURING A.."iD ADULTER.\TING LIQUORS. 113

ofmodem decrepitude," and that the discovery of this :fluid indicated the consummation of all things, and the end of the world. The pr0Ce88 of distillation, as carried on in the dis– tilleries of the United States, may be divided into/our general operations, viz : The mashing or formation of a saccharine infusion, from certain vegetable mat– ters, as malt, barley, oats, rye, &c. ;-the cooling of this wort or liquor; thef~ion, or process by which the sugar of the cooled wort is converted into alcohol ; and the sepMation of the spirit so formed by means of a still and refrigerator. By the first operation, the materials for the formation of the alcohol are obtained; by the second, they are brought to a temperature most favorable to the transforma– tion that takes place in the third, after which it only remains to free the product of' the last operation from the foreign matter with which it is associated : this is done in the fourth, and, correctly speaking, constitutes the only part of the process which can be called distillation. The general principles of the first three of the pre– ceding operations, are noticed in the articles BREW– ING, DIASTASE, and FERMENTATION. It will there be seen, that the amylaceous or starchy matter of the grain is firstsaccharified and afterwards converted into alcohol, and that certain precautions are necessary

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