Gazette Of The United States

From the Connecticut Gazette.

The preservation of the health of individuals of the community, being of the utmost consequence to the public, and the happiness of private families, leads me to request you to publish the following.

A number of workmen employed a few days since at one place, being taken with a violent vomiting and pain in their bowels with other symptoms, one of whom was so ill that his life was nearly despaired of. led us to suspect that they by some means, either in their diet or drink, had taken poison. After some consideration it was concluded the poison must be in a hogshead of rum lately imported from Demarara, from which they had been supplied with grog. The hogshead was immediately topped, and application made to gentlemen conversant with chemical process; but it not being usual to poison rum, as is the case sometimes with wine, to correct its acidity; no mode occurred to them. An accident however discovered a process which fully ascertained the deleterious quality in the rum; mixing some rum from a cask, which had been colored with logwood, with the suspected rum it immediately turned it black. This proved that the rum was highly charged with verdigrease, the poisonous qualities of which too many have by carelessness in using copper utensils for culinary and other purposes, felt the baneful effects. It is conjectured that in this instance it was occasioned by neglecting to clean the copper still, through which the rum passed in the course of distillation. - It will be well for the purchasers, and particularly for all retailers of rum, to prove it pure, by the simple process here recommended, of pouring a little of the extract of logwood into a proof glass of rum; if pure it will give it a handsome color, but if impregnated with verdigrease it will immediately turn black or blackish in proportion to the quantity of the verdigrease it contains. A question now remains, whether the verdigrease can, by any process, be extracted from the rum, or precipitated to the bottom, so as to leave the rum pure? The following experiment was tried, which appears fully to answer the purpose; but the writer not having made chemistry his study, wishes some gentlemen would try this and other experiments, and give the result to the public. In this instance extract of logwood was mixed with the rum which turned it quite black, then milk well skimmed was added to it, and well mixed, which immediately destroyed the black color; and after settling the rum entirely clear, was poured off, and extract of logwood added to it, which did not change the color in the least degree to a black hue, only giving it a handsome color, such as is generally preferred. Thus it is thought the evil may be easily discovered, and a remedy is provided.