contains any sugar, and from which we procure, by distillation, an
inflammable liquor, known in commerce under the name of Spirit of Wine.
As this liquor is produced by the fermentation of any saccharine matter
whatever diluted with water, it must have been contrary to the
principles of our nomenclature to call it spirit of wine rather than
spirit of cyder, or of fermented sugar; wherefore, we have adopted a
more general term, and the Arabic word _alkohol_ seems extremely proper
for the purpose.
This operation is one of the most extraordinary in chemistry: We must
examine whence proceed the disengaged carbonic acid and the inflammable
liquor produced, and in what manner a sweet vegetable oxyd becomes thus
converted into two such opposite substances, whereof one is combustible,
and the other eminently the contrary. To solve these two questions, it
is necessary to be previously acquainted with the analysis of the
fermentable substance, and of the products of the fermentation. We may
lay it down as an incontestible axiom, that, in all the operations of
art and nature, nothing is created; an equal quantity of matter exists
both before and after the experiment; the quality and quantity of the
elements remain precisely the same; and nothing takes place beyond
changes and modifications in the combination of these elements. Upon
this principle the whole art of performing chemical experiments
depends: We must always suppose an exact equality between the elements
of the body examined and those of the products of its analysis.
Hence, since from must of grapes we procure alkohol and carbonic acid, I
have an undoubted right to suppose that must consists of carbonic acid
and alkohol. From these premises, we have two methods of ascertaining
what passes during vinous fermentation, by determining the nature of,
and the elements which compose, the fermentable substances, or by
accurately examining the produces resulting from fermentation; and it is
evident that the knowledge of either of these must lead to accurate
conclusions concerning the nature and composition of the other. From
these considerations, it became necessary accurately to determine the
constituent elements of the fermentable substances; and, for this
purpose, I did not make use of the compound juices of fruits, the
rigorous analysis of which is perhaps impossible, but made choice of
sugar, which is easily analysed, and the nature of which I have already
explained. This substance is a true vegetable oxyd with two bases,
composed of hydrogen and charcoal brought to the state of an oxyd, by a
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