1872 Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks (Mixellany)

46 Alcohol. Rectified Spirit and Spirits of Wine are syno- nymous terms. The origin of the discovery of alcohol is unknown. Its name, " alcohol/' seems to give the Arabs the claim of being the inventors of the art of distilla- tion ; at all events, the art was known at an early period in Spain and Italy, having been introduced into Spain by the Moors. It was first used as a medicine, and was then distilled from the grape. The Genoese afterwards distilled it from grain, and called it aqua vitae, i.e., water of life. Alcohol comprises, under its designation, the following principal varieties: spirits of wine, brandy, rum, arrack, gin, whisky, &c. As spirits of wine, it is much used for pharmaceutical and other purposes. Its specific gravity is fixed by the London Phar- macopoeia at 9*20. Brandy. —Derived from the German word Brant- wein, i.e. wine that has undergone the action of fire, is an ardent spirit, used more generally than any other. It was first made in Sicily, at the commencement of the fourteenth century, and is the spirit most commonly produced in wine countries ; that we obtain from France being the most highly esteemed. The department of Charente produces the most famous and choice Brandies of France, known