Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/775

 W I N

&nd the tail have much black in them. The feet are webbed and yellow, the claws are fharp, and the hinder toe larger than in mod birds of this kind. Ray's Zoology, p. 267.

WINDING-Trfc^, in afliip. See the article Tackle.

WINDOW (Cycl.)— Before §h.k Windows came into ufe, the Window cafements were commonly made of a tranfparent ftone called fpecularh lapis, and thence called fpecularia ; and before the fpecularia, veils were the only defence they had againft the weather. Bitifc. Lex. Antiq. in voc. Specularia*

WINDY Tumors. See the article Windy Tumors.

WINE (Cycl.) — The method of converting white Wines into red, fo much practifed by the modern ^'ne- coopers, is this : Put four ounces of turnefole rags into an earthen veflel, and pour upon them a pint of boiling water ; cover the veflel clofe, and leave it to cool ; ftrain off the liquor, which will be of a fine deep red, inclining to purple. A fmall proportion of this colours a large quantity of Wine. This tincture might be ei- ther made in brandy, or mixed with it, or elfe made into a fyrup with fugar for keeping. A common way with the Wine-coopers is to infufe the rags cold in Wine for a night or more, and then wring them out with their hands ; but the

. inconvenlen cy of this method is-, that it gives the Wine a difagreeable tafte; or, what is commonly called the tafte of the rag ; whence the Wines, thus coloured, ufually pafs among judges, for prefled Wines, which have all this tafte from the canvas rags in which the lees are prefled. The way of extracting the tincture, as here directed, is not attended with this inconvenience ; but it loads the Wine with water; and if made into a fyrup, or mixed in brandy, it would load the Wine with things not wanted, fince the co- Jour alone is required. Hence the colouring of Wines has al- ways its inconveniencies. In thofe countries which do not afford the tinging grape, which affords a blood-red juice, wherewith the Wines of France are often ftained, in defect of this, the juice of elder-berries is ufed, and fometimes log- wood is ufed at Oporto.

The colour afforded by the method'here propofed, gives Wine the tinge of the Bourdeaux red, not the Port ; whence the foreign coopers are often diftrefled for want of a proper co- louring for red Wines in bad years. This might perhaps be

, fupplied by an extract made by boiling ftick-lack in water. The fkins of tinging grapes might alfo be ufed, and the matter of the turnefole procured inafolid form, not imbibed in rags. Sbazv's Lectures, p. 211.

Any confiderable heat, or even a degree of fimmering, or te- pidity, will, by itsinteftine and fubtile agitation, that barely difturbs the fine faline and fpirituous parts, which are very fufceptible of heat, thereby disjoin them from the reft, and occafion an alteration in the tafte, tranfparency and durability of the Wine, as much as if the fpirit had been drawn off by diftillation, and afterwards poured in again, in which cafe the whole ceafes to be Wine, though it is poflible to bring it to Wine again, by bringing on a new fermentation. It is a common accident, and a difeafc in Wines, to be kept too hot, and is not eafy to cure when it has been of any long continuance, otherwife it may be cured by introducing a fmall artificial fermentation, that new ranges the parts of the Wine, or rather recovers their former texture : but the actual expofmg of Wine to the fire, or the fun, prefently dif- pofes it to turn eager; and the making it boiling hot, is one of the quickeft ways of expediting the proceis of making of vinegar.

On the othw hand, Wine kept in a cool vault, and well fe- cured from the external air, will preferve its texture entire in all the conftituent parts, and fufficiently ftrong for many years, as appears not only from old Wines, but other foreign fer- mented liquors, particularly thofe of China, prepared from a decoction of rice, which being well clofed down in the veflel, and buried deep under ground, will continue, for along feries of years, rich, generous, and good, as the hiftories of that country Univeifally agree in alluring us. The fame is to be underftood of vinegar which has once thrown off the fuper-abundant earthy parts, and many of the oily ones which prefided in it while it was Wine ; whence the faline ones now get the attendant, and as it were fubdue and prefide over the fpirituous ones. In this ftate it will conti- nue perfect a long time ; good and ftrong vinegar, well flopped down, and "placed in a cool place, preferving itfelf unaltered for a long feries of years ; but if it be left open, fo that its fine vapour exhales, or its fubtile part be drawn from it, and again poured back ; in either cafe it lofes its uniform confiftence, and particularly its durability, and immediately hurries into vapidity and corruption.

If either by fraud or accident a larger portion of water is mixed with Wine than is proper for its confiftence, and no way neceflary or eflential, this fupeffluous water does not only deprave the tafte, and fpoil the excellence of the Wine, but alfo renders it lefs durable; for humidity in general, arid much more a fuperfluous aqueous humidity, is the primary and reftlefs inftrument of all the changes that are brought on by fermentation. It may doubtlefs therefore be ufeful, and fometimes abfolutely neceflary, to take away this fuperfluous water from the other part which ftrictly and properly con-

W I N

ftitutes the Wine. This has been agreed upon on all hands as a thing proper ; but the manner of doing it has not been well agreed on ; fome have propofed the effecting it by means of heat and evaporation, others by percolation, and others by various other methods, all found unfuccefsful when brought to the trial ; but the way propofed by Dr. Shaw from Stahl, Js the moft certain and commodious ; this is done by a con- centration of the Wine, not by means of heat, but of cold. StuM's Schediafm. de Concentrations Vini. See' the next article. Condenfing of Wines ; a phrafe ufed by Stahl, and fome other writers, to exprefs what is more ufually called the concen- trating them, that is, the freeing them from what fuperflu- ous humidity they contain, and by that means rendering them more rich and noble, freeing them from their taftelcfs part* reducing them to a fmaller bulk, and by that means making them fitter for tranfportation, and finally rendering them more durable in their perfect ftate, and much lefs fubject to the va- rious accidents that make them decay.

Various methods have been attempted for the effecting of this, and great objections found in the way of all of them, except the lateft, brought into ufe by Stabl, and fince recommended greatly to the world by Dr. Shaw in his chemical eflays. If any kind of Wine, but particularly fuch as has never been adulterated, be in a fufficient quantity, as that of a gallon of more, expofed to a fufficient degree of cold in frofty weather^ or be put into any place where ice continues all the year, as in our ice-houfes, and there fuffered to freeze, the fuperfluous water that was originally contained in the Wine, will be frozen into ice, and will leave the proper and truly eflential part of the Wine unfrozen, unlefs the degree of cold fhould be very intenfe, or the Wine but weak and poor. This is the princi- ple on which Stahl founds his whole fyftem of condenfing li^ines by cold.

When the froft is moderate, the experiment has no difficulty, becaufe not above a third or a fourth part of the fuperfluous water will be froze in a whole night j but if the cold be very intenfe, the beft way is, at the end of a few hours, when a tolerable quantity of ice is formed, to pour out the remaining fluid liquor, and fet it in another veflel to freeze again by it- felf: this is proper, for two reafons ; firft, becaufe the quan- tity of ice growing large, more of the concentrated Wine will be apt to lodge in it than fhould, and it will require a longer time to drain and clear away from the ice. The making the experiment will fufficiently explain this to any body ; for, without breaking the ice, the unfrozen part will, barely by inclining the veflel, find its own way out, and drain clear from the watery part, which is now converted into ice ; fo thafif the draining be perfect, the ice of the molt perfectly red Bourdeaux claret will become nearly as clear and pale as water, and will refolvebyheat into an almoft entirely colour- lefs phlegm. This is no fmall curiofuy attending this expe- riment, and at the fame time affords a criterion of its exact performance.

if the veflel, that thus by degrees receives the feveral parcels of the condenfed Wine be fuffered to ftand in the cold freezing place where the operation is performed, the quantity lying thin in the pouring out, or otherwife, will be very apt to freeze anew ; and if it be fet in a warm place, fome of this aqueous part thaws again, and fo weakens the reft. The

■ condenfed Wine therefore fhould be emptied in fome pkee of a moderate degree as to cold or beat, where neither the ice may diffolve, nor the vinous fubftance mixed among it be congealed. But the belt expedient of all is to perform the operation with a large quantity of Wine, or that of feveral gallons, where the utmoft exactnefs, or the danger of a trifling wafte, needs not be regarded.

By this method, when properly performed, there firft freezes about one third part of the whole liquor, and this is properly the more purely aqueous part of it, mfomuch that when all the vinous fluid is poured off, to be again expofed to a concen- tration, the ice remaining behind, from this firft freezing, be- ing fet to thaw in a warm place, diflblves into a pure and taftelefs water.

If the. Wine, now once concentrated, fhould, by a long, con- tinuance in the freezing cold, be again congealed to the ut- moft (unlefs the cold were very fevere indeed) and then again be drained from its ice, there, foon after this, falls to. the bottom of the veflel, a pure white powder or tartar, and even

■ the icy part afterwards depofits alfo a little of the fame fub-

■ ftance after thawing; and after the Handing two or three ' tated, and that conftantly the more in proportion as the Wine
 * days, there is always more and more of this tartar precipi-

was more auftere, or lefs adulterated with fugar brandy, or the like, for thefe things contain no tartar. The ice of the fecond operation on a quantity of Wine, differs in nothing from that of the firft, provided only that the Wine was poured clear off from it, before the ice is fet to melt, by which means it diflblves into a clear phlegm. This fhews the excellency of the operation, as it lofes not its efficacy upon repetition, but brings away mere water as well at laft as at firft, without robbing the Wine of any of its genuine or truly valuable parts. The remaining liquor, which, hai efcaped be- ing