he wine. Chemical
analysis proves the contrary; and the practice of clarifying spoiled
white wines by means of lead, must be pronounced as highly deleterious.

Lead, in whatever state it be taken into the stomach, occasions terrible
diseases; and wine, adulterated with the minutest quantity of it,
becomes a slow poison. The merchant or dealer who practises this
dangerous sophistication, adds the crime of murder to that of fraud, and
deliberately scatters the seeds of disease and death among those
consumers who contribute to his emolument. If to debase the current
coin of the realm be denounced as a capital offence, what punishment
should be awarded against a practice which converts into poison a liquor
used for sacred purposes.

Dr. Watson[33] relates, that the method of adulterating wine with lead,
was at one time a common practice in Paris.

Dr. Warren[34] states an instance of thirty-two persons having become
severely ill, after drinking white wine that had been adulterated with
lead. One of them died, and one became paralytic.

In Graham's Treatise on Wine-Making,[35] under the article of _Secrets_,
belonging to the mysteries of vintners, p. 31, lead is recommended to
prevent wine from becoming acid. The following lines are copied from Mr.
Graham's work:

"_To hinder Wine from turning._

"Put a pound of melted lead, in fair water, into your cask, pretty
warm, and stop it close."

"_To soften Grey Wine._

"Put in a little vinegar wherein litharge has been well steeped, and
boil some honey, to draw out the wax. Strain it through a cloth, and
put a quart of it into a tierce of wine, and this will mend it."

* * * * *

The ancients knew that lead rendered harsh wines milder, and preserved
it from acidity, without being aware that it was pernicious: it was
therefore long used with confidence; and when its effects were
discovered, they were not ascribed to that metal, but to some other
cause.[36] When the Greek and Roman wine merchants wished to try whether
their wine was spoiled, they immersed in it a plate of lead;[37] if the
colour of the lead were corroded, they concluded that their wine was
spoiled. Wine may become accidentally impregnated with lead.

It is well known that bottles in which wine has been kept, are usually
cleaned by means of shot, which by its rolling motion detaches the
super-tartrate of potash from the sides of the bottles.