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Preface
tion.
Alcohol
for
beverage
purposes
was
real-
ly
a
by-product
with
them;
for
they
were
looking
for
perfume
extraction,
but
their
re-
searches
soon
carried
them
far
afield;
and
thus
we
have
—
"
Spirits-of-Wine
"—or
brandy.
This,
knowledge
of
the
extraction
of
alcohol
has
benefited
the
world
greatly;
for
by
analogous
processes
quinine,
morphine,
and
strychnine
have
been
made.
In
all
ages,
even
among
what
we
have
agreed
to
call
savages,
men
have
succeeded
in
making
drinks
of
various
kinds
at
home.
They
have
soured
the
milk
of
their
domestic
animals;
they
have
extracted
the
juice
of
dif-
ferent
fruits,
roots
—
whatever
they
may
have
imagined
to
contain
a
fermentative
principle.
As
Brillat-Savarin,
in
his
Physiologie
du
GoUt,
aptly
says:
"Whenever
we
find
men
together,
we
also find
they
are
provided
with
strong
liquors,
which
they
make
use
of
at
their
ban-
quets,
their
religious
ceremonies,
their
mar-
riages,
their
funerals—
in
short,
on
every
fes-
tive
or
solemn
occasion."
The
gastronomic
avocat
and
judge
further
says:
"In
any
case,
this
thirst
for
a
liquid
which
Nature
has
wrapped
up
in
mystery
—
an
extraordinary
de-
sire,
influencing
all
races
of
men,
under
all
climates
and
in
all
latitudes
—
well
deserves
to
fix
the
attention
of
the
philosophic
observer."
The
French
peasant
almost
universally
has
his
still;
his
English
brother
his
kitchen
brew-
ing
plant;
if
he
is
away
from
the
large
city;
viii.