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Article REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. ← Page 4 of 8 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
the constitution of the consumer , a speedy or lingering death , violent colics , obstructions and other maladies ; so that one may justl y doubt , whether , at present , Msrs , Venus , or Saturn is most destructive to the human race . ' The ancients , in my opinion , knew that lead rendered harsh wine milder , and preserved itfrom acidity , without being aware that it was poisonous . It ¦ was , therefore , long used with confidence ; and when its effects were discovered they were not ascribed to the metal , but to some other cause . When
more accurate observation , in modern times , fully established the noxious quality of lead , and when it began to be dreaded in wine , unprincipled dealers invented an artful method of employing it , which the law , by the severest punishment , has not been able wholly to prevent . ' The Greeks and the Romans were accustomed to boil their wine over a slow fire , till only a half , third , or fourth part remained , and to mix it with bad wine in order to render it better . When , by this operation , it had lost
part of its watery particles , and had been mixed with honey and spices , it acr quired several names , such as miulmn , mulsitm , sapa , caremcin , or caresnum defrutum , & c . Even at present the same method is pursued with sack , Spanish , Hungarian , and Italian wines . In Italy new wine , which has been thus boiled , is put into flasks , and used for sallad and sauces . In Naples it is called mttsto colto ; but in Florence it still retains the name of sapa . Most of those authors who have described this method of boiling wine expressly
sy that leaden or tin vessels must be employed ; because the wine , by these , is rendered more delicious and durable , as well a ; clearer . It is , however , certain that must and sour wine by slow boiling , for according to their directions it should not be boiled quickly , must dissolve part of these dangeT rous metals , otherwise the desired effect could not be produced . Some also
were accustomed to arid to their wine , before it was boiled , a certain quantity of sea water , which b y its saline particles must necessarily accelerate the dissolution . ' That the acid of wine has the power of dissolving lead was not unknown to the ancients ; for when the Greek and Roman wine-merchants wished to try whether their wine was spoilt , they immersed in it a plate of lead . If the colour of the lead was changed , which undoubtedly would be the case when
its surface was corroded and converted into calx , they concluded that their wine was spoilt . It cannot , however , be said that they were altogether ignorant of the dangerous effects of solutions of that metal ; for Galen and other physicians often give cautions respecting white lead . Notwithstanding this , men fell upon the invention of conveying water for culinary purposes in leaden pipes ; and even at present at Amsterdam , Paris , and other places water is conveyed through lead , and collected in leaden cisterns , though that
practice has , on several occasions , been attended with alarming consequences . This negligence in modern times makes us not be surprised when we read that the ancients employed leaden vessels . It appears , however , that it was not merely through negligence that this practice prevailed . They were acquainted , and particularly in Pliny ' s time , with various processes used in regard to wine ; and among these was that of boiling it with lime or gypsum ; and the ancient physicians , who had not the assistance of modern chemistry , thought
it more probable that their wine was rendered noxious by the addition of these earths , than by the vessels in which it was boiled ; and the ) ' were the more inclined to this opinion , as they had instances of the fatal effects produced by the use of them . They decried them , therefore , so much , that laws were afterwards made by which they were forbidden to be used , as poisonous , and destructive to the human body . '
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
the constitution of the consumer , a speedy or lingering death , violent colics , obstructions and other maladies ; so that one may justl y doubt , whether , at present , Msrs , Venus , or Saturn is most destructive to the human race . ' The ancients , in my opinion , knew that lead rendered harsh wine milder , and preserved itfrom acidity , without being aware that it was poisonous . It ¦ was , therefore , long used with confidence ; and when its effects were discovered they were not ascribed to the metal , but to some other cause . When
more accurate observation , in modern times , fully established the noxious quality of lead , and when it began to be dreaded in wine , unprincipled dealers invented an artful method of employing it , which the law , by the severest punishment , has not been able wholly to prevent . ' The Greeks and the Romans were accustomed to boil their wine over a slow fire , till only a half , third , or fourth part remained , and to mix it with bad wine in order to render it better . When , by this operation , it had lost
part of its watery particles , and had been mixed with honey and spices , it acr quired several names , such as miulmn , mulsitm , sapa , caremcin , or caresnum defrutum , & c . Even at present the same method is pursued with sack , Spanish , Hungarian , and Italian wines . In Italy new wine , which has been thus boiled , is put into flasks , and used for sallad and sauces . In Naples it is called mttsto colto ; but in Florence it still retains the name of sapa . Most of those authors who have described this method of boiling wine expressly
sy that leaden or tin vessels must be employed ; because the wine , by these , is rendered more delicious and durable , as well a ; clearer . It is , however , certain that must and sour wine by slow boiling , for according to their directions it should not be boiled quickly , must dissolve part of these dangeT rous metals , otherwise the desired effect could not be produced . Some also
were accustomed to arid to their wine , before it was boiled , a certain quantity of sea water , which b y its saline particles must necessarily accelerate the dissolution . ' That the acid of wine has the power of dissolving lead was not unknown to the ancients ; for when the Greek and Roman wine-merchants wished to try whether their wine was spoilt , they immersed in it a plate of lead . If the colour of the lead was changed , which undoubtedly would be the case when
its surface was corroded and converted into calx , they concluded that their wine was spoilt . It cannot , however , be said that they were altogether ignorant of the dangerous effects of solutions of that metal ; for Galen and other physicians often give cautions respecting white lead . Notwithstanding this , men fell upon the invention of conveying water for culinary purposes in leaden pipes ; and even at present at Amsterdam , Paris , and other places water is conveyed through lead , and collected in leaden cisterns , though that
practice has , on several occasions , been attended with alarming consequences . This negligence in modern times makes us not be surprised when we read that the ancients employed leaden vessels . It appears , however , that it was not merely through negligence that this practice prevailed . They were acquainted , and particularly in Pliny ' s time , with various processes used in regard to wine ; and among these was that of boiling it with lime or gypsum ; and the ancient physicians , who had not the assistance of modern chemistry , thought
it more probable that their wine was rendered noxious by the addition of these earths , than by the vessels in which it was boiled ; and the ) ' were the more inclined to this opinion , as they had instances of the fatal effects produced by the use of them . They decried them , therefore , so much , that laws were afterwards made by which they were forbidden to be used , as poisonous , and destructive to the human body . '