In the year 1784, Mr Richardson of Hull pub fished his Theoretic Hints on Braving Malt Lipson, and his Statical Estimates of the Materials of Threw leg, showing the Iles of the SocolsaranOter. These books arc reprehensible, on 'account of the air of mystery thrown about the subject, and the avowal of the author, that he conceals certain parts of the processes. If a brewer conceives he knows more of his art than his neighbours, and chooses to keep his knowledge to himself; there is nothing to be said ; but if he publish a book upon the subject, and yet persists in his concealment, he deserves no quarter. His book, in such a case, can be looked upon in no other light than a quack bill to advertise the good ness of his wares. Mr Richardson, however, de serves considerable praise for the saccharometer, which he appears to have been the first to bring under the notice of the brewer. This instrument is of material service, by making brewers acquainted with the strength of their worts, and consequently with the proportion of soluble matter which is fur nished by the materials that they employ. Mr Richardson's saccharometer, indeed, was not accu rate, because it was' founded on a-wrong principle. The method which he took was to determine the weight of a barrel of pure water. The liquid being then converted into wort, a barrel of it was weighed again, and the increete of weight was considered as the matter which the water held in solution. Mr Richardson did not seem to be aware that, when wa ter dissolves the sweet portion of malt, its bulk is altered. Therefore, the specific gravity of it does
not indicate the quantity of solid matter which it holds in solution. A set of experiments made on purpose, by dissolving determinate weights of the solid extract of malt, in given quantities of water, is necessary to determine the point. The same objec tion applies to the saccharometer of Dring and Fage, and to various others in common use. That of Dices is nearly correct, having been constructed upon proper principles. But perhaps the best is one constructed about twelve years ago by Dr Thomson, and used by the Excise officers in Scotland. It in dicates the specific gravity of the wort; from which, by means of a sliding rule which accompanies the instrument, the weight of saccharine matter contain ed in it is at once determined.
One of the latest books on the subject which we have seen is entitled Practical Trfatise on Brewing and Distilling. This book was published in 41o, in the year 1805. The author, whose name is Shau non, appears to have some practical knowledge of brewing ; but he must have been quite illiterate, as he was totally unable to write either grammar or common sense. The book is a tissue of absurdi ties from beginning to end ; and the impractica bility of his proposed improvements is surpassed on ly by the absurdity of his theory, which consists of scraps and sentences, taken out of chemical books, and tacked together, so as to have no meaning what ever.