Lead, in whatever state it be taken into the stomach, occasions terrible diseases; and wine, adulterated with the minutest quantity of it, becomes a slow poison. The merchant or dealer who practises this dangerous sophistication, adds the crime of murder to that of fraud, and deliberately scatters the seeds of disease and death among those consumers who contribute to his emolument. If to debase the current coin of the realm be denounced as a capital offence, what punishment should be awarded against a practice which converts into poison a liquor used for sacred purposes.
Dr. Watson[33] relates, that the method of adulterating wine with lead, was at one time a common practice in Paris.
Dr. Warren[34] states an instance of thirty-two persons having become severely ill, after drinking white wine that had been adulterated with lead. One of them died, and one became paralytic.
In Graham's Treatise on Wine-Making,[35] under the article of _Secrets_, belonging to the mysteries of vintners, p. 31, lead is recommended to prevent wine from becoming acid. The following lines are copied from Mr. Graham's work:
"Put a pound of melted lead, in fair water, into your cask, pretty warm, and stop it close."
"Put in a little vinegar wherein litharge has been well steeped, and boil some honey, to draw out the wax. Strain it through a cloth, and put a quart of it into a tierce of wine, and this will mend it."
The ancients knew that lead rendered harsh wines milder, and preserved it from acidity, without being aware that it was pernicious: it was therefore long used with confidence; and when its effects were discovered, they were not ascribed to that metal, but to some other cause.[36] When the Greek and Roman wine merchants wished to try whether their wine was spoiled, they immersed in it a plate of lead;[37] if the colour of the lead were corroded, they concluded that their wine was spoiled. Wine may become accidentally impregnated with lead.
It is well known that bottles in which wine has been kept, are usually cleaned by means of shot, which by its rolling motion detaches the super-tartrate of potash from the sides of the bottles. This practice, which is generally pursued by wine-merchants, may give rise to serious consequences, as will become evident from the following case:[38]