The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-04-22 00:00:00

TIE LIVEUPOOL STANDARD.

of liquor being, washed through your ;tuba Aar, at
much lower temperature ; boil your extra* atone, very
well, for about two hours, then turn into the receiver,
and mix well with your hop extract,, which will have been
gradually cooling, but must not be cold, or they will not
thoroughly amalgamate. Complete in the ordinary way,
pitching at about 62 or 64 degrees, according to season,
and with a moderate quantity of yeast. You will not
have so much trouble over your fermentation of this
liquor, inasmuch as the attenuation is already accom-
plished by this system, however strong you may de-
sire to make your ale, and the vinosity and spirit
usually sought to be recovered in the fermenting vat
have never been so dissipated, or so generalized, by
the system pointed out. Although much more plea-
sant ales can be produced than those generally sold,
I feel convinced that they never can be made really
to meet the necessities of the human taste, on a due
regard to which our health so mainly depends, and here I
exneet much opposition, especially as public judgment
will be so swayed by the result of the attempts that are
made to produce drinks from other materials than malt,
that will keep without the admixture of spirits, and which
generally have a sickly and injurious effect upon the con-
stitution of man. lam assured, however, from personal
experience, that there is a wide field, and entirely untrod-
den, open to all who possess capital and inclination, to
produce most healthful and delightful drinks from fruit
indigenous to our own country, which would supersede all
others now in use, if accessible to the public, as they
would be very cheap, and consistent with the desires of
the most refined end cultivated tastes, and would also
endure changes of season without foreign spirits better
than malt liquor. There seems to be in fruit a natural,
in fact an insuperable principle of fermentation, which
must. convince the student of nature that. Providence has
ordained such for some wise purpose • and that there is a
strong desire in the human mind for very effervescing
drinks, the invention of so many containing such power-
ful and very destructive artificial gas, plainly testifies.
Now in the natural and unaided fermentation of fruits a
great quantity of " fixed air" is generated as powerful as
the artificial gas I have alluded to, but more enduring.
and how much more pure and healthful ! To obtain suf-
ficient of this in malt liquor to make them really refresh-
ing and invigorating is very difficult, and when obtained
is very evanescent, besides you are apt to destroy muck
that is nutritive in effecting such.
I have found this an excellent way of making liquor
from fruit : take those kinds which easily yield their
sweetness and flavour, and crush them well in an open vat,
if not thought sweet enough, add honey or sugar, which
assists fermentation, boil well in sufficient water, hav-
ing purified with a little lime if required, allow it to become
quite cold, then pour it on your fruit according to the
strength required, mix very well frequently and keep
covered up from the atmosphere. In a short period you
will perceive a beautiful principle of fermentation pro-
ceeding—allow to remain in your vat until sufficient. spirit
is generated, and flavour acquired, then run it from the
lees into casks until fine, when it ma' he used or bottled.
Some kinds of fruit. I hare had to subject to great heat to
obtain their flavour, which must he allowed to cool in the
vat before the water is added. Hot water destroys the
flavour of fruit and causes acidity, especially in apples,
most kinds of which only require to he ground in their
natural state and used as before described. In making
these suggestions I have another constraining motive—
when I contemplate wilt pain the great. sacrifices of the
interest of that class which in every country I consider to
be most important (I mean the agriculturists), which have
of late years been made, if in accordance with the call of
expediency, certainly not, I think with that of nature and
of reason. lam inclined to hope that a new source of
wealth would he opened up to them by carrying out these
suggestions, and, oh ! how T should rejoice to see,
whilst our fields were waving with promising corn,
our hedge-rows also smiling with cheering and as
wealthy fruit ! But, it may be said you are aiming a
blow at the agriculturists, by lessening the value
of malt. I opine otherwise and am inclined to
hope also, that there lies another wide and
uncultivated field ; no man of reflection can regard
(not only in barley, but also in peas and beans, during the
process of malting after being immersed in water for a
few days) the wonderful change which takes place through-
out the progress of germination, from a hard tasteless
substance, to a pearly whiteness and delicacy of flavor,
as it approaches its development, not surpassed by the
choicest confectionery, before it is d stroyed by the heat
to which it is subject on the kiln, without a conviction
that a different use thereof might he suggested it will
not do, I grant, to subject flour so produced to heat, as
it, would rise too vigorously and he very sickly : but why
use heat ? its flavour would not be interfered with if used
with milk or water that had been boiled, and cooled be-
fore mixing, and allowed gradually to harden without fire ;
but laying aside all considerations about this matter,
which are perhaps foreign to my present purpose, should
we not have a vast tract of land left us for growing wheat
mainly ? a small portion of each farm remaining to pro-
duce those grains from which to extract fermentible liquor
for wheaten flour, according to our present system. I
think I hear the cry of the hop-growers already in my
ears, " Oh, this is enthusiasm and insanity, what are to
become of our hops !" wait n little, and we will seek balm
for your spirits. I find it possible to extract oil from hops,
perhaps not surpassed in flavour and purity by any in
present use, and there, I think, would be a mine of
wealth for you. _ _

I feel, sir, in making these suggestions, that I shall
awaken much reproach, much iceen satire, but as it is not
a new thing for me to hear such in private, I do not fear
its being an insupportable load in public life. It is a
source of deeper painfulness to me to see the ills to which
our poorer and toiling class are subject—to see so many
asking for conscientious employment, and cannot obtain
it ; whilst there are so many fields for increased labour to
be opened, and it is heart-rending to hear the cries for
mercy of those poor creatures who, lacking food, have
been tempted to steal, and are drawn into our judgment
halls. thence to be banished from friends, home, and
country ; but more awful to think that a many of their
heart-piercing cries have ascended to the throne of Heaven,
and are there registered to appear in judgment against us,
who have stood listlessly by, and withheld assistance and
talents to ameliorate their condition and prevent their

MPS.
I sincerely hope that these remarks may have the effect
of exciting the inquiry of those whose wealth and i Ifluence
enable them to develop those matters better than T can.
especially at this season of the year, when all nature is
conceiving her bounteous store ; and when we alQo ought
to be evincing our gratitude to the Giver of all Good, by
using His gifts aright, end in consistence with His will,
which is revealed to all who duly and prayerfully exercise
their reason and understandings to comprehend it.
"Then would the teeming ground
A large increase disclose
And vie with plenty she;
Which God, our Ged
THOMAS !TART? TOT
Rock Ferry, April lath. 1851

THE LIVERPOOL OBSERVATORY.

(From the Report of the Royal Astronomical Society.)

The observatory of Liverpool has figured very conspi-
cuously in the records of our proceedings in the past year,
and has fairly and honourably earned its European repu-
tation. In the determination of extra-meridian pheno-
mena, which do not fall within the range of a wire-
micrometer, the Liverpool equatoreat is, we believe, at
present unmatched. Such is the truth and steadiness of
the mounting, that Mr. Hartnup can almost always
employ stars of comparison from the Greenwich 12-year
catalogue, and thus produce at once complete and accu-
rate determinations. It must be avowed that the mani-
pulation of this instrument is exceedingly laborious ; but
this is not a weighty obstacle to a skilful and zealous ob-
server. We have great satisfaction in repeating the
opinion expressed in the report of last year, that " the
determinations of the planets and comets made at this
observatory would do credit to any establishment and to
any instrument."
Last year Mr. Hartnup was a good deal engaged in
assisting Professor Bond in his interesting chronometrical
determination of the longitude of Cambridge Observatory,
U.S. " The final mean from 175 chronometers, duly
reduced, &e., makes this longitude 4h. 44m. 30s. 1 west of
Greenwich," a result which is probably not Is. in error.
Professor Bond hopes to obtain a still more accurateresult,
as the observations seem to indicate errors which may
perhaps be eliminated by still greater precautions. The
Professor proposes " to provide during the winter about
36 of the best chronometers, to have them thoroughly
tested in temperature and well adjusted in every respect,
and to commence the exchanges between Cambridge,
U.S., and Liverpool about June 1, 1851 ; to secure a
separate state-room on board the steamer, and to have a
competent person to take charge of the chronometers
while on ship-board, to wind them up, note the differ-
ences every day, keep a journal of the temperature,
barometric pressure, inclination of the vessel, and, in
short, to attend to every particular which may be consi-
dered likely to affect their rates on ship-board." The
Professor, in very handsome language, thanks Mr.
Hartnup for his former co-operation, and requests its
continuance in the new series.

Mr. Johnson has furnished Mr. Hartnup with a list of
thirty-eight double stars, which he wished to have
observed by the wire-micrometer, &c., of the Liverpool
equatoreal, for comparison with measures made by the
Oxford heliometer. Bad weather and the observation of
the small planets have hitherto prevented Mr. Hartnup's
observations extending beyond fourteen of these objects,
but he purposes taking the matter up again as early as
possible.
Besides the astronomical and chronometrical depart-
ments, the Liverpool Observatory is well supplied with
meteorological instruments,and Mr. Hartnup has recently
presented the results of five years' observations, ending
December 31, 1850, to the Literary and Philosophical
Society of Liverpool, who have requested permission of
the Town Council to be allowed to publish the same.
Chronometers are tested at the observatory, as already
described in former reports, and with better means than
any establishment, except Greenwich, enjoys. The assign-
ment of the rate which corresponds to various tempera-
tures enables any careful person to correct the defective
compensation of his timepiece without sensible error, 'and
must add very greatly to the accuracy of its indications.
We trust that the importance of this part of the Liverpool
Observatory will be felt more and more.' kis a positive
crime to neglect any feasible mode of increasing the secu-
rity of navigation; and this is one which scarcely occasions
any extra trouble. _

We should be glad to learn that other ports had foi-
-1 iwed, even a long way off, the example of Liverpool, and
enabled the seaman to prove the goodness of his chrono
meters, and to learn their errors and rates with scrupulous
exactness. Southampton is at present furnished with
Greenwich time by Mr. Drew, and possibly a similar
advantage may be found elsewhere ; but, for perfect
security and' satisfaction, a regular establishment and
observer are required. and this may be on u very modest
scale, yet perfectly effectual,