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On Distillation and the Still (Chemical instruments so old)

chemical instruments; so old is it, that the name of its inventor is lost in the lapse of time. Our word " still" is given to the instrument from the Latin stillare, to drop, to trickle down, to distill.

The principle of action of the still, whether of the oldest or most modern form, is identically the same ; but the development of its use is ever progressive from age to age, and in our day it is utterly impossible to set a limit to its value as an instrument of progress and civilization. The vapor of water rises from the earth during the warmth of the day, and is condensed during the cold of the night upon the surrounding plants and flowers; these are the dewdrops that sparkle in the morning. This is a process of Nature's distillation.

The object of distillation is to separate one substance from others with which it may be mixed. For example, as alcohol is transformed into vapor at the temperature of 176°, while water remains, at this temperature, in a liquid state, it is only necessary to heat the mixed liquids to 176°, when the alcohol rises in vapor, and the water is left behind. The vessel in which the liquids are heated is closed by an air-tight cover, and from this cover a pipe is led and coiled through a cask of cold water; as the alcoholic vapor enters this cold pipe it is condensed to the liquid form. This process of evaporating and condensing a liquid is called distillation; the apparatus is called a still, and the coiled pipe is the "worm of the still."

It is not possible by this process to completely separate the alcohol and water, for, though water is wholly converted into steam only at the temperature of 212°, it is partially volatile at lower temperatures, and a portion of it is consequently carried over with the alcohol.