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

COMPOSITION OF DRINKS, ETC.

64

impurity of raw spirits arises principally from the pres- ence of a peculiar volatile oil, termed fusel oil, and pos- sessing very deleterious properties. Dr. Taylor re- marks of this oil, " that in small quantities it produces intoxication. I have experienced the effects of the va- pour and found them to be giddiness, accompanied with a feeling of suffocation and a sense of falling. Headache followed which lasted half an hour." Two drachms of the oil killed a rabbit in two hours, three drachms in an hour, half an ounce in a quarter of an hour, and one ounce in four minutes. Much of the unwholesomeness of spirits imperfectly rectified arises from its contamina- tion with fusel oil. To show what infernal concoctions are served to the we put down only one recipe out of a great number, taken from a book that is said to be the best on the market. To manufacture whiskey, the following Bourbon Oil recipe is given: public

Take Fusel Oil,

64 oz.

" "

" "

Acetate of Potassium,

4

Sulphuric Acid,

4

"

y z

Dissolve Sulphate of Copper,

and Oxalate of Ammonium, . . .

Yz"

"

each in water,

4

Add Black Oxide of Manganese " Place them all in a glass percolator and let them rest for twelve hours. Then percolate and put into a glass still, and dis- till half a gallon of the Bourbon Oil. Saptenti sat ! i