injurious kind, in which, unfortunately, distinguished investi gators are involved, will then be removed; and no one, however great may be his name, will allow himself dictatorially to stamp as "hypotheses" or " false explanations," historicogeological facts of the first rank.

occurred in the crust of the globe; the demands might be so great that geologists would not be able to satisfy them; but in this case it is to be remarked, that, after such a full elucidation of what had taken place, there would not be much question as to an explanation, for, in this elucidation, the series of chemical events would also form an element. Should, however, only reasonable requirements be made as to a history of this kind, then it is my opinion, as has already been seen, that this can be accomplished, but that chemistry will be found deficient in a greater or less degree, and especially if it will not admit of any other illustrations but those obtained in the usual manner by experiment.

The following, for example, is a fragment of geological history-pure and undisguised history-in regard to which I venture to think, that it is in all its parts perfectly to be relied on. At some period or other after the strata constituting our so-termed primitive gneiss-formation had been brought into their present upright position, a series of strata were deposited at the transitive epoch, which afterwards were variously transmuted in a gradual manner, and at the ordinary temperature. We see most of them now as clay-slates, but other portions exhibit more or less crystalline masses, which occur as well in the slaty form as in the state of unstratified rocks. These were developed, not quite irregularly, according to their different kinds, in the transition district; thus, in the neighbourhood of Christiania, it is quite evident that always only a particular part of the masses of this formation, viz, solely some of the beds which lie next the fundamental rock, have been converted into a peculiar kind of porphyry; in consequence of which this porphyry is quite generally met with in the form of beds, either directly on the fundamental rock, or at least near it, (Gaa Norvegica, i., plate ii., fig. 6, 7, 8).—Now, must not the chemist, before whom this account is placed, with the request that he will give an exact explanation of the act of formation of these beds of porphyry, confess that the problem is beyond his powers? But this he must confess with respect to many much less important cases. Chemistry is not yet in a position to explain the change produced on glass by long lying, observed by Brewster, and mentioned at p 172; a change which, it may be remarked in passing, is undoubtedly analogous to that of the conversion of a more or less homogeneous rock into porphyry, diorite, &c. Let it then be assumed that, although the chemist be forced to make this confession, he is by no means absolutely unwilling to admit as true the above historical report; but that, on the contrary, he is inclined to investigate the subject more closely, in combination with the geologist; then his reasoning will be as follows: Many things are possible in nature, which are not so in laboratories; in the former case, enormous masses are in operation for enormous periods of time; in the instance before us, we have to take into account that enormous apparatus which is produced by the different mutual position of the beds of the two formations meeting each other;

Analysis of Wines from Palestine, Syria, and Asia Minor. By Professor EDWARD HITCHCOCK, LL.D., of Amherst College.

It is well known, that in the discussions which have arisen in this country and England on the subject of temperance, much has been said respecting the character of the wines described in the Bible and other ancient writings. By some it was maintained, "that few, if any, of the wines of antiquity were alcoholic ;" that the strongest grape wines of the ancients had in them a less quantity of alcohol than our common table-beer;" "that of one hundred and ninety-five kinds of wine used by the Romans in Pliny's time, only one was alcoholic ;"" that amongst the Jews in Judea there was a real difficulty, from chemical and natural causes, in the making and preserv-. ing any wines except the unfermented;"" that the wines of Palestine were not alcoholic," &c. (Anti-Bacchus.) A vast amount of curious learning was put in requisition in the discussion of this subject. But it has seemed to me that a few analyses of wines from some of the most famous localities of Western Asia, whence the wines of Scripture were obtained, would do much more towards settling the question as to their alcoholic character, than the most ingenious philological criticisms. And I confess I was surprised to find that no such analysis had been made. I wrote, therefore, to my friend, Rev. Henry J. Van Lennep, American missionary at Smyrna, requesting him to send me specimens of the common wines of Palestine, Syria, and Asia Minor. As Mr Van Lennep was a native of Smyrna, I thought he would be better acquainted with the proper localities than a foreigner, and be more sure of obtaining specimens in an unenforced and unadulterated state; while the fact, that he was educated in this country, would make him fully acquainted with the precise object I had in view. I was particular to request him to send no specimen but the pure juice of the grape, to which no ardent spirit had been added. To my request he kindly attended, though with no small trouble. In a letter dated at Smyrna, Sept. 23. 1842, he says: "I have been a great while in fulfilling your commission for specimens of wine from the Levant. I have met with a good deal of difficulty in obtaining specimens from Syria and Palestine, or rather in getting them transported from thence. For what with quarantine regulations, delays of vessels, &c. it is now more than a year, I think, since

--and, in this manner, at least the possibility of obtaining light and insight in regard to the subject would be afforded.-All this is very different in its nature and consequences from the course followed, of regarding the above historical report as an illusion, because facts belonging to the province of chemistry are therein stated, for whose explanation that science has not yet found the key.

I wrote to some of the missionary brethren at Beyroot and Jerusalem on the subject. I now forward to Boston, to your address, a box containing the following:-One bottle of wine from Mount Lebanon, one year old, and another from the same place six years old; two bottles from Hebron, age unknown; one bottle from Corfu, age unknown; one bottle from Syria, place and age unknown; one bottle from Cyprus, not old; one bottle from Samos, not old; one bottle from Rhodes, one year old; one bottle from Smyrna, new, that is, about a year old. I hope the custom-house officers will not open the box, and shall therefore write the contents on the outside. But with all the precautions I have taken, I should not be surprised should they all, or many of them, reach you soured. Then, instead of your laboratory, they will take their place in your store-room; and whenever you have salad on your table, you will please pour on the vinegar to my health—a sour health, to be sure!"

Fortunately, this anticipation of Mr Van Lennep was not realised, except that one of the bottles from Hebron contained considerable acetic acid, probably because in passing through so many custom-houses, it had been tested till nearly half of it was gone; yet even this, as we shall see, contained no small share of alcohol. All the other bottles, on breaking their seals, were found in a healthy state. And I may add, that in none of them could I discover any carbonic acid, so that probably the process of fermentation had been completed.

The mode of analysis was essentially that of Mr Brande. The specific gravities were determined by ascertaining the weight of a tubeful of the liquor, and comparing it with the same tube full of distilled water, in all cases at a temperature of 60° Fah. The tube which I employed held 736.4 grains of distilled water, and was suspended from one of the arms of Chemin's delicate balances. The weight of the tube and liquid was, indeed, rather too great for a balance of this description, and I do not think I could be sure of the weight nearer than one-tenth of a grain, although with small quantities the one-hundredth of a grain was perceptible. After weighing the tube full of wine, in order to obtain its specific gravity, it was distilled nearly to dryness, from a small retort into a receiver surrounded by snow, and afterwards, to make up for the deficiency, another small portion of the wine was distilled also nearly to dryness. Enough was thus obtained of the distilled liquor to fill the tube, which was then weighed, and the specific gravity thence deduced. In deducing from thence the per centum of alcohol, I used the new tables of Tralles, founded upon the principles of those by Gilpin, and given by Dr Ure in his Dictionary of the Arts, Manufactures, and Mines. These tables assume that water at the temperature of 60° has a specific gravity of 0.9991; and they give the per centum of anhydrous alcohol by measure. Hence they shew a smaller amount of alcohol than those of Gilpin, used by Professors Brande and Beck, whose standard is alcohol of the specific gravity of 0.825. But as Gilpin's tables have been so commonly used, I have added a column of the VOL. XXXVII. NO. LXXIII.-JULY 1844.

M

amount of alcohol by measure, as obtained by those tables in Brande's Chemistry. The tables of Lowitz of St Petersburgh are also preferred by some. He assumes, as his standard, alcohol of the specific gravity .796 at 60° Fah., and gives the per centum by weight. I have given a column deduced from his tables, also, as contained in the Second Supplement to the seventh London edition of Turner's Chemistry, by Professor Gregory. From the specific gravity of the wine before and after distillation, I have deduced the amount of solid matter, and given the per centum by weight. Finally, I have added a column to the per centum by measure of brandy, on the supposition that brandy contains 49.44 per cent. of pure alcohol.

As others like myself, who may desire to analyse fermented liquors, may not be able to procure Gay Lussac's apparatus for that purpose, I will observe that I used two methods of connecting the retort and receiver, which I consider much better than to lute them together. One was, to make the junction by a strong India rubber tube tied firmly to both vessels by a waxed thread. The other, and still better method, was, to find a receiver whose neck would just admit the neck of the retort, with a piece of firm paper wound carefully around it, and slightly pasted to it. By giving the retort a screwing motion, it was easily made to fit into the receiver so firmly, that there was no danger of leakage.

Results of the Analysis of Wines from Palestine, Syria, and the

I was surprised to find so much alcohol as the above Table exhibits in No. 1, which would pass for tolerably good vinegar. No. 2, from the same locality, shews us probably how much alcohol it contained before the acetic fermentation commenced. These specimens were from grapes, grown probably not far from the " Valley of Eschol," whence the famous cluster was borne away by the Jewish spies in the time of Moses; for that valley must have been in the south-easterly part of Palestine. No. 2 has the taste of strong Madeira wine. Nos. 3 and 4 are from Mount Lebanon, one of the most famous localities of the wines of Scripture. No. 3 is astringent and somewhat sweet, yet it appears to be fully wrought. No. 4 has a similar taste, but it is quite thick, as its high specific gravity shews; and I strongly suspect that the grape juice was partially boiled down before it was allowed to ferment, as we know was formerly practised, and is still done, on Mount Lebanon, according to Mr Buckingham. It has the appearance of the other wines, after they have been heated to the boiling point in the retort; that is, a redder colour than is natural. No. 5 is perfect Port wine in colour, taste, and the amount of sediment deposited in the bottle. No. 6 is from Cyprus, which is one of the most famous localities of the ancient Greek wines. It is sweet and astringent, but not thick, and has no appearance of having been boiled before fermentation, as Mr Buckingham says is usually done on that island. It will be seen that it is a very strong wine. The age of those wines mentioned in the table are their ages when obtained by Mr Van Lennep. A year more, at least, should be added, except, perhaps, in one or two cases, as having elapsed before they were analysed. No. 7, from Rhodes, is a very clear strong wine, the strongest which I analysed, and slightly astringent, resembling some varieties of Madeira. No. 8, from Corfu, whose age is unknown, considerably resembles it in appearance and taste, and, as the analysis shews, in alcoholic power. No. 9, from Samos, is less clear, more astringent, and less strong. No. 10, from Smyrna, has the colour of Port wine, and is sour, astringent, and unpleasant, tasting strongly of the skin of the grape. The sourness appears to have been derived, chiefly at least, from the grape, and not from fermentation. It was about eighteen months old when analysed; called, however, by M. Van Lennep, a new wine. In short, these specimens exhibit a good deal of variety of character, and are, therefore, favourable for the object in view. It will be seen that, in all cases except the first, which I conceived to be of little importance, I performed two analyses of each specimen ; and I have given both results, that chemists might judge how much dependence is to be placed upon my researches. In No. 2, the dif ference in the amount of alcohol, by the two processes, amounts to 1.2 per cent. In the other cases the difference is less; and it seems to me we are warranted in concluding, that my mean results do not vary more than 1 per cent. from the truth in any case; and this is