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46
Alcohol.
Rectified
Spirit
and
Spirits
of
Wine
are
syno-
nymous
terms.
The
origin
of
the
discovery
of
alcohol
is
unknown.
Its
name,
“
alcohol,”
seems
to
give
the
Arabs
the
claim
of
being
the
inventors
of the
art
of
distilla-
tion
;
at
all
events,
the
art
was
known
at
an
early
period
in
Spain
and
Italy,
having
been
introduced
into
Spain
by
the
Moors.
It
was
first
used
as
a
medicine,
and
was
then
distilled
from
the
grape.
The
Genoese
afterwards
distilled
it
from
grain,
and
called
it
aqua
vitae,
i.e.,
water
of
life.
Alcohol
comprises,
under
its
designation,
the
following
principal
varieties
:
spirits
of
wine,
brandy,
rum,
arrack,
gin,
whisky,'
&c.
As
spirits
of
wine,
it is
much
used
for
pharmaceutical
and
other
purposes.
Its
specific
gravity
is
fixed
by
the
London
Phar-
macopoeia
at 9
'20.
Brandy
.
—
Derived
from
the
German
word
Brant-
wein,
i.e.
wine
that
has
undergone
the
action
of
fire,
is
an
ardent
spirit,
used
more
generally
than
any
other.
It
was
first
made
in
Sicily,
at
the
commencement
of the
fourteenth
century,
and
is
the
spirit
most
commonly
produced
in
wine
countries
that
we
obtain'
from
France
being
the
most
highly
esteemed.
The
department
of
Charente
produces
the
most
famous
and
choice
Brandies
of
France,
known