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THE FLOWING BOWL
punishable with death and dismemberment. But
they ran 'em just the same ; for in those days
an Irishman was never really happy unless he
were drinking, fighting, or being sentenced to
death. But whether it was English, Scotch,
Welsh, or Irish whisky, or French brandy, or
Dutch gin, smuggling and illicit distilling were
rampant through the centuries, and the Inland
Revenue officer was no more respected or wor
shipped than at the present day. Still there has
not been much blood shed over those differences
of opinion ; except in Western Pennsylvania at
the close of the last century—a period when the
greater part of the universe was fighting about
something—when it took 15,000 soldiers from
Washington to quell a riot amongst a populace
discontented with the Excise regulations.
Blending and diluting whiskies are for the
most part done in the bonded warehouses. " All
commercial spirit," says an authority on the sub
ject, "however pure, contains a small proportion
of impurities" (which sounds Irish) "or by
products of distillation known as fusel-oil." It
will relieve the minds of some to know that fusel-
oil is merely a by-product of distillation, and
not the "low-flash" stuff which causes the
accidents with the cheap lamps. It used to be
thought that during the " rnaturing," or " age
ing," of whisky the constituents of fusel-oil
underwent decomposition ; but my good friend
Doctor James Bell, C.B., the chief Government
analyst at Somerset House (he retired some three
years ago), utterly refuted this theory by analysis.
Whisky is, like brandy, naturally white, and