The above proportional quantities of alcohol contained in the different kinds of wine are extracted from Mr. Brande’s experiments detailed in the work before mentioned; but as it appears that that gentleman made his experiments on samples of wine into which adventitious alcohol had been introduced, he seems in some instances to have assigned a greater degree of spirituosity to some wines than the subsequent analysis of Dr. Prout will justify, in the case of experiments made on genuine wines. To those who are desirous of informing themselves accurately on the subject, a reference to the Table at pages 363 and 364 of Dr. Henderson’s work on the History of Ancient and Modern Wines, in which the results of the experiments of Mr. Brande, Dr. Prout, and Mr. Zist, an able chemist residing at Mentz, are detailed, is recommended. The quantity of astringent matter, or tannin, contained in wine, may readily be ascertained by dropping a solution of isinglass into it, when a gelatinous precipitate takes place in proportion to the tannin, whether it be Port, Claret, or Burgundy. The adulteration and false strength of spirituous liquors, as brandy, rum, and malt spirit, are detected by diluting the suspected liquor with water, when the acrimony of the capsicum, or the grains of paradise, or pepper, may be easily discovered by the taste. Or by taking about a quart of the suspected liquor, and pouring it into a retort, or small still, and boiling it gently, until the whole of the spirituous part is evaporated, the residuum, if capsicum, grains of paradise, &c. have been present in the liquor, will retain a hot pungent taste. A ready way of detecting aqua-fortis, or oil of vitriol, in spirits, is, by dropping into a glass of the suspected liquor, a bit of chalk about the size of a pea, when the liquid, if spurious, will become like milk, but, if genuine, the chalk will lie at the bottom.