The Portuguese in India, for the purpose of rectification, use a very neat and serviceable variety of still, by them called an alembic. It consists of a common cooking pot as a boiler, with a cylindrical head of the same diameter, and generally about the same depth as the boiler. The bottom of this is a cone closed in at the apex, the mouth of which covers that of the boiler. Around its inner edge is a slight turned-up ledg ing or flange, from which a pipe or worm leads off the spirit. The cylindrical portion of the top being filled with cold water, the spirituous vapour is conden,sed by it in the inside of the cone, and, trickling down, is caught by the flange and carried off by the pipe. This is a convenient and service able implement, and may be so used to give very excellent results.
In the Panjab, the first spirit that passes over is called phul and ek-atasha, or once-distilled. This is colk • in vessels and distilled again in another stir:, i"when the spirit passes over, it is called do-atasha, or double-distilled. This is of two qtudities, according to strength. In the Panjab the spices and flavourings, or mesalih, used in distilling, aro the following :—Sak, or bark of tho kikar, which is often erroneoasly sup posed itself to yield a spirit on distillation but is only a,dded to promote and accelerate the fermen tation of the molasses, etc.; triphalla, the three
myrobalans, mixed together as an astringent; rose leaves ; lotus flowers (nilofar) ; gaozaban (Cecelia Kleinii) ; violets ; anise seed (badyan) ; limes and lemon peel (sangtara); saffron ; sandal wood, red and white ; mundi buti (sphterauthus) kaslinuz (coriander) ; adrak (ginger) ; ilacht (cardamoms); mush.; darchini (cassia or cinna mon); gnjar (carrots dry and fresh) ; motya (jessamine); seb (apples); naspati (pears); sbir (milk) ; raughan, ghi ; meat (?) ; (sugar); tamal patr (aromatic leaves); taj (aromatic flavouring leaves) ; bed-musk (willow flowers) ; kasturi (musk) ; amber (ainbergris) ; khawi (Anatherium muricattim) ; khas, root of the latter ; chob-chini (Smilax china); salep misri, —are all distilled from.
Distilled waters contain ft little of the volatile principles of plants, and may be distilled either off the plants, or by distilling some essential,oil with water.—Powell ; O'Shaughnessy ; Carnegy.