DESIRABLE NIGHTCAPS(?)

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XII, Issue 518, 17 October 1867, Page 1

DESIRABLE NIGHTCAPS(?)

(From the London Ecvicw.) The ingenuity exhibited in dodging tlie exciseman is becoming so subtle that the professors of the art have almost elevated it- into a science. Nothing that we drink is what it professes to be. nrr r resouuai, m his report on wines, ire., in the Great Exhibition of 18ul, speaking of the wines sent. Inmi North Germany—ii onbro’—drilv said that “ they show a marked improvement in applied chemistryand efforts ;ire now being made to transfer the sale of spirits to the chemists, as a medicament. Has our reader ever seen in druggists’ shops in the low quarters of the metropolis such an announcement as this :—“ Indian lira:,dee, made from rare and costly products of India ” or “ Medicated M luskee ?” These are the last cun-ningly-devised beverages manufactured to cheat' the .Excise: and, worse still, to smuggle into households, under the name of a curative agent, 1 one of the most deleterious and disgusting' cou-, pounds imaginable. “ imhau Brandec” is made, ironi methylated spirit, a liquid used in the arts ami manufactures, and principally by batters for | the purpose of dissolving shellac, it is nothing* more or less than common "i-tato or beetroot 1 spirit, mixed with naptha for iho purpose, as the i Excise intended, of making it 100 repulsive to be 1 JUsou as a JiPiit., but . e . ~:V meful, and cheaper! than spirits of wine, lor the mnur.durcr’s pnr-j poses. But the Excise, it appears, are not half clever enough for the purveyors of strong drink; for the poor. On tiie trial of a chemist in He-; cembcr last for the sale uf these new nostrums,| at the instance of the Excise, at Preston, Mr! llarkness, (he analytic chemist, deposed that he. received the bottles" pared.iwd by Mr Lane and analysed their contents. The bottle containingi the “brandec” was first examined, it bail in it seventy-six per cent, of methylated spirit, the rest being' treacle and Wider. The “ whiskee ” hud. seventy-two per cent, of niellolatnl spirit, and the rest was sugar and water. Bulb the "brandec'’; and “whiskee” were equal in strength and quality to strong gin highly sweetened, and they' are evidently prepared as beverages. In some; 1 places they are so used, and called “ the teetu- 1 tal nightcap.” This may be a libel upon totalabstainers; but it is quite clear that it is intended 1 to lie surreptitiously used, and a maddening liquor! it is. Me give the analysis of the diileivnt sum-' pies sold as " Indian Brandi**,” as made by thej

chemist of the inland Jdevemnt Ofiiee: — “Ist. Methylated sjiirit, partially purified hv treatment with nitric acid and distillation, contniiiinrra trace of sweet spirit uf nitre, and sweet-mien with brown sugar. “dud. Methylated spirit, slightly flavored with rhubarb, and sweetened with brown se jar. “3rd. .Methylated spirit, simply sweetened anil colored. “ d-tli. Methylated spirit, containing a small quantity ct cldorot’orm, and colored. “ dth. Methylated spirit, with a small qmmtitv of spruce. “ 9th. .Methylated sjiirit, colored and sweetened, and slightly flavored with gingi r. “(til. dietliy luted spirit, flat oral "'dll leintgreek, and colored. The “ Indian tincture ” or “whiskee” was equally sweet -am! and lamed nil!, urn:;- in small _q_iamites. to ai\e >t colour:,lav the ebee aevr uj si ..lie me,dee ei po pnraliu.i. iu.iwbal i.ii.-l he the ell.rt upon the liana.u stomach of tbe-e dose.-,, intiiiitcsini.il, it may he, of I iii"i are-, he. ? ll there is any truth in liowu-opathy, here we have a surre] tninns means of turning the intestines into

a druggist’s shop. Tire people of the Xorth appear to have more! than ll ie average national liking for stupefying j drinks. There is a well-known dram specially I prepared in tiie cotton-spinning nistnets for pm-j ting children to sieejg in order that mothers may go to mill-work. This is called a “ quietner ; ■.. ml, unhappily, in bat too many eases it well deserves the name, as the poor babe onee mimed with this substitute- for mother's milk only wakes in another world. The evil of the “Indian braiulee, ” and “ whis’kee “ is that it can i." obtained at all hours of the Sunday ; and tin..- li e provision of tint Act winch shuts puiiiieboi;:-;' dnr ing the hours ol' Divine service is coiajd- lely turned. If is ass-ned tint mis demoniacal iiqnor is principally used by w omen under the pretence of iis being uece-sary ns a lordial ; and thus they slip into drunkenness with seeiv-y and certainty, by the aid of the tradesman who professes to minister unlv to our ailments.

That tins very poor should rush eagerly after ■such (ieleterious compounds is nut indeed a-'unish-; lug:, k mining, us uv do, lint it is custom ul' many fashionable woiiien to make thi'divv-: spouse. a hiding piece tor stimulants. Our laity friends across the Atlantic indulge,we are told, in a “ bitter” which goes hy the in me of “ pick-me-up ” This is cunningly brewed ul ehlur c ether. cardamoms, and ammonia, and is wry; stimulating. At home, the Eau dc Coßgne hoik tie is ha! 100 often idled with spirit nmeii stronger, than is necessary for a restorative. A lew drops' of hollands, we are told, has a wonderful ell’eel in giving brilliancy to the. eye. This is a dangerous cosmetic, and is, ivc fear, used like the lamoas American recipe for r, storing the hair in baldness ■ —namely, a portion rubbed in outwardly to make it. grow, and an iline portion taken inwardly to clench the routs. Tin: cxhau-liun and c i brought about in high life hy iate hours, exiv.-sive fatigue, and fast living, has its counterpart among the very poor. “Poverty, hunger, mid dirt," work as much depression on me spirits of the.' r - draggled-!ailed creatures of Shoreditch as perpetual round of bails and routs lines among the “upper ten thousand" during the season. The Superabundance, of every luxury, the dilli-; culty of conceiving wishes that cannot he gratified, 1 lead almost to the same feeling of despair as the.; total absence of every comfort of lim ; ami the ; remedy sought fur in both cases is the same, it: is, vve know, a fact that gin is favored and dosed ! in diiferent parts of the town to suit fm desperate' palates of the poor wretches who fly to the gin-! palace to find some solace for their troubles—some; Lethe for the despair that so often overtakes them, ; The liquor is matched to the neighbourhood as a' lady matches her worsteds. St. Giles's, for in-i stance, boasts a special gin, so spiced with cayenne pepper that the, memory of it is left in the mouth for an hour after. Shoreditch has another kind of gin, which is totally distinct, though equally maddening. Tor all we know, the poor of Clapham may be accommodated hy the delicate manipulations of the gin improvers, for the must demure evnngelicanisrn is not proof against the temptat ions uf this creature comfort. In a memorial lately addressed by the merchants of AVw York to the House of Representatives, among others, we find the following':— 1 The alarm from cholera aided consumption, inducing much reading of the Biiiic, and tire keeping of a small qua,idly of Irano'y hi the house." Possibly the Giapbam Stiggins may not see the irreverence of thus bracketing spiritual tilings of so different a nature :

at all events, wc know that practically so-called religious neighbourhoods are no whit superior to, irreligious ones in their craving for strung drink, ihe lower middle class, in the old crusted port) I at Is. lid., and the “ natty sherry,” are, equally . with the pour, partakers of liquids dosed with . spirit which is hut little superior to miserable concoctions sold at the gin-palaees. In the year ' 18(15, we exported to Franco and Portugal large 1 quantities of British spirit, distilled from grain l a,ud roots. Much of tills was a pure neutral iispmt. it was ascertained that this large quantity ijwas taken principally by the Portuguese for the -i purpose of “ fortifying the port wine they sent lo ytiiis country.” Tins spirit at that lime could be ,| imported as cheaply as the wine could be made, ■fit the s line time it gave an enormous strength—•(toe body we so much admire in the “ruby port” t,we have before alluded to. This, in a temperance I !sense, was bad enough, hut last year it was dis- , covered that our exportations to Prance and Por--f.ug.d had fdleii otf by 1,715,151 gallons—to " France by upwards of -PW,W) gallons, and to >1 Portugal by nearly a million of gallons. This ■jqinuiiiy mast have bam made up from some other tjsutirce, and on inquiry it was found that the Prussians bad ,‘miml out a method of distilling from ijeomiiioii roots an exceedingly coarse spirit, which,! I to ii■ ■ the vvo r ls of th , Inland Revenue. Report,! ■|Mh"y use lor mixing with suck spirits and! •ji'.qn.mrs as have suilicient flavor to disguise the| ■ .unpleasant taste of the adulterating material,” | ■ quid we may add wines also. Thus the flank of; Mmr spirit duties is turned by the wine growers as iladrmlly as by the druggists, and our grocers may ':b.' said to sell a mixed spirit at wine prices, which ' is not much purer than the " Indian Braiulce,” or 1 flic “ pure Islay Mountain.” ' Me have heard a great deal lately and are destined to hear more of that terrible disease, “ dipsomania,” winch affects the upper, middle, and [.lower classes with great impartiality. Can we | wonder at the gradual spread of tills thirst madness when we consider the care with which, for a I century, we have laid the train for the final ex-, plosion which has taken the country by surprise! I —when vve know that so many causes are secretly • ; at uork to educate women especially in (be taste ■dor a.eoliol in disguised mul so-called “ elegant ” dorms.