Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/720

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the butterfly j ant * they arc left to hatch, as it were afterwards, by the heat of the fun; Philof. Tranf. N°. 469.

VINEGAR (Cj'c/.J — It is plain that the original component matter of Vinegar is fugar, which, in the art of acetification, Teems wholly converted into ?. fluid tartar, and if the aqueous liquor be feparated from Vinegar, we find the Vinegar is thereby made the ftronger, mfomuch that if Vinegar were to be highly concentrated by congelation, it would become al- moft folid, or a kind of actual tartar.

Whence the rule is eafy, that, in order to make an aim oft folid Vinegar, we jfhould endeavour to diflblve tartar in an aqueous liquor, whence to perfect the art of acetification. The diflblving of tartar largely with fugar or treacle, and the ftrongeft Vinegar, by repeated imbibitions, that and a proper management is much to be recommended to the perfons con- cerned in this trade. Shaw's Lectures, p. 105. It is very well known that a very large quantity of water, or mere iniipid phlegm, is contained in Vinegar, and that what we call Vinegar, would be infinitely ftronger, if cleared of that. It is for this reafon, that a great quantity of Vinegar will faturate but a very fmall portion of an alkaline fait ; and a great deal of this aqueous acid is, for the fame reafon, required to diflblve a fmall portion of metal. A pint of the ftrongeft Vinegar will fcarce diflblve more than two drams of iron, and will not faturate more than the fame quantity of pure fait of tartar.

It has been wifhed by many, that fome method could be con- trived of concentrating Vinegar ^ fo as to give it moreftrengtb; this muff, depend alone on the extracting the aqueous humi- dity j and this has been attempted feveral ways. Of all others, however, that fucceeds beft Which we find recommended by Stahl, which is by freezing. This method fo far deprives Vi- negar of its fuperfluous water, .and fo far collects its acetous penetrating fharpnefs, as to render it an extremely powerful menftruum, throwing out five or fix parts of phlegm, which fcarce taftes at all four, and having one fixth or one feverish part pofi'efled of all the virtues of the whole. Dr. Shaw af- iufes usj that he has repeated^ this experiment, and found it to anfwer perfectly upon the trial.

This condenfed Vinegar, toward the end of the operation, or in the laft congelations, lets fall a white mining powder, which is a tartar that, though diflblved in great quantity in the whole aqueous fluids could not be retained in this concen- trated one. Stahl de Condenfat. Vini. The thicker Vinegar is, the lefs fit it proves for diftillation, as there is always the greater danger of an empyreuma, or burnt fmell, which would fpoil the whole procefs, and as it ufually in this cafe comes over oleaginous. And the pureft white felt of tartar, faturated with this diftilled Vinegar, being after- wards ignited, turns black, and yields a fmell extremely like that of crude tartar in the calcination. Shaw's Chemical Ef- iays.

On the other hand, the more the Vinegar is diluted imme- diately before diftillation, the lefs danger there is of burning : And if the thick remaining mafs, when the thinner part is di- ftilled from it, be again diluted with water, it may, by a. fe~ cond diftillation, be brought to afford an acetous fubftance ; though this latter be by no means comparable to this former volatile part. This Vigani juftly fufpects to be a thing known but to very few. And even when the Vinegar it diftilled with the utmoft labour and care, it ftill has this effect in a higher de- gree, and contains an immenfe quantity of phlegm, in pro- portion to its acid fait.

In this cafe, the method of condenfarion by freezing is of the utmoft fervice ; firft of all feparating the more aqueous part, and in the next place, that which is fome what acetous, tho* not comparable to what remains behind ; fo that, by this means, a maft concentrated and fubtle fplrituoUs diftilled Vine- gar may be produced, viz. by freezing the whole parcel of diftilled phlegm and diftilled Vinegar together, a thing of great moment to the curious in the c hernia jublimior, and particu- larly to thofe who underftand HolJandus. And when the Vi- negar is froze without diftillation, by this means you have a noble rob, or a rich concentrated Vinegar, freed from its diftillating aqueous and ufelefs part. Vigani, Medull. Chem. Vinegar, when applied to fores in animal bodies, ftimulates and refills putrefaction. When weak, it alfo enjoys the vir- tues of water ; when ftrong, approaches in its effects to thofe of falts and acid fpirits. Med. Eff. Ed. vol. 5. art. 24. See the articles Salt and Spirit.

Portable Vinegar, a name given by the chemifts to a fort of ^i'/wgw-powder, or Vinegar in a dry form. It is a prepara- tion of tartar with Vinegar, and is made in this manner : Take white tartar, half a pound; let It be carefully warned, then dried and powdered ;' infufe this powder in the ftrongeft wine- Vinegar, then dry it, and infufe it again, repeating this opera- tion ten times. After this the dry powder is to be kept for ufe ; at any time a fort of extemporaneous Vinegar may be made by diflblving a fmall quantity of this powder in any pro- per liquor.

hels in Vinegar. The common opinion, from thedifcovery of eels in Vinegar, that its fharpnefs to the tafte was occa- fioncd by thefe animals, occafioned the accurate Lewenhoek to attempt a careful examination of it by the mkrofcope. 3

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Some of the ftrongeft and fharpeft Vinegar, after having been expofed for fome hours to the air, and afterwards examined by the microfcope, entertains the light with a number of cor- pufclcs, called the (alts of Vinegar, which are acute at both extremities, and have many of them in the middle an oblonc figure of a brownifh colour, and others were altogether clear, pellucid, and bright as cryftal. Others of thefe particles ap- peared of an oval figure, and fome of the half of fuch a figure, hollowed like a fmall boat, or the half of a nut-fhell. The more perfect figures, pointed at both ends, and pellucid, are fo very mintlte, that fome thoufands of them are compre- hended in a fmall drop.

Thefe feem to be what affect the tongue with the acid fharp- nefs, when we tafte of Vinegar ; and it is very probable, that befidc thefe, minute as they are, there are multitudes of others equally pointed, and infinitely fmaller than thefe. If Vinegar be placed in an open glafs, and fuffered to remain fome weeks, the fin-face of it will be found, on examination with good glafles, to be full of the fame figures, double- pointed, and very pellucid j and in thefe, very often, there may be ca- vities plainly difcovered ; but examining the liquor a little deeper down, there are found numbers of minute eels j yet thefe, though minute, are prodigioufly larger than the fait particles, and can never be fuppofed to be the occafion of the fharpnefs of Vinegar to the tafte, by any who rightly confidcr, fince it is not all Vinegar that contains them ; nay, the much greater part of Vinegar is wholly without them, and in winter they all die J yet Vinegar is not lefs fharp at that feafon, than in the fummer.

If Vinegar be impregnated with crabs-eyes, of any other alka- line fubftance, which blunts, and in a great meafure deftroys its acidity, thefe double-painted figures are no longer found in it, on a microfcopical inflection ; but in their places we find others with an oblong quadrangular bafe, from which they flioot up into pyramids, and appear like polifhed diamonds. Thefe are alfo fo very minute, that fix thoufand of them are computed to be contained in a drop of the liquor, no larp-er than two corns of barley. And thefe will be ufually found all of the fame fize, or very nearly fo, which is by no means the cafe with the other falts of Vinegar in its natural ftate. Mr. Mentzelius was fo lucky as to fee thefe undergo their laft metamorphofis, and change into fmall flies : And though this is a fingle infiance, in regard to the microfcopical world of ani- malcules, yet it is highly probable that the whole race of thofe, whofe appearance in medicated fluids we have been fo long puzzled to account for, may, like thefe, be the worm ftate of fome winged aerial infect, and have owed their origin, where we fee them, to the eggs of parent flies, too fmall for our fight. Reaum. Hift. Inf. vol. 4. p. 404. VINNET, iri our ftatutes, is ufed for a flower or border, which printers ufe to ornament printed leaves of books. Stat. 14 Car. 2. c. 33. Blount. VINOUS (Cycl.) — Vinous Liquors. All forts of www and j fermented liquors, both before and after the fermentation, con- fift not of fimilar, but heterogeneous parts, which are joined together in one certain and determinate order ; thus the actioi* of fermentation being a reparation and destruction of the for- mer connection of the fubject, and tranfpofing its parts anew, there muft of neceflity have been a kind of firm or durable texture in the fubject fo disjoined, feparated, and new- ranged.

For example : Grapes being laid upon dry ftraw, in a cold place, will, for fome time after they are feparated from the vine, prefcrve that texture, which gives them their faline, unctuous, and flimy fweetnefs; which the juice alio retains after preffing, and becomes a clear and tranfparent muft, with- out feparating itfelf into parts, but continuing regularly and uniformly mixed, fo as to preferve the different matters it confifts of, intimately connected among themfelves. In this firmly connected ftate they may be kept many months, if a cafk be filled with this juice, and fet in a cool place, as we evidently fee in ftum. Shaw's Eflay on concentrating Wines. Wine, in the precife chemical or philofophical notion of it, is a faline clammy oleaginous matter, diluted with a large proportion of water, whereby 'tis expanded, or fet at a di- stance from itfelf, while the faline parts are faturated with, and interfperfed among the fubtile earthy ones that make the flimynefs; thus they together imbibe, detain, and hold the groffer parts, befide which there are other oily parts vaftly more fubtile, which, by means of the highly attenuated faline portion adhering clofely to them, remain 'as much connected with the water as the reft ; and thefe are what we call the fpi- rituous parts j but the connection of them all together is fo ftrong and durable, that they move for a long time as one body, without feparating, if carefully preferved. An acquaint- ance with the true nature, hiftory, and effects of vinous fer- mentation, will fully explain and juftify thefe pofitions. If the fpirituous part be once feparated and drawn away from the wine by diftillation, though it were immediately to be re- turned back to the remaining mafs from whence it came, and ever fo well fhook again with it, the whole by no means re- tains its former tafte, odour, and durability, but turns to a confufed turbid mixture, of a different and naufeous tafte, and' a difagreeable fmell j and, on the whole,- approaches nearly to