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28
HISTORY.
illustrated
by
the
different
papers
devoted
expressly
to
brewing
purposes,
as:
The
American
Brewer,
New
York;
DerBierbrauer,Qt\\z-&gQ>;
The
Bavarian
Brewer,
Munich;
The
Beer
brewer,
Leipsic
;
The
Bohemian
Beer-
brewer,
Prague,
and
others.
THE
use
of
alcoholic
beverages,
such
as
wine,
beer,
etc.,
was
known
to
most
nations
of
ancient
times,
as
we
have
seen
above;
but
they
were
known
only
in
re-
gard
to
their
effect
upon
the
body.
In
respect
to
a
fundamental
knowledge
of
alcohol,
the
ancients
were
absolutely
in
the
dark,
as
the
distilling
apparatuses
of
those
times
were
too
imperfect.
The
philosophers
of
Alexandria
are
said
to
have
dis-
tilled
wine,
and
noticed
the
combustibility
of
the
dis-
tillate.
We
find
the
expression,
aqua
vita,
or "
water
of
life,"
that
was
afterward
generally
applied
to
alcohol,
in
the
Latin
translation
of
Geber's
writings
eighth
century;
yet
he
does
not
mention
anything
about
the
chief
char-
acteristic
of
the
fluid
its
combustibility.
Since
the
thirteenth
century
this
fluid
has
been
used
for
medical
purposes,
and
all
alchemists
and
physicians
tried
to
obtain
it
in
the
greatest
possible
concentra-
tion.
On
this
account
distillations
and
rectifications
were