Part 4

Every one knows, that when a large quantity of the juice of grapes is left to spontaneous fermentation, the result is wine. When wine has been kept some time to depurate in wooden vessels, it deposits, on the side of the vessel, a hard crust of dark coloured matter, the taste of which is sour. This matter is impure; but, when purified by various crystallizations, it becomes perfectly white and crystalline; and then it is known in commerce by the name of _cream of tartar_. The etymology of the singular name, tartar, is uncertain: it is derived from _tártaros_, as some say, because it occasions pains equal to those endured in the infernal regions; and, as others say, merely because this substance deposits itself in the inferior parts of the cask. Tartaric acid may be obtained from cream of tartar by a process analogous to that given for obtaining citric acid. It has an exceedingly acid taste: it dissolves readily in water, and is soluble in alcohol. Its crystals are of a very irregular shape. In 100 parts, by weight, there are 12 of water; the remaining 88 parts are the pure anhydrous acid, composed of 32-39 parts of carbon, 52-97 of oxygen, and 2-64 of hydrogen. This acid exists abundantly in other fruits, but especially in the tamarind; in the grape it exists along with citric, malic, and an acid called _vinic_, which resembles tartaric acid in many respects, but differs from it in others, and concerning the nature of which almost nothing is known: these four constitute the agreeable tartness of the juice of that fruit.

_Oxalic Acid_.

The plant called sorrel is valued for its acidulous taste. This acidity is owing to the presence of a peculiar acid, which may be separated from the juice, and from the potash with which it is combined, by a process analagous to that described for the preparation of citric acid. It has obtained the name of _oxalic acid_, from the generic name of the plant, _oxalis acetosella_. This acid forms readily into regular crystals, of which one half the weight is water, the other half being pure acid. It is a remarkable circumstance in its constitution, that it contains no hydrogen, and that it consists merely of carbon and oxygen--there being twice as much oxygen as there is carbon. So that it differs from carbonic acid merely in the relative quantities of its ingredients. Oxalic acid can be prepared by an artificial process, with great ease, from sugar, and six times its weight of nitric acid,--the former affording the carbon necessary to its formation, and the latter the oxygen. It is only necessary to heat the nitric acid on the sugar; the sugar dissolves, and there is a violent effervescence, which must be moderated by immersion in cold water: when the mixture cools, crystals of oxalic acid form in abundance, which may be purified by a second crystallization.

Oxalic acid is an active poison; many persons have fallen victims to its virulence, by having swallowed it in mistake for Epsom salt, which it resembles in appearance. In all probability, this would not prove to be the only vegetable acid capable of acting as a poison. Chalk finely powdered, and diffused in water, is the proper antidote to the poison of oxalic acid.

[The chapter on Combustion contains some new facts; and that on the Atomic Theory is more attractive than might have been expected.]

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THE GATHERER

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_The Plain Truth._--Sir John Trevor, cousin to Lord Chancellor Jefferies, was an able man, but as corrupt as he was able. He was twice Speaker of the House of Commons, and officially had the mortification to put the question to the house, "whether himself ought to be expelled for bribery." The answer was "Yes."

_Freaks of Royalty._--James I. in a capricious mood, threatened the Lord Mayor with removing the seat of royalty, the meetings of parliament, &c. from the capital. "Your Majesty at least," replied the Mayor, "will be graciously pleased to leave us the River Thames."

_The Original Strand._--In the reign of Edward III. the Strand was an open highway. A solitary house occasionally occurred; but in 1353, the ruggedness of the highway was such, that Edward appointed a tax on wool, leather, &c. for its improvement.

On the laying the first stone of the church of St. Martin's in the Fields, the king (George I.) gave one hundred guineas to be distributed among the workmen.

_A swampy Kingdom._--In the reign of Charles II. at the east end of St. James's Park, there was a swampy retreat for the ducks, thence denominated Duck Island, which, by Charles was erected into a government, and a salary annexed to the office, in favour of the celebrated French writer, M. de St. Evremond, who was the first and last governor.

The gold embroidery of the chair of state in Carlton Palace is stated to have cost 500_l_.

The horse rode by the Champion in the coronation of George the Third was the same that bore George the Second at the memorable battle of Dettingen.

_Political Criticism._--The following proof of political prejudice may not be known:--"John Milton was one whose natural parts might deservedly give him a place amongst the principal of our English poets, having written two heroic poems and a tragedy, viz:--Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes; _but his fame is gone out like a candle in a snuff_; and his memory will always stink, which might have ever lived in honourable repute, had he not been a notorious traitor, and most impiously and villanously belied that blessed martyr, King Charles I."--_Lives of the most famous English Poets, &c. 1687, by Wm. Winstanley._

_A Pastor._--The Rev. Andrew Marvell, A.M. father of the patriot, was born at Mildred, in Cambridgeshire, in 1586. He was a student of Emanuel College in that University, where he took his degree of Master of Arts in 1608. Afterwards he was elected master of the grammar school at Hull, and in 1624, lecturer of Trinity Church in that town. "He was a most excellent preacher," says Fuller, "who, like a good husband, never broached what he had new-brewed, but preached what he had studied some competent time before: insomuch that he was wont to say that he would cross the common proverb, which called 'Saturday the working day, and Monday the holiday, of preachers.'"

_Dryden's Mc Flecnoe_.--W. Newcastle has the following excellent lines in reference to Dryden's poem:--

"_Flecnoe_, thy characters are so full of wit And fancy, as each word is throng'd with it. Each line's a _volume_, and who reads would swear _Whole libraries_ were in each character. Nor arrows in a quiver stuck, nor yet Lights in the starry skies are thicker set, Nor quills upon the armed porcupine, Than _wit and fancy_ in this work of thine."

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

The long-expected death of this good and great man took place at Abbotsford on Friday, September 21. Our seventh volume contains a Portrait and Memoir of his life to the year 1826; and it is our intention to prepare for our ensuing number, a brief memoir continued to his last days, with a wood-cut portrait from the latest painting. About twelve months since, Sir Walter wrote, with almost prophetic pen, the following passage in the introduction to his last published work: "The gentle reader is acquainted, that these are, in all probability, the last tales which it will be the lot of the author to submit to the public." The sequel has not been so far realized, though the accordance of the closing line with the last hours of the deceased bears a consoling balm: "He is now on the eve of visiting foreign parts; a ship of war is commissioned by its royal master to carry the Author of Waverley to climates in which he may possibly obtain such a restoration of health as may serve him to spin his thread to an end in his own country."

_Eating Goose on Michaelmas Day_.--Although this custom can be traced through upwards of three centuries, its origin has not been decided by antiquaries. The commonly received belief is that a goose forming part of the royal dinner when the news was brought to Queen Elizabeth of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, her chivalrous majesty commanded that the dish (a goose) then before her, might be served up on every 29th of September, to commemorate the above glorious event. Mr. Douce, the learned antiquarian illustrator, saw the above reason "somewhere" (such is his expression); but Mr. Brand thinks this rather to be a stronger proof that the custom prevailed at court in Queen Elizabeth's time. Its origin, however, is referable to the previous century: since, bringing a goose "fit for the lord's dinner," on this day appears to have been customary even in the time of Edward IV.; and, that it was common before the Armada victory, is shown the following passage in Gascoigne, who died in 1577, or eleven years before the above event:--

"And when the tenauntes come to pay their quarter's rent, They bring some fowle at Midsummer, a dish of fish at Lent; At Christmasse a capon, _at Michaelmas a goose_, And somewhat else at New Yere's-tide, _for feare their leave flies loose_."

The reason given by Blount, in his _Tenures_, is considered far from satisfactory. Beckwith, his editor, says, "Probably no other reason can be given for this custom, but that Michaelmas Day was a great festival, and geese at that time were most plentiful." The origin of the saying that "if you eat goose on Michaelmas Day, you will never want money all the year round," is explained, in the _British Apollo_, as follows:--

The custom came up from the tenants presenting Their landlords with geese to incline their relenting On following payments.

Again:--

For doubtless 'twas at first design'd To make the people seasons mind, That so they might apply their care To all those things which needful were; And by a good industrious hand, Know when and how t' improve their land.

Ellis, in his notes to Brand, says, "the practice of eating goose on Michaelmas Day does not appear to prevail in any part of France. Upon St. Martin's Day, they eat turkey at Paris. They likewise eat geese upon St. Martin's Day, Twelfth Day, and Shrove Tuesday, at Paris." In Denmark, where the harvest is later than here, every family has a roasted goose for supper on St. Martin's Eve. PHILO.

_The reason why Pennsylvania was settled._

"Penn refused to pull his hat off Before the king, and therefore set off, Another country to light pat on, Where he might worship with his hat on." H.H.

"Mollissima tempora fandi."

A translation of the above is requested, in one line, which shall rhyme with the original. H.H.

_Motto for a Cigar Smoker._

"Non fumum ex fulgore, sed ex fumo dare lucem cogita." H.H.

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St. Cross, Winchester, received some weeks since, shall appear next week.

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THE LATE SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. No. 203, price Twopence, of THE MIRROR, Contains a STEEL-PLATE PORTRAIT and MEMOIR of the late SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART.

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_Printed and published by J. LIMBIRD, 143. Strand, (near Somerset House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; G.G. BENNIS, 55, Rue Neuve, St. Augustin, Paris; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers._

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