[54] "Wines bottled in good order, may be fit to drink in six months, (especially if bottled in October), but they are not in perfection before twelve. From that to two years they may continue so; but it would be improper to keep them longer."--_Edinburgh Encyclop. Britan._ vol. xviii. p. 72, Article _Wine_. [55] "Cork the bottles very closely with good Cork, and lay them on their sides, that the Cork may not dry and facilitate the access of the air. For the greater safety, the Cork may be covered with a coating of cerement applied by means of a Brush, or the neck of the bottle may be immersed in a mixture of melted wax, rosin, or pitch."--ACCUM _on making Wine_, 1820, p. 40. [56] A PUNCHEON OF BRANDY containing 130 Gallons, after remaining in Cask in a Merchant's Cellar for three years, lost two Gallons in measure, and ten Gallons in strength. The stronger the Spirit, the sooner it evaporates. The London Dock Company are not answerable for any decrease of quantity in a PIPE OF WINE left under their care, provided it does not exceed one Gallon for each year--which it is supposed to waste in that time. [57] CORNARO complains that _old_ Wine was very disagreeable to his Stomach, and _new_ wine very grateful; his dose was fourteen ounces, (_i. e._ seven wine-glasses) per day. [58] "Fermented liquors furnish very different proportions of Alcohol--and it has been sometimes supposed that it does not pre-exist to the amount in which it is obtained by distillation; but some experiments I made upon the subject in 1811 and 1813, and which are printed in the _Phil. Trans._ for three years, tend to show that it is a real educt, and not formed by the action of heat upon the elements existing in the fermented liquor. The following table exhibits the proportion of Alcohol by measure, existing in one hundred pints of Wine."--BRANDE'S _Manual of Chemistry_, 8vo. 1819, p. 400. Hock 14 Claret 15 Sherry 19 Port 20 Madeira 24 per cent Alcohol. [59] "It would save many lives if Gin, &c. was not allowed to be sold until reduced to one third the strength of Proof Spirit. People do not at first drink from any liking or desire, but being cold, or faint with hunger or fatigue, they find immediate comfort and refreshment from the use of Spirits--and as they can purchase a dram with less money than they can cover their back, or fill their belly, so they gratify the strongest and least expensive appetite--and insensibly become drunkards." "Ardent Spirits are not only eminently destructive to the Body, but are the most powerful incentives to Vice of every kind; Drunkenness engenders all other Crimes. Does the Robber pause in his Trade? Does the Murderer hesitate?--they are presently wound up at the Gin shop. Has the Seducer tried his arts in vain? The Brothel is more indebted to this source, than to all the other lures to Seduction."--From _Hints for the Preservation of Health_.--CALLOW, 1813, 12mo. p. 2.