BOTTLE, a small vessel made of glass, leather, or stone. Glass-bottles are better for cyder than those of any other substance.
Dr. Percival censures the common practice of cleansing wine-bottles with shot; for if, through inattention, any of it should remain, when the bottles are again filled with wine, the metal will be dissolved, and the liquor impregnated with its deleterious qualities. For this reason, he recommends pot-ash in preference to shot, as a few ounces of the former dissolved in water, will cleanse a great number of bottles: and where the impurities adhere to the sides, a few pieces of blotting paper put into the vessel, and shaken with the water, will remove them in an expeditious manner.