1892 The flowing bowl when and what to drink (1892, c1891)

HISTORY.

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illustrated by the different papers devoted expressly to brewing purposes, as: The American Brewer, New York; DerBierbrauer,Qt\\z-&gQ>; The Bavarian Brewer, Munich; The Beer brewer, Leipsic ; The Bohemian Beer- brewer, Prague, and others.

THE use of alcoholic beverages, such as wine, beer, etc., was known to most nations of ancient times, as we have seen above; but they were known only in re- gard to their effect upon the body. In respect to a fundamental knowledge of alcohol, the ancients were absolutely in the dark, as the distilling apparatuses of those times were too imperfect. The philosophers of Alexandria are said to have dis- tilled wine, and noticed the combustibility of the dis- tillate. We find the expression, aqua vita, or " water of life," that was afterward generally applied to alcohol, in the Latin translation of Geber's writings eighth century; yet he does not mention anything about the chief char- acteristic of the fluid its combustibility. Since the thirteenth century this fluid has been used for medical purposes, and all alchemists and physicians tried to obtain it in the greatest possible concentra- tion. On this account distillations and rectifications were