151 / 374
DRINI^S.
151
for
the
implanting
of
artificial
flavours,
which
may
be
those
of
sham
whiskey,
sham
brandy,
or
sham
rum.
*'
The
presence
of grain
ethers
is
the
condition
of
the
genuineness
of
whiskey.
Silent
spirit,
on
the
other
hand,
undergoes
no
change
by
keeping,
and
must
be
flavoured
to
become
drinkable.
For
that
purpose
it
is
either
made
smoky,
to
become
like
Scotch,
or
it
is
mixed
with
Irish
pot
whiskey,
to
become
like
Irish
whiskey."
There
is
yet
another
and
a
newer
way
of
altering
whiskey,
which
was
shown
in
the
Brewers'
Exhibition
at Islington,
October,
1890,
and
described
in
an
advertisement
in
a
morning
paper
as
**
A
Transforma-
tion
Scene
;
no
Pantomime."
This
new
process
of
maturing
spirits
is
by
subjecting
them
to
the
action
of
compressed
air
confined
in
a
close
chamber.
No-
thing
but
atmospheric
air
is
used,
which
is
filtered
through
pure
water
before
being
compressed.
The
air
chamber
shown
was
a
cylindrical
vessel,
which,
in
practice,
would
be
some
twelve
feet
high
or
more.
It
is
supplied
with
a
finely
perforated
floor,
at
a
bonveni=
ent
distance
below
the
top,
and
it
has,
besides,
one
or
two
lower
floors
of
metallic
gauze.
The
cylinder
is
charged
with
the
liquor
to
be
treated,
and
the
com-
pressed
air
is
then
let
into
it.
The
taps
having
been
closed
on
the
completion
of
this
operation,
a
rotary
pump
keeps
the
liquor
in
continuous
circulation
as
it
passes
through
the
floors
in
the
form
of
a
fine
shower.
As
soon
as
it
reaches
the
gauze
floor
it
breaks
up
into
spra3fj
and,
in
this
minute
state
of
sub-division,
it
is