No. 169.

Contents.

IN

Vol. VII.

THE OLD WINE AND THE NEW.

N another part of the present issue we publish a remarkable circular which appeared in the Times last week. Messrs. Delvendahl and Kuentzel, of Berlin, propose to accommodate British and other wine and spirit merchants with every article used in their trade except water, bottles, barrels, and corks. It is just possible that we ought also to say except wine also, for it appears to us that the concoctions which this enterprising German firm would tempt its customers to make, would stand a very good chance of not being adulterated with anything so objectionable. The old expression," drunk with new wine," will require an entirely new significance under the fierce light shed by this circular, for now with these essences, flavours, and vegetable powders, what can we not do ?

Infuse the essence into its hundred gallons of water, and when we have duly painted it, seasoned it with sugar, flavoured it with some innocent flavouring from the same unsophisticated source, we can add a little lime or agar-agar, or terra di vino (we had almost said terror divineo) and Lo! we have all the clearness, the brilliancy, the bouquet, that any ordinary taste could desire. Who would lay down a wine for seventy years or so to become old and crusted? We say any ordinary taste advisedly, for it surely would only be an extraordinary taste that could not be tempted from its natural course by such artistic combinations as these. He will be a bold one indeed who can now say a man is "in vino veritas," for, so far as these wines are concerned at any rate, the teetotal or non-alcoholic section of the community should have little of which to complain.

In another column we publish some particulars on another side of this question-the subject of "Whiskey from Jute," which opens up in connection with this triumph of Teutonic Synthetical Chemistry, a vista of possibilities, which is a caution to the unprotected vision. Imagine for a moment whiskey, or call the thing what you will, made by these refined but misdirected subtleties of modern chemistry, flavoured with the productions of Herren the German firm at Berlin. Who can answer for it that a great increase in our criminal statistics will not result? It has been often said that alcohol is a poison, but the world, or a large portion of it has been imbibing its beer, its wine, its usquebaugh for generations, yet it is only within comparatively recent times that the drunkard's fit has so generally assumed the murderous aspects of a demoniacal frenzy. How much of this is to be credited to the scientific productions of firms who make "silent spirit," Wiskey de Jute," and the various queerly defined, if separate, essences, flavours, and colourings, whereby they are adapted to deceive the three senses of man which are most commonly concerned in their detection. Special Brands, indeed! we shall have nothing else in a little while. Even gum and paste have been assailed by these enterprising practitioners, for we are told in clause 6, that gummitine is a new substitute for ordinary gum for sticking labels on the glass bottles. We shall have a substitute, a

counterfeit presentment, of the glass itself next. Our contemporary naïvely suggests that the German firm who issued the circular, would probably prefer for their own drinking, the natural fruits of a Spanish or Portuguese vineyard, to any combination of their own choice essences and colouring powders.

We should like to know whether the people who send sophisticated articles, or articles intended for sophistication, onto the markets of the country, would object to be paid in sophisticated money, to receive, say, a coin as a sovereign which had the outward semblance of a sovereign without being one, or a cheque, or bank note, purporting to be genuine, yet not being genuine. What would be the fate of the person who knowingly presented such in payment, and why should not a similar fate await the evil doer on the other side?

Another expression in this circular attracts our attention, it is, "so much" "per lb. free house, London." Now "free house, London," can only mean free Custom House, London, or free Somerset House, London, we incline to think it means the former, but we are decidedly of opinion that it should concern both.

If the unfortunate purveyer of an article, say spirits of nitre, which, owing to being too long in stock, is not of the nature and substance of that article, he is immediately dragged before the magistrates, and if they deem it necessary, Somerset House is called in to decide. Why should not Somerset House be called in by the Customs, to prevent the introduction into this country of substances palpably intended for purposes of sophistication?

It is not unreasonable to suppose that people are to be found, who, having received this circular, would fall victims to its allurements, instead of doing as Mr. Frank Halford has done, in boldly publishing the circular in its naked frankness. In conclusion, we would say that in all this substitution of nature by art, there is one "rift in the lute," vide clause 7, wherein the circulators confess to being dependent upon the annual chances of cherry trees, raspberry canes, currant bushes, etc., but, as we read it, only for the brief period when these are in season. It is a matter of great importance to that portion of the chemical trade which is especially concerned with alcohols, ethers, etc., and we commend the circular to the consideration of our analytical friends, who, no doubt, will keep a watchful eye upon matters germane thereto.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING.*

XXVIII.

WEIGHING AND MEASURING.

THE 'HE varying weights of a unit bulk of material, whether that material be solid, liquid, or gaseous, is a matter that deserves the careful attention of the experimentalist. The method of ascertaining specific gravities has already been alluded to in a previous chapter, and need not further be treated upon, as it is a subject gone into very fully in works on physical manipulation, yet it is not a subject that can be overlooked by the chemical engineer.

In dealing with liquids or gases, the weight upon beams and girders, and the storage room required will be indicated directly by the specific gravity, because there are no interstitial spaces. With solids, on the contrary, the specific gravity is only a vague guide, and for all manufacturing purposes the chemical engineer should ascertain the storage capacity of the materials with which he principally deals,

*A course of lectures delivered by Mr. George E. Davis, at the Manchester Technical School-All rights reserved.

If a little care were taken in these matters, quantities would more often be rendered in terms that could be generally understood. For statistical purposes, numbers that cannot be generally compared are useless; the terms one hundredweight of lime, or a ton of lime would be understood by every. one, but how many would realise the weight of this ingredient on being told that "three yards of lime were required to soften a million gallons of water?" Yet this is one method of indicating the quantity employed in certain operations. I have very little to say upon the subject of weighing solids, the means at hand for this operation are too well known to require description, and in a factory, generally, resolve themselves into some form or other of the platform weighing machine. These weighing machines are elaborated steelyards, and, if kept in order, are very accurate in their indications; but if allowed to get out of repair, they have many times led to serious error. The task of weighing out solids for use in a large factory is no small matter, and it behoves all engaged in designing new works to so dispose the arrangements of this department as to ensure the work being done in the easiest manner possible, with a minimum of trouble and labour; as sooner or later, according to the amount of trouble involved, the work will be found to be done in a very perfunctory manner, weight gives way to barrowfulls and shovelfulls, and all correct record is soon lost.

In many operations where charges of definite weight are required at frequent intervals, a hopper weighing machine is employed, the material runs into the containing box, the supply being cut off so soon as the given weight has entered. Messrs. Avery and Co., of Birmingham, exhibited some very ingenious machines of this pattern at the Manchester Jubilee Exhibition. The old fashioned beam-scales are not much used now, still there are operations where they are specified to be employed, such as the sale of copper precipitate, and they are also employed to advantage in all chemical operations dealing with high priced material, and where the bulk is small.

For stock taking purposes, a few simple rules for the mensuration of solids may not be out of place here. A heap of pyrites, for instance, may perchance be taken as a pyramid, or even as a cone, in either case, multiply the area of the base by one-third of the height and the product will be the solidity. A long heap can be calculated as a wedge if the top or apex be pointed, in which case, add the three parallel edges together and multiply one-third of the sum by the area of that section of the wedge which is perpendicular to these three edges, and the product will give the contents.

The cubic capacity of many chemical vessels can easily be arrived at, by application of the simplest rules of mensuration. For hemispheres multiply the cube of the diameter by 0.5236 and divide by two, which will give the contents. A simple rule for the segments of spheres may serve for such vessels as crystallizers; in this case, to three times the square of the radius of the segment's base, add the square of its height, multiply this sum by the height, and the product by 0.5236, which will give the contents required.