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A TREATISE ON
rate of potash, has been proposed on theoretical
grounds ; but we do not recommend their use.
Souring.-This
is either occasioned by the wine
having been imperfectly fermented; or from its
having been kept in a cellar where it has been ex–
posed to too much heat or air, or to continual vibra–
tions, occasioned by the passage of loaded vehicles
·through the adjoining thoroughfare. The common
remedy recommended in books for this purpose, is
to saturate the acid with chalk, milk of lime, or cal–
cined oyster shells; but such additions, made in
sufficient quantity to effect' this object, destroy the
character of the wine, and render it sickly and
vapid. Formerly it was a very common practice to
add litharge to alleviate the acidity; but the wine
was thus rendered highly injurious to health, and
frequently converted into a certain and deadly poi–
son. Owing to the exertions of the Council of Salu–
brity, this practice has been wholly put down in
France ; and this example, combined with the easy
method of detecting
lead
in wine, which are now so
generally known, has led _to its discontinuance else–
where.
The best and safest remedy is to mix it with
a considerable portion of full-bodied new wine,
adding, at the same time, a little brandy, and
in two or three weeks to fine it down, and either
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