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Description of the Still and Water-Bath (Nally prevented by distilling)

nally prevented by distilling spirits in a water bath, which, if sufficiently large, will perform the operation with all the dispatch requisite for the most extensive business. The vessel in which the distillation is effected ought to be immersed in another filled with water up to the neck. The process will thus be managed as expeditiously as if the vessel were placed over an open fire, and without the apprehension of being disappointed by having your spirits burned; nor will it be necessary at any time to raise the water in the bath to a boiling heat. As distillation is only recommended in this book for some few cordials, we shall simply describe a small still suited to that purpose.

Description of the Still and Water-Bath.

A still is an apparatus used in distilling, usually composed of metal, the form of which, together with the number of parts of which it is composed, and their relative proportions, may vary considerably. The still in general use may, however, be considered as composed of three or four parts : 1st. The cucurbit or body of the still, A. This portion of the apparatus receives the direct action of the fire, and contains the liquid to be distilled when the process is to be conducted by a naked fire. It is in the form of a truncated reversed cone, A, mounted on a rounded portion, a a, which rests on the furnace, X X, and terminated at the top by a collar of somewhat smaller diameter than the lower part.

C is a hole, by which the liquid is introduced into the body of the apparatus; d d are the handles. 2d. The water-bath, B, a cylindrical vessel of tin or tinned copper, which is placed in the cucurbit, A, closing