weaken the power of the ferment, or destroy its future efficacy. The intended quantity, therefore, being thus loosely mixed with a moderate parcel of the liquor, and kept in a tepid state, either by setting it near the fire, or otherwise, and free from the too rude commerce of the external air; more of the insensible warm liquor ought to be added, at proper intervals, till at length, the whole quantity is properly set to working together. And, thus, by dividing the business into parts, it may much more speedily and effectually be performed, than by attempting it all at once.

The whole quantity of liquor being thus set to work, secured in a proper degree of warmth, and defended from a too free intercourse of the external air, nature itself, as it were, finishes the process, and renders the liquor fit for the still.

Experience has demonstrated, that all ferments abound much more in essential oil, than the liquor which produced them: and consequently they retain, in a very high degree, the smell and flavour of the subject. It is therefore requisite, before the ferment is applied, to consider what flavour is intended to be introduced, or what species of ferment is most proper for the liquor.

The alteration thus caused by ferments is so considerable, as to render any neutral fermentable liquor of the same flavour with that which yielded the ferment. This observation is of much greater moment than will presently be conceived; for a new scene is hereby opened, both in the business of distillation, and others depending upon fermentation. It must, however, be observed, that its benefit does not extend to malt, treated in the common method; nor to any other subject but what affords a spirit tolerably pure and tasteless: For, otherwise, instead of producing a simple, pure, and uniform flavour, it causes a compound, mixed, and unnatural one. How far the fine stiller may profit by it, well deserves his attention; and whether our native cyder spirit, crab spirit, &c. which have very little flavour of their own, may not, by this artifice, be brought nearly, if not entirely, into the state of some foreign brandies, so highly esteemed, is recommended to experience."

Some little inconsistency is to be remarked in the paper by Mr. Crookens.-In one place he says, that a rapid distillation is

injurious to the salubrity and flavour of the spirit, p. 33; and in another, he allows that there are means to accelerate the distillation without experiencing those bad effects. The remedy is a still, differently formed from that in common use. Probably he means to apply the first remark only to deep stills. A very able distiller, Col. Alex. Anderson, of Philadelphia, whose improvements in the art have tended very much to increase the quality of our home liquor, is of opinion, "that the quality of the spirit is determined in the act of fermentation; the form of the still having noting to do therewith; the act of distillation being a mere separation of the spirit and water; hence those who can do most in a given time, at the least expense of fuel and labour, will succeed best."*

On the subject of the influence of the form of stills, upon the liquor distilled, the following remarks of a late French writer, Mr. Curaudau, are highly worthy of attention.

"When Mr. Chaptal pointed out the fault of our common stills, and proposed to substitute for them broad and shallow alembics, I was one of the first to consider the reform as very useful, and at the same time highly conducive to the interest of the distiller. Accordingly, having had occasion to write on the same subject, I proved, that I coincided in opinion with Mr. Chaptal, by extolling the advantages, that shallow stills possessed over deep ones.

66 Though I had no foundation for my opinion but theory, and the particulars advanced by Mr. Chaptal in support of the system he proposed, I was far from thinking that I should have to retract the assertions I had made, and that experience would de-. stroy the plan of reform, the adoption of which I had sought to promote.

"However, as it is the duty of a man, who studies useful improvements in the arts, not to compromise the progress of science, or sacrifice to self-love whatever tends to correct the errours into which he may have fallen, I hasten to communicate to the

* Letter to Editor. For an account of Mr. A's improvements-see the Domestic Encyclopedia.

† Sonini's Bibliotheque Physico-Economique, 1808, tom, 1. p.106.

physical and mathematical class of the Institute, the observations that have arisen from the objections made to me by those who have employed shallow stills.

"In deep stills, the liquor, at a certain time, receives more heat than it gives off by evaporation: the temperature then may rise, till it reaches the term at which the ebullition is complete, an essential condition for effecting the combination of the alcohol with the aroma of the wine, before it is separated from it.

"No doubt shallow stills greatly shorten the time of distillation; this is a fact, on which all distillers agree: but they say too, and this cannot be disputed, that the brandy obtained in this method contains nothing or next to nothing of that aroma, which is so grateful to the smell, and communicates the agreeable flavour, that distinguishes well made brandy.

"It is this difference in the quality of the products, that has engaged the attention of distillers. I thought at first, that they might have been deceived by their prejudices, and boldly disputed their opinion: but finding, that shallow alembics fell more and more into disrepute, I resolved to examine for myself, whether the objections made to them were well founded. What I thought it particularly necessary to ascertain was, whether the difference in flavour between brandies distilled in alembics of the different forms were sufficiently perceptible, to authorize the preference given to one over the other. Accordingly I subjected to distillation a quantity of wine, part in a shallow alembic, part in one of the common construction.

"When I had finished the distillation, I examined both sorts of brandy, and gave them to different persons to taste, all of whom, as well as myself, uniformly gave the preference to that produced from the deep still. Thus I was convinced, that the objections of the distillers were not the result of unfounded prejudice; and that the difference observed in the products of two analogous operations must depend on the circumstances of the evaporation; which were not the same in the two stills, since I satisfied myself, that, in the common still, the evaporation of the spirit does not begin to be very copious, till the heat is 70° or 75° of Reaumur (190° or 200° F.), while on the contrary in the shallow still it is very abundant from 45° to 55° (133° to 156° F.).

"This difference in the intensity of the heat produced, at the moment when the alcohol separates from the liquor that contains it, appeared to me worthy of remark, and tending to explain why the products must differ. In fact, is it not well known in chemistry, that wine distilled at the heat of a vapour bath yields a spirit much inferior in quality to that which is produced by distillation on a naked fire?

"Experience proves then, that it is necessary to bring the wine to boil, before the alcohol is abstracted from it. This boiling favours the reaction of the principles of the wine, and is the cause of a new combination by their mutually acting upon each other, which renders the spirit more aromatic and highly flavoured, than that obtained from wine, to which a similar degree of heat has not been given.

"To explain why the liquor cannot be raised to the same degree of heat in a shallow still, as in a deep one, it is sufficient to observe, that, in the former, the evaporation always keep pace with the heat produced: in other words, if we increase the fire, we only accelerate the evaporation, without preceptibly increasing the temperature of the fluid.

"Hence it is evident, that shallow stills are far from being well adapted to attain this end; and the circumstance that is essential to fit them for a speedy evaporation, is here a defect, instead of an advantage, in proportion to its efficacy.

"From what has been said we may conclude:

"1. That shallow alembics, though very fit for the distillation of certain fermented liquors, may sometimes alter the quality of the products of distillation.

"2. That the inconveniences arising from the employment of shallow alembics in distilling wines, arise from the facility with which evaporation takes place in them,

"3. That a high temperature is always necessary, to carry over the peculiar aroma of the wine, and perhaps too that arising from the action of heat on the principles of the wine.

"4. That deep alembics ought to be preferred to shallow ones for the distillation of wine,

"Lastly, that the best dimensions for an alembic, without regard to its figure, must be such, that the surface of the liquor heated shall be constantly greater than that from which the evaporation takes place. Thus for instance, we may consider it as a rule, that the proportion between the two should be as four to one."

From the practical observations of Mr. Curaudau we may infer, as indeed he hints in his first general conclusion, that the shallow still is preferable, where the object is to prevent the peculiar flavour of the liquor distilled as much as possible from rising, as in distilling from malt, or molasses*; and this not only on account of the saving in time and fuel, but of superiority in point of flavour. On the contrary, in respect to the simple or spirituous distilled waters, as they have commonly been called, where a full impregnation with the peculiar flavour of the vegetable substance employed is desirable, a deep still would appear to be preferable. The proper proportions for stills for some of the finer productions of this kind, however, maydeserve a particular inquiry. (Note by Nicholson-Journal No. 108.)

ON SESAMUM, OR BENE PLANT.

THERE are three species of sesamum, s: orientale, s: indicum, and s luteum. It is only of the first species that I shall speak. It is an annual plant, rising with an herbaceous erect stalk about three feet high, sending out a few short side branches, leaves veined opposite and a little hairy; flowers in loose terminating spikes, small, of a dirty white colour; seeds ovate acuminate, compressed a little, smooth, whitish.

It is highly probable that the Sesamum plent was introduced into S. Carolina and Georgia, by the African negroes imported at an early period after the settlement of that part of the country; and there can be no doubt of the plant having been continued by them, for the purpose of adding to the various articles of végetable aliment, as corn, sweet potatoes, and rice, of which their

*Or in attempting to procure an insipid liquor from rye. EDIT