The micro-organism of faulty rum / by V.H. Veley and Lilian J. Veley (née Gould).

  • Veley, V. H. (Victor Herbert)
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The micro-organism of faulty rum / by V.H. Veley and Lilian J. Veley (née Gould). Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    THE ‘RESIN’ THEORY In the report of Mr. Harrison alluded to above the follow- ing passage occurs :—• ‘ When the spirits were kept in contact with the split-up staves [of casks used by manufacturers] for two or three weeks, the alcohol took up from them considerable quantities of resinous and other matters, so as to produce flocculencies and precipitates when mixed with distiUed water or with rain- water. ‘ Similar experiments were made with split-up staves, using coloured rum which had successfully stood the test with the Liverpool well-water, and it was found that after being in contact with the pieces of staves for a few days, the coloured rum acted in a manner not distinguishable from that in which the faulty rum acted when mixed at 50 °F. with the Liverpool well-water. ‘From this it appears that the deleterious substances pro- ducing cloudiness when rum is mixed with Liverpool well-water probably are derived from the staves of the cask by the solvent action of the alcohol upon certain of the constituents of the wood.’ Mr. Harrison does not bring forward any direct evidence that the matters extracted from the staves of the casks were of a resinous nature ; it does not even appear that he applied any of the well-known physical or chemical tests for resins, neither does he offer any proof that the ‘ flocculencies ’ and ‘ precipitates,’ which he obtained after extraction of the wood with the spirits and subsequent dilution, were identical in character with the ‘ floating flocculencies ’ which he found in faulty rum.
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