New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-21
INSTALLATION AND DISTILLED LIQUORS
AN INTERESTING LECTURE BY CHARLES e.
PELLEW.

AN INTERESTING LECTURE BY CHARLES L.
PELLEW.
A large audience listened last night at the Muse
UNI of Natural History TO an interesting lecture by
Charles T.. Peew upon the preparation ana the
varieties of distilled liquors. Mr.. Peew began Dy
relating the history of distillation and the various
experiments Of the old achemists which led AT
last, In the eleventh or twelfth century, to the
publication by the Arabian scientists of the art
Of making alcohol from wine The name Itself.
the lecturer went on, has an Arabic Derivation
kohl being the ancient well as the present name
for the fine black powder with when Eastern
women have darkened their eyebrows from the
days Of Jezebel till now, and the name el kohl
the fine substance OF all others. was early applied
to the new and valuable compound. For valuable
indeed II TO the early alchemists. both as
solvent fuel preservative and. above all, as medi-
cine: and the aqua vitae 1t was called, served
for many centuries the basis Of all their valued
cordals and nostrums
I'm the seventeenth century the art was dis
covered of manufacturing alcohol from barley,
corn and other cheap sources. and the gin and
whskey from grain and rum from molasses were
introduced at absurdly low prices as compared
with the old 'brannt vein or brandy
The manufacture Of the national beverage,
corn whskey was dwelt upon with some detail
II was shown how the high flavor OF the fine
Bourbon or rye whiskey depends upon the amount
tered by the of impure yeast and by the
gentle and gradual distllation Of the resulting
beer" TO incorporate all the stray ACIDS
and acohols the impurities in fact, In the prod
uct.
This fusel oil. however" added the speaker rs
not necessarily the deadly compound so often held
up a bugbear to the Incorporate The harsh,
burning poisonous acids and higher alcohos Of
the raw fresh spirits gradually combine on stand
Ing. and form the bland fragrant ethers charac-
terstic of old ripencd liquors, and Identical in
many with the havorng matters OF bananas,
plneapples and other highly scented fruit 1t is
interesting fact, not only recognized by the
trade but shown by numerous analyses by Pro-
fessor c. T. Chandler and others. that the finer
and more expensive tho liquor, the more fusel oil
The cheap Bourbon whlskey which must be ready
for the market in a few months instead OF many
years, has but little favoring matter, ana that
of a quality to be easily ripened." According to
Mr. Pellew. very large proportion. nine-tenths
or more. OF the liquor sold now is manufactured
directly from pure alcohol and water. To illus.
trate this latter topic The table was decorated ed
them the various ethers butyric ether from rancid
butter and alcohoD, acetic ether from vinegar
and oils made thererom And after the lecture
curious auditors shifted gravey at the various
sence.'. Toll of Jamaica rum" essence OF Scotch
whiskey.'' which smet strongly Of creosote' and
Mr. Peew read from the hanSbook Of the dI manS
facrer Of these essences % rsciner
for the preparation of the various liquors. To
make old coGnac Irish whiskey or Santa cruz
rum il was only necessary. it said to add
four ounces OF the proper essence and one pound
and Gq then S color WIKI burnt burnt Sugar
From artificial liquors, Mr.. Peew went on 10
the discussion of cordals and showed how the
manufacture of these was now based largely upon
the Of similar oils and essences. In most cases
these were harmless, at any rate in the proper
tions used and in comparison with the always
present alcohol. Absinthe formed almost the sole
tl;- r,,Ia Tho ctr mr.
oil OF NORWOOD, added 10 the extracts of fennel
myrrh. anise and other bitter herbs. added an ad,
dtional danger to the 20 per cent or so of alcohol
with which they mixed The lecturer ended
bv showing a number OF interesting lantern slides
illustrating ancient and modern stills and still
rooms
The las; lecture of ;he course. upon the general
and specal effects of alcohol with special refer
ence 10 the medical questions involved, will be
given next Saturday evening.