pumice-stone. There are various kinds of varnishes, such as copal, white, yellow, &c.

VELLUM. See Parchment.

VENEERING. The wood is first fixed in a vice or sawing press, where it is divided into leaves, not exceeding one line in thickness; such leaves are then cut into small slips of various forms, according to the design proposed; and when the ground work is duly prepared, they are cemented by means of glue, and submitted to the action of a press, till the whole becomes perfectly dry, after which the articles are scraped and polished.

VINEGAR was known many years before the discovery of any other acid; it is mentioned by Moses, and was in common use among the Israelites and other eastern nations at a very early period. Vinegar is prepared in this country chiefly from malt, and other saccharine matters. Malt is macerated in water, and the fluid is suffered to ferment, so as to produce a strong ale without hops. This is barrelled and stoved in a hot chamber, for six or eight weeks, to suffer the fermentation to proceed equally and uniformly. The soured liquor is next emptied into smaller barrels, which are set in rows with their bung-holes open, and placed in the open air, till the liquor become perfect vinegar. concluding operation is to cause the liquor to act on the refuse of raisins or home-made wines. Vinegar is made in the wine countries from wine, and may be obtained from all kinds of vinous fluids.

The

Wine Vinegar. A quantity of vinous liquor is mixed with its own lees, or with the acid and austere stalks of the vegetable from which wine was prepared. The whole is frequently stirred, and either exposed to the sun, or deposited in a warm place; after standing a few days, it will ferment, become sour, and, in a fortnight, will be converted into vinegar.

Concentrated Vinegar is made by exposing vinegar repeatedly to the frost, and successively removing the ice for several times. The remainder of the vinegar is then boiled in a bottle placed in water, and corked up for use.

WEAVING. See Cotton and Woollen Manufacture.
WHALE FISHERY. See Fishery.

WHISKEY, is a malt spirit, chiefly prepared in Scot

land and Ireland, from a distillation of barley, or barley and oats. The malt in Scotland is dried with peat, the smoke of which gives the peculiar flavour found in whiskey.

WINE. The preparation of British or home made wines from currants, gooseberries, raspberries, raisins, &c. being so well known, and so constantly practised, we shall only give the manner of manufacturing Foreign wines.

When the grapes are sufficiently ripe, they are gathered, and submitted to the action of a press; from which their juice runs into vessels. Here it remains for several hours, or for a few days, according to the temperature of the atmosphere, and in this state it is called must. When the fermentation commences, the liquor rises, and a considerable portion of fixed air, or carbonic acid gas, is evolved. At the expiration of some days the fermentation ceases: when the liquor becomes clear, and cool, it is poured into other casks or vessels, where it undergoes a slight degree of new fermentation; in consequence of which, it becomes divested of all feculent particles, while its taste and flavour are remarkably improved. In order to clarify it still further, the albumen, or whites of eggs, isinglass, &c. are either suspended or dissolved in the cask: other methods are also used. The colour of wines is, in many instances, artificial, and imparted to those liquors after they have come into mercantile hands. Thus, white wines are tinged red, by decoctions of logwood, the juices of alder and bilberries; in France, by the husks of tinged grapes. Other ingredients are frequently employed by unprincipled persons; which produce deleterious effects on the human system.

All wines contain an acid, alcohol, tartar, extract, aroma, and colouring matter. 1. Acid. All wines, redden litmus paper, and, therefore, contain an acid. It abounds, however, chiefly in the thin wines of wet and cold climates, where the grape juice or must contains but a small portion of sugar. The wines that contain the greatest quantity of these acids yield the worst brandy, nor is there any method yet known of separating or neutralizing the acid without materially injuring the quality or lessening the quantity of the ardent spirit. 2. Alcohol. The strong,

rich, full-bodied wines of the warmer wine countries will yield as much as a third of ardent spirit; while the thin light wines will often give no more than about one sixteenth of the same strength. (See the articles, Alcohol and Brandy.) 3. Tartar or Super-tartrate of potash, is incrusted on the bottom and sides of the cask. It is afterwards purified by dissolving it in boiling water, and filtering it while hot. On cooling, it deposits the pure salt in very irregular crystals. In this state it is sold under the name of crystals or cream of tartar. 4. Extract. Must contains an abundance of extractive matter, which materially assists the fermentation, and is afterwards found, in part at least, in the lees, but another portion may be obtained from the wine, by evaporation. It is also extract that mixes with and colours the tartar. 5. Aroma. All wines possess a peculiar and grateful smell, which would indicate a distinct aromatic principle, but it has never been exhibited in the form of essential oil, or condensed in any smaller quantity by distillation or any other mode. To give wine all its aroma it should be fermented very slowly. 6. Colouring matter. The husk or pellicle of the red grape contains a good colour, which is extracted when the entire fruit is pressed, and becomes dissolved in the wine when the fermentation is complete.

The saccharine part resides in the cells of the grapes, while the fermenting or glutinous matter is lodged on the exterior membranes that separate the cells. White wines may, therefore, be prepared from red grapes, if the juice be carefully expressed and the husk rejected. There would be no colour, unless the husks were fermented, and mixed up with the grapes. The natural colour of wine may be entirely and speedily destroyed, by the addition of hot well burnt charcoal in pretty fine powder.

1. Portugueze Wines. From Portugal we receive Red Port, so much drunk in England. The best vino tinto, a blackish-red wine, used to colour other wines, is said to be the produce of Portugal. This kingdom also deals largely in Madeira wine.

2. Spanish Wines are composed of fermented or halffermented wine, mixed with inspissated must, and variously manufactured, or of an infusion of dried grapes in weak must. Of these wines there are a few in Germany, as the

Alicant, which is a thick, strong, and very sweet wine, Sherry is prepared near Xeres in Spain, and hence called, according to our orthography sherries or sherry. The Spanish wines are, most of them, very rich and sweet, contain much undecomposed sugar and mucilage, and only a small quantity of malic acid and spirit. They are not sufficiently fermented, and do not, therefore, keep well.

3. Greek Wines. The wines of Candia and Greece are commonly used in Italy. Malmsey was formerly the produce of these parts only, but is now brought chiefly from Spain; it is a sweet wine, of a golden, or brownishyellow colour. Italy produces the cino greco which is a gold-coloured, unctuous wine, the growth of Mount Vesuvius.

4. French and German Wines. The most celebrated are, Champagne, Burgundy, Frontiniac, Hermitage, &c. Among the more esteemed German wines, may be reckoned Rhenish, Mayne, Moselle, and Neckar; Hock is esteemed a very fine wine. The wines of Germany are full of spirit, and will keep for a long time.

5. Madeira Wines. The Madeira Islands and Palma, one of the Canaries, afford two kinds; the first called Madeira sec; the latter, which is the richest and best of the two, Canary or Palm sec. The name sec (corruptly written sack) signifies dry; those wines being made from halfdried grapes.

WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. 1. The importance of the woollen manufacture, both to the commercial and labouring classes, has long been felt; yet it is only within the last fifteen or twenty years that the subject has been scientifically considered, or any efficient measures have been taken to improve the quantity and quality of British wool. The growth of wool is always completed in one year, at the expiration of which it spontaneously decays, and is naturally renewed. In this respect, indeed, the covering of sheep bears a close resemblance to the hair of most of the lower animals, though it differs widely in the following partieulars the wool is considerably finer, grows with more uniformity, each filament advancing at an equal distance, separating from the skin nearly at the same time, and if it be not previously shorn, it falls off naturally; the animal being

already provided with a short coat of young wool. Another peculiarity in wool is, the different degree of thickness which prevails in various parts of the same sheep, being closer at the extremities than at the roots; and the part that grows during winter, being of a much finer quality than that produced in the summer.

2. The names given to wool vary according to its state or relative degree of fineness. When first shorn it is called a fleece, and every fleece is divided into three kinds, namely, the prime or mother-wool, which is separated from the neck and back; the seconds, or that obtained from the tail and legs; and the thirds, which is taken from the breast and beneath the belly. This general classification of wool corresponds with the Spanish method of sorting into rafinos, or prime; tinos, or second best; and terceras, or an inferior sort. But the wool staplers in the eastern part of this island, distinguish not less than nine different sorts broken out of small fleece.* Till within these few years, the finest wool manufactured in this country, was obtained exclusively from Spain :-next to Spanish wool, the English sheep, perhaps, furnish the finest commodity of the kind in Europe. Previously to the introduction of Spanish sheep, the finest and most esteemed sorts of British wool were the Ryeland, South-down, Shetland, Coteswold, and Cheviot fleeces; but by the judicious cross→ ing of Merino rams with the choice British sheep, particularly of the Ryeland breed, wool of the fourth descent has been obtained, which, in point of fineness and texture, has proved equal to the best Spanish wool. For these interesting facts, the British nation is indebted to the patriotic exertions of Lord Somerville, (who, about eight years since, imported from Spain, at a vast expense, eight Merino rams,) of the British Wool Society -the Board of Agriculture-and Dr. Parry of Bath. And with the same noble views, his Majesty annually permits some of his Spanish sheep to be sold at reasonable prices, under the auspices of Sir Joseph Banks.

* The sorts, however, vary according to the quality of sheep. A true bred Ryeland, without cross, will divide into six or seven sorts; a Leicester or Coteswold, into not more than two; and so on according to the quality of the sheep.