1863 The manufacture of liquors, wines, and cordials

MANUFACTURE OF WINES AND LIQUORS.

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lug in oak bark, galls, &c., and the other in Peruvian bark, catechu, &c. One striking peculiarity of the tannin of galls is its facility of conversion into gallic acid, which is wanting in the other varieties. Pure tannic acid is solid, uncrystallizable, white or slightly yellowish, inodorous, strongly astringent to the taste, without bitterness ; soluble in water, much less in alcohol and ether, and insoluble in the fixed and when exposed to the air , gradually becomes turbid, and deposits a crystalline matter, consisting chiefly of gallic acid. Tannic acid precipitates solutions of starch, albumen, and and forms with gelatin an insoluble compound which is the basis of leather. Tannin, in the form of oak bark and catechu, or terra japonica, is the form best suited to the purposes ol the manufacturer of liquors. A spirit formed by filtration, that is, a liquor that has had a body given to it by starch,