Books › Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883 › scan 287
Scan 287
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
2 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 273. See the scan on archive.org.
1paper might be placed under it, and, if the paper burns, withdraw the phial at once, as it will indicate that the heat is too great. The alcohol must be very pure—64 over proof of the Government scale at 60deg. Fahrenheit, or 16deg. centigrade. Its specific gravity ought to be about .817, but alcohol is so much falsified that it may be as well to test it before purchase by putting a drop in the hollow of the hand and rubbing until it evaporates, when, if it has been adulterated with essential oil, the penetrating odour of the latter will be perceived. Alcohols are often adulterated with, or have in them, essential oils. That made from raisins, for example, is generally impure, and contains an oil which can be separated by careful distillation, after adding six parts of water. If wood spirit has been added, it combines so perfectly that its presence cannot be determined by any known process; but this latter does not injure the solving power of the alcohol. If alcohol contains anything but an admixture of water—foreign substances, such as sugar, for example—for the purpose of augmenting its specific weight, areometers and hydrometers are, of course, of no use. Ordinary spirit of wine should, at the above temperature, mark from 60deg. to 64deg. on the Government scale, and rectified alcohol about 76deg. In testing the comparative richness of alcohols by hydrometers, it will be well to remember that the one generally in use in this country—Sykes'—is calculated for the temperature of 60deg. Fahr., or 16 centigrade. It would, therefore, be necessary before testing its richness to raise the alcohol to that temperature, which could be done by the natural heat of the hand applied to the tube in which the
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