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SPIRITS

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 695 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SPIRITS .' The See also:

original meaning of the word spirit (See also:Lat. spirilus, from spirare) was See also:wind in See also:motion, breath, the soul, and hence it came to denote that which gives See also:life or vigour to the human See also:body and other See also:objects, and it is, therefore, synonymous with everything eminently pure, ethereal, refined or distilled. In popular chemical nomenclature the See also:term " spirit " in its former sense is still occasionally encountered, for instance, " spirits of salts " for hydrochloric See also:acid. The spirits of the See also:British See also:Pharmacopoeia (e.g. sp. aetheris nitrosi; sp. chloroformi; sp. camphorae) are solutions of various substances obtained either by distilling these with, or dissolving them in, the rectified spirit of the Pharmacopoeia, which latter is pure See also:alcohol with 16% by See also:weight of See also:water. In the See also:modern sense, spirits may be broadly defined as the See also:pro-ducts resulting from the See also:distillation of saccharine liquids which have undergone alcoholic See also:fermentation. Spirits of See also:wine means rectified spirit of a strength of 43 degrees over See also:proof and upwards. By rectified spirit is meant spirit rectified at a licensed rectifier's premises. Proof spirit, which is the See also:standard spirit of the See also:United See also:Kingdom, is legally defined (58 Geo. III. c. 28) as a spirit which at 51° F. weighs exactly twelve-thirteenths of the weight of an equal See also:volume of distilled water. The strength of proof spirit at 6o° F.—the temperature now generally employed for See also:official calculations—is now officially regarded as being equal to a spirit containing 57'06% by volume, or 49'24% by weight, of See also:absolute alcohol. Spirit which possesses a greater or smaller alcoholic strength than proof is described as being so many degrees over or under proof, as the See also:case may be. The strength is legally estimated by Sykes's See also:hydrometer, which was legalized in 1816 by 56 Geo.

III. c. 40. The degrees " over " or " under " proof as ascertained by Sykes's hydrometer are arbitrary percentages by volume of a standard spirit contained in the spirit under examination. This standard spirit is proof spirit. For example, by a spirit of strength 75.25 degrees over proof (absolute alcohol) is meant a spirit of such a strength that too volumes of the same contain an amount of spirit equal to 175•25 volumes of the standard (proof) spirit. A spirit of 25 degrees under proof is one of which too volumes contain only as much alcohol as do 75 (i.e. too— 25) volumes of proof spirit. According to Nettleton, " proof spirit " would appear to be the outcome of an See also:

attempt to pro-duce a mixture of pure alcohol and water, containing equal weights of the constituents. The term " proof " probably originated from a rough test for spirituous strength formerly employed, which consisted in moistening See also:gunpowder with the spirit and applying a See also:light. If the gunpowder did not ignite, but the spirit merely burned away, the spirit was regarded as being under proof, i.e. it contained so much water that the gunpowder became moist and refused to deflagrate. The basis of the standard of other countries is almost invariably the unit volume of absolute alcohol, the hydrometers; or rather " alcoholometers "—such as those of See also:Gay-Lussac and of J. G. Trallesemployed indicating the exact quantity of alcohol in a mixture at a standard temperature, in percentages by volume.

In the United States the term " proof " is also employed, See also:

American proof spirit being a spirit which contains 50% of alcohol by volume at 6o° F. American " proof " spirit is, therefore, considerably weaker than British " proof." Allowing for this difference and also for the fact that the American standard ' For the sense of disembodied persons, see See also:SPIRITUALISM.See also:gallon (which is really the old See also:English wine-gallon) is equal to 0.833 of an imperial gallon, the American " proof " gallon roughly equals 0.73 of a British proof gallon. See also:Historical.—The See also:art of distillation, more particularly the preparation of distilled alcoholic fluids for beverage and medicinal purposes, is of very See also:ancient origin. It is probable that the art of making spirits was well known many centuries before used in See also:China. used in Central See also:India. the See also:advent of the See also:Christian era. According to T. Fairley, the See also:Chinese distilled liquor " sautchoo " was known See also:long before the Christian era, and " arrack " was made in India at a date as remote as 800 B.C. See also:Aristotle in his See also:Meteorology (See also:lib. ii. ch. ii.) says " See also:Sea-water can be rendered potable by distillation: wine and other liquids can be submitted to the same See also:process. After they have been converted into humid vapours they return to liquids. " There is, on the whole, little doubt that spirits were manufactured in See also:Egypt, India, China, and the Far See also:East generally, as far back as 2000 B.C. See also:Figs. 1—4 (from More-See also:wood's Inebriating Liquors, published in 1838) show very ancient forms of stills in use in China, India, See also:Tibet and See also:Tahiti.

As far as can be ascertained the See also:

oldest reference to the preparation of a distilled spirituous liquor in the British Isles is contained in the " See also:Mead See also:Song " written by the Welsh See also:bard, Taliesin, in the 6th See also:century. He said " Mead distilled I praise, its eulogy is everywhere," &c. (Fairley, The See also:Analyst, 1905, p.300). The same authority points out that the knowledge of distillation in the FIG. 4.—Ancient See also:form of Still, used British Isles was inde- in Tahiti. pendent of the art of distillation from wine, seeing that distillation from See also:grain was known in See also:Ireland before the art of making wine came to See also:Europe. An Irish See also:legend states, that St See also:Patrick first taught the Irish the art of distillation; but, however that may be, it is certain that at the See also:time of the first English invasion of Ireland (117o—72) the manufacture of a spirit distilled from grain (i.e. See also:whisky) was known to the inhabitants of that See also:country. It is probable that grain spirit was first prepared in the Far East, inasmuch as a spirit distilled from See also:rice and other grains was made in India before the Christian era. The See also:establishment of See also:regular distilleries in See also:England appears to date back to the reign of See also:Henry VIII., and they are said to have been founded by Irish settlers who came over at that time. It is difficult to obtain exact data used in Tibet. regarding the origin of the distilling See also:industry in See also:Scotland, but, as Fairley says, it is probable that distilling was carried on there almost as See also:early as in Ireland. At the time of the Tudors Scotch whisky was held in See also:great repute in England.

The See also:

production of a spirit from wine (i.e. See also:brandy) appears to have been known in the 9th century; but, according to Morewood, the first attempt at the distillation of wine in See also:France is attributed to Arnaldus de See also:Villa Nova, in the 13th century. As a manufacturing industry the distillation of brandy in France began in the 14th century. The See also:history of the spirit industry in the United Kingdom is, as Nettleton has well pointed out, inseparably connected with questions of See also:taxation. According to one writer, it was not until 166o that an See also:excise See also:duty was first imposed on the See also:consumption of spirit (" aqua vitae ") in the United Kingdom, but it appears probable that the industry generally was taxed in one form or another in the reign of See also:Elizabeth, when it first began to assume considerable importance. No See also:record, however, of the quantity of spirit on which duty was charged was kept until 1684. In that See also:year duty was paid on 527,492 gallons. At the end of the century the consumption reached 1,000,000 gallons, and in 1745 it had risen to a quantity See also:equivalent to about 5,000,000 gallons at proof. See also:Cromwell imposed a tax of 8d. per gallon, but this was soon lowered to 2d. In 1751 a tax equivalent to Is. per proof gallon was imposed, and in 1766 this was further increased to 2s. After this various changes and complex methods of assessing the duty were introduced (see Nettleton, The Manufacture of Spirit, See also:Marcus See also:Ward, 1893) until, in more modern times, a more rational and See also:uniform See also:system was introduced. Conditions of Manufacture.—The See also:principal See also:act now governing and regulating the manufacture of spirits and the working of distilleries in Great See also:Britain is the Spirits Act of 1880. The provisions of this and of the other acts bearing on the subject are exceedingly numerous and complicated, and, therefore, only a few of the See also:chief points can be set forth here, so that an adequate appreciation may be gained of the arduous and rigid conditions under which the spirit manufacturer is, in See also:order to ensure the safeguarding of the See also:revenue, constrained to carry out his operations.

A distillery must not, without permission, be carried on at a greater distance than See also:

half a mile from a See also:market See also:town, nor may it be situated within a See also:quarter of a mile from a rectifying establishment. A distiller must give See also:notice of the erection of new plant or apparatus, of the time of See also:brewing, of the removing of See also:sugar from See also:store or of yeast from wort or See also:wash, of the making of " buts," of the locking of the spirit See also:receiver See also:supply See also:pipe, &c. He may use any material he pleases, provided that the gravity of the wort can be ascertained by the saccharometer, but he may not brew See also:beer nor make See also:cider, wine nor sweet wines. When the worts are collected in the wash-back (fermenting See also:vessel) a See also:declaration must be made at once, specifying the original gravity and the number of dry inches remaining in the back. At the end of every distilling See also:period a return must be delivered showing (a) the quantity of brewing materials used, (b) the quantity of wort or wash attenuated and distilled,out of store, the number and See also:size of vessels, the locking of the latter, and the See also:painting of the pipes carrying various liquids in certain See also:colours. The methods of assessing the duty are three-See also:fold, and whichever of these methods gives the highest return is the one adopted. The first is the " attenuation See also:charge." This consists of levying the charge due on one gallon of proof spirit for every See also:hundred gallons of worts collected and for every five degrees of attenuation observed, the latter being calculated by taking the difference between the highest specific gravity of the worts and the lowest gravity of the wash after See also:complete fermentation. Secondly, there is the " See also:low-wines charge," calculated upon the bulk-quantity at proof-strength of the low wines produced by the distillation of the wash; and lastly, the " feints and spirits charge." This is the method usually adopted, as it generally gives the highest results; it is assessed on the number of bulk gallons at proof of the feints and spirits produced by the final distilling operations. The duty, which was fixed at Ios. per proof gallon in 186o, remained at that See also:rate until 1890, when an addition of 6d. was made, but a further increase to the like amount made in 1894 was remitted in the next year owing to the unsatisfactory results obtained. The rate remained at Ios. 6d. until 1900 when it was raised to I Is., a further increase being made in 1909-1910. Legally, the word " spirit " implies spirit of any description, and all liquors, mixtures and compounds made with the same.

In the same way See also:

plain spirit is any British spirit which has not been artificially flavoured, and to which no ingredient has been added subsequent to distillation. The extremely severe and inelastic provisions of the acts governing the manufacture of spirit in the United Kingdom have proved to be a very serious impediment to the development of the spirit industry on modern lines, and have placed the British manufacturer at a considerable disadvantage as compared with his See also:foreign competitors. There is little doubt that the enormous revenue derived from the spirit industry could be adequately safeguarded in a manner more consistent with the development of the industry on See also:sound commercial and technological lines than it is at See also:present. Production and Consumption.—The production of spirit in the United Kingdom amounted in 1907 to roughly 50,000,000 proof gallons, the consumption to a gallon per See also:head of See also:population. In the See also:decade 188o-1890 the quantity of spirits distilled remained practically stationary at about 40,000,000 gallons, but during the ten years 1890-1900 there was a rapid increase, the maximum being attained in 1898, when nearly 64,000,000 gallons were produced. A point had then been reached at which the production had considerably outstripped the consumption, due in See also:part to the See also:desire of the spirit See also:trade to meet the increased demand for " matured " spirits, and in part to the fact that an excessive amount of See also:capital had, owing to the increased popularity of Scotch whisky, been attracted to the distilling industry. This over-production led to a vast increase in the quantity of spirit remaining in warehouse. In 1906 production and consumption were about equal, and the quantity of spirit in warehouse represented roughly a five years' supply.

End of Article: SPIRITS

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