The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1859-07-14

The fact that intoxicating and malt liquors are
sdulterated frequently by the introduction of the
most poisonous ingredients, and that wines are skill
fully counterfeited, being often manufactured without
containing a drop of the juice of the grape, is well
authenticated. But the fact that this adulteration
and manufacture is systematically pursued as n dis
tinct branch of the liquor trade. adds if possible to
the enormity Of this business, which tends to demor-
alize those engaged in it, as well as the poor victims
of their destructive traffic.
Several years since a wealthy wine merchant of
Bordeaux, France, retired from the business with a
fortune; but being quite a chemist. he undertook to
counterfeit the various kinds Of liquors, in which,
after experimenting thirty years, he succeeded. For
the purpose Of testing his production, he gave n
splendid entertainment to the wine merchants and
connoisseurs of that city, at which he treated them
with his manufactured liquors, each labelled with the
name of a pretended vineyard and the year of the
vintage. The deception was complete, the best
judges pronouncing the wines of the best quality.
At the close Of the feast he told them, to their great
surprise, that they had all been deceived, as there was
not a particle of tie juice of the grape in anything
they had drank, lie having manufactured them all
himself He furtaer told them that by the method
he had discovered, they could supply England and
the United States, who bought so largely Of them, at
n much less cost than formerly, even If the grape
crop should be cut off.
At their earnest request he arranged the result of
his researches, and published them expressly for the
liquor dealers, for which he received n large sum.
II had n limited circulation in the wine growing
countries of Europe before the vintages there began
the market was supplied nearly as abundantly as
ever. A copy of the book was brought TO New York,
and an edition was published and copyrighted here
by the liquor dealers for their especial use, enabling
them to manufacture Spurious liquors at an enor-
nous profit Among the articles used in counterfeit
ing different drinks are sulphuric and citric acid,
caustic potash, nitrate of silver, %gamboge, indigo,
iodine, logwood, sugar of lead, nux' vomica, and
strychnine, some of which are active and deadly poi
sons. Much of the increase of crime, now so alarm
ingly prevalent, is ascribed to the effect of the poisons
used in liquors now generally sold, upon the brain.
A bottle of so called Champagne wine, purchased Of
the importer by n chemist, was found to contain n
quarter of an ounce of sugar of lead.
E. C. Delavan, Esq, of Albany, N. T.. who has
done so much in calling attention to the evils of in
temperance, states that the facts he has in his possess
sion go to g establish the alarming truth, that among
all the wines OF commerce now for sale and in use in
this country, such an article as the pure. unmixed
juice of the grape is almost. if not altogether I'M
known" He states that s' the avails of frauds COM
mitted in the adulteration of wine and spirits in the
city of New York alone, amount, it is supposed, to at
least three millions OF dollars annually. The greater
part of the wines sold in this country cost the manu-
fdcfurers only from fifteen to twenty cents a gallon"
There are large establishments in this city where
common whisky is turned into wine, and where wine
casks are made that closely initiate the foreign, on
which the custom-house marks are easily counter
feited.-.dmericdn Messenger.
The EFFECT OF MADE LIouoR-Medical men adj
vanced in life have assured me, that the effect of
using intoxicating liquors nOlC, IS mucn more natal TO
health and life than thirty years since. Then. liquors
were comparatively pure. The alcohol in them was
usually the only ingredient that the constitution had
TO contend with, and then a habitual drinker, if he,
lived so long, did not become a known drunkard
under twenty years; but now it frequently occurs
that the same amount of habitual drinking produce
diseases and intemperance in three years. This
change the medical men attribute to the presence of
other poisons than the poison Of alcohol in the intox-
icating liquors used by the people in such quantities.
1 could fill n volume with facts going to show that as
TO wine. it is next to impossible to find any in this
country pure,-I mean pure fermented. unenforced
wine; and I believe the same in regard to distilled
spirits. Drugs are used in the manufacture Of most,
il not all kinds, for the reason that with drugs, COM
mon whisky can be turned into rum, brandy, or gin. Z
1 have been assured that arsenic is used in whisky
to restore the bead, after having been diluted with
water. So with beer, when poisonous drugs are
cheaper than malt, to increase the intoxicating power,
and money is to be made by it. This is often done,
Of which 1 have proof positive ; also that the most
filthy rafer has been, and still is, used in mating.