been as transparent and brilliant as the last, and it is to their detriment that they throw off those first drops which are the most volatile, and spirituous of their receipts.
Here is an observation which deserves all their attention, and which we recommend earnestly to every distiller. In all the matters which have first been put in digestion or what is the same meaning, set to infuse the day before, the spirits are the first which fly to the top of the still; when on the contrary in those receipts which have not been set to infuse, the phlegm raise first, and the spirits afterwards, the reason is quite physical, and so plain that it requires no farther elucidation to conceive it.
We shall add another observation, which no doubt will please the curious, and even all those who have some notion of distillation. In all the mixed receipts, such as those in which you would put to distil flowers, fruits, and spices together, without being previously prepared by means of the digestion; the action of the fire raises first the spirits of the flowers; in such a manner that, in spite of the mixture, these spirits have contracted nothing from the smell of the fruits nor of the spices. That secretion made, the spirits of the fruits rise next, without any mixture of the spices or of the flower. In fine, the spirits of the spices come last, without the least impregnation of the odour of the flowers, or the taste of the fruits; every article keeps distinct by itself in that distillation; and those who doubt the veracity of this assertion are desired to try the experiment.
