Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/345

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we may from this learn, that it would be much better to have the arrack rectified to the pure alcohol in the_Eaft Indies, in which cafe it would be brought over in one iixth, or one eighth part of the room, and might be lowered to its ftandard with common water here. All that it contains befide this fixth or eighth part of fpirif, being only a poor phlegm, or an acidulated water, valuable only for having been brought from Goa or Batavia. It may appear ft range to fome, that this fpirit fhould be proof, according to the way of judging by the bead or bubble, and yet be fo far below the ftrengtb, which we ufually underftand to be in proof fpirit. But the truth is, that this (landing crown of bubbles may be owing only to the tenacity of the oil that is held in the fpirit. Our malt diftillers know very well, that the more oil they work over with the fpirit, theftronger proof it will hold, at a fomewhat weaker ftandard of ftrength than it ought to have, and this cafe of the arrack fhews the fallacy of the other. The finer and more fubtile any oil is, the lefs it refufes to mix with any aqueous men- ftruum : thus we fee that the effential oils of fome vegeta- bles, or at leaft fome portion of them, is fo fine and fubtile, as to mix without turning milky, even with water itfelf, which is the cafe in many of our fimple diftilled waters. Hence, it is no wonder, that fo fubtile an oil, as is con- tained in that thin and dilute vegetable juice of which arrack is made, fhould readily mix with fuch a mixture, as that of one part alcohol, and fix or eight of water, which tho' weak, confidered as a fpirit, is much more likely to retain and embody an oil, than fimple water alone. The oil of the cocoa is thus fufpended imperceptibly in the fpirit ; and that in fuch quantity, as to give a tenacity to the whole, that difpofes it to form a froth or lather at the top when fhook, and the bubbles of that froth to hang well together. Sometimes indeed there come over into England, and more frequently into Holland, arracks that are of the ftrengtb. of brandy and rum : thefe chiefly come from the Dutch fettlements, and are a piece of frugality of the Dutch to fave freight: it is a wonder the faving fpirit had not gone a little farther, and the method of reducing rack to alcohol been found out on the fame plan.

Befide the common forts of Goa and Batavia arrack, there are two others lefs generally known ; thefe are the bitter ar- rack and the black arrack. The bitter arrack is fuppofed to have been impregnated with fome kind of bezoar, as that of the porcupine or monkey, which being not generated in the ftomachs, as thofe of other animals, but in the gall bladder, are of a very flxongly bitter tafte, and very rsadily commu- nicate it to other things.

Some, on the contrary, are of opinion, that there is nothing added to this, but that the tafte is owing to the juice of the trees, from which the arrack is made ; and many think that it is obtained from the juice of that tree which bears the fruit, whofe infpiflated juice is what we call terra Japonica. The black arrack is a very coarfe fpirit, and is ufually drawn higher than any of the finer kinds arc, being not drank like them, but employed for coarfer purpofes. The Turkifh arrack, or as it is ufually called rackee, feems to be of this kind. The finer, and better kinds of arrack, though ever fo good, when put on board, are apt to grow foul, and black in the carriage ; if the leager, or cafk, in which they are brought over, be decayed on the infide, or the liquor come to touch any nails, or nifty iron of any kind ; for the fpirit prefently difTolves a part of the ferrugineous matter ; and thence, upon account of the tincture of the oak, which it had before obtained from the wood of the cafk, it will ap- pear inky. Arrack, that is thus accidentally tinged black, is not to be confounded with fuch arrack as is originally black, and of the coarfe kind named before. This, which has obtained the colour by accident, is not the worfe in tafte for it, and the tinge may be taken off, and the liquor recovered by put- ting into the cafk a large quantity of new or flammed milk ; and working it well about, as the vintners do, in order to whiten their brown wines. When the bottoms are large, they are to be committed to a conical filter of flannel, through which the arrack runs fine. This art of purifying foul arracks with milk, would be very pardonable, if our dealers only impofed that upon us : but they have a fhame- ful way of lowering this fpirit with water, and that to fuch a degree as is fcarce credible.

The weaknefs of fome genuine arracks greatly contributes to the countenancing this cheat. This is the principal de- ceit ufed in regard to this commodity ; for it is not eafy to find any other fpirit taftelefs enough to mix with it, without diftovering the cheat with us ; and in Holland they are not only more deftitute of clean {pints than here, but the price of arrack itfelf is fo low there, that it is hardly worth while to do it if they had proper materials. The extravagant price that arrack bears in England, has gi- ven great occafion to the diftillers to endeavour the counter- feiting it. All the attempts which, for cheapnefs fake, have been made with malt fpirit, have naturally proved un- fuccefsful : but the thing is not impracticable, though thefe methods have failed. The firft requifite muflr be the mak- ing a perfectly taftelefs fpirit, and the next the treating the juices of vegetables, fo as to obtain their flavour, to add to

it, or elfe the obtaining a pulverable dry fubftance, which would at once mix with the fpirit, and prevent the trouble of a fecond procefs of diftiilation. It is poffiblc-, alfo, that the Englifh juices of trees, which will bleed freely, fuch as the birch, maple, fycamore, and the' like, may, on proper trials, be found to afford this fort of fpirit in fome degree of perfection.

RACKOON, in zoology, the name by which we commonly know an American animal, called coati by the Braiilians. It is fomething fmaller than the beaver, and is of the fhape of the beaver in its body, and its legs are as fhort as in that creature. Its hair is like that of a fox, very long, foft, and placed thick together, and black at the ends, and brown toward the body. Sometimes from this mixture of colour the back appears plainly grey; and Marggrave men- tions another fpecies, which is of a deep yellow or ochre colour. Ray's Syn. Quad. p. 179.

Xhe head is very like that of the fox in fhape ; but that the ears are fhorter, roundifh, and naked, and therefore has a black line drawn acrofs the eyes. The eyes are large, the nofe is black, and rounded at the extremity, like that of a dog ; its tail is longer than its body, and is very like that of a cat, having annular marks of different colours. Its feet arc each divided into five (lender toes ; by the help of which it climbs trees as expertly as a monkey, and ufes the fore feet as hands, to reach up its food to its mouth. It is a very cleanly animal ; and if there be water any way near, it always wafhes its food, be it what itwill, before it eats it. It feeds on vegetables, but is alfo very fond of eggs, and will even feize birds if it can catch them. It is very common in many parts of the Weft indies, and is a creature eafily tamed.

RADAINUS, among the writers of the middle ages, the name of a black ftone fomewhat tranfparent, and find to be found in the head of a cock ; and, by others, in the head of a fea fifh. They fay the method of finding the ftone was to put the creature's head into an ant-hill, where thefe infects having eaten away the fleih, the ftone was eafily found among the bones.

RADIALIS [Cycl.)~- Radialis extemus primus Z$ fecund us, two mufcles clofely united together; appearing, at firft fight, like one mufcle, lying along the external angle of the radius, between the os humeri and the carpus, being flelhy near the former, and tendinous near the latter. In many fubjecls we find thefe two mufcles entirely diftinct from one end to the other ; and they may, in that ftate, be named radialis extemus primus, and radialis extemus fe- cundus, regard being had to the infertion of their tendons. Sometimes the two flefhy portions adhere clofely together, appearing to make but one bod}-, but the tendons are al- ways diitincl: and feparate. The firft is inferted above in the crifta of the externa] condyle of the os humeri, below the infertion of the fupinator longus. The fecond is in- ferted in the fame condyle below the infertion of the firft, and in the neighbouring articular ligament. From thence the two flefhy bodies run down very dole together, and having reached the middle of the outfide of the radius, each of them terminates in along tendon. The two tendons accompany each other to the extremity of the radius, and having palled under a particular annular ligament ; they are divided as it, were into two c;;rnua, from whence the antients, who looked upon them as- but one mufcle, called it bicornis. One of theie tendons is inferted anteriorly in the balls of the firft metacarpal bone, the other nearly in the fame part of the fecond bone, and the tendon of the firft is fometimes double, appearing like another bicornis. Win/tow's Anatomy, p. 193.

Radialis intemus, a long mufcle:, very like in fhape to the ulnaris externus, but fituated more, obliquely. Its flefhy portion is fixed by a fhort tendon to the outer and upper fide of the inner condyle of the os humeri, from thence it pailes obliquely toward the radius, and running along abouc two thirds of that bone, it fenns a long tendon, whLh continues in the fame courfe ; and at the tower extremity of the radius, paiTes under a particular annular ligament, and under the infertion of the mufculus thenar. This ten- don is at length inferted chiefly in the infide of the bafis of the firft metacarpal bone, and alfo often in the fecond, and a little in the firft phalanx of the thumb ; having firft palled through the channel of the os trapezium which fuftains the thumb. FP'in/Iow's Anatomy, p. 191.

RADIATED flowers, {Cycl.) in botany, a term ufed by Mr. Tourncfort, and others, to exprefs flowers, like that of the great daify, fun flower, &c.

A radiated flower has two parts ; its middle part which la called the difk, and which is wholly made up of flofcules; and the outer part, which is called the circle or border, which is wholly made up of fern i- flofcules, or elfe of plain flat leaves ; but that is lefs common. The flofcules and femi flofcules both ufually adhere to the embryos, and to the thalamus of the ,flower, being contained in one general cup. Thefe embryos finally ripen into (go-H ; fometimes furnlfned with down, fometimes with fo- liaceous heads, and fometimes without either^ and fome- times marginated. Of thefe fcrds fome are Wrapped round with a kind of cafe or capfulc, others are feparated from

one