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SPIRITS.
63
IN
hardly
any
article
of
merchandise
so
many
adul-
terations
occur
as
in
the
stronger
alcoholic
liquids.
And
to
these
falsifications
it
is
due
that
the
use
of
alco-
hol
so
often
shows
its
most
detrimental
effect
on
the
health,
especially
on
the
brain
of
man.
Spirits
may
be
adulterated
with
water,
sugar,
capsi-
cum,
cinnamon
or
cassia,
various
sulphates,
free
sul-
phuric
acid
and
lead.
Water
has
been
added
to
them
in
such
a
degree
that
their
commercial
value
was
re-
duced
to
the
enormous
extent
of
more
than
one-half.
This
lack
of
body
was
covered
partly
by
sugar.
Hassall
says
in
his
Adulterations
of
Food,
etc.:
"
It
is
impossible
to
conceive
of
more
scandalous
adulterations
of
spirits
than
those
by
cayenne
pepper
or
grains
of
paradise,
for
they
are
almost
equally
hot
and
pungent.
The
introduction
into
the
stomach
of
raw
spirits
is
suf-
ficiently
destructive
of
itself,
but
the
addition
of
such
powerful
and
acrid
substances
as
cayenne
pepper
and
grains
of
paradise
forms
a
compound
which
no
human
stomach
or
system,
however
strong,
could
long
with-
stand."
The
different
kinds
of
spirits
are
obtained
in
a
com-
paratively
crude
state
from
the
grain
by
the
distiller.
They
are
afterward
submitted
to purification
by
the
rectifier,
as
well
as
procured
of
a
higher
strength.
The