box, termed an “analyzer,” contains the series of evaporating chambers, each communicating with the one below by means of a valved tube, which allows fluid to escape from the upper to the lower chamber only, and having the dividing partition of each chamber perforated with fine apertures, to allow the steam which is admitted from below to pass from chamber to chamber through the shallow layer of wash of each. A safety or escape valve is also fitted to each chamber. The already heated wash enters the upper most of these chambers in a continuous regulated stream, is gradually deprived of its alcohol by the steam as it passes from chamber to chamber, and at last escapes into the lower large receiver, from which it flows off after attaining a certain depth. The third part of the apparatus also consists of a square upright box, termed a “condenser,” divided into compartments by means of finely perforated plates, and in each chamber is a link of the tube which carries the cold wash onwards to supply the evaporating chambers just described. The alcoholic vapours escaping from the upper most of the evaporating chambers are carried by pipes to the lowermost of these chambers, and are partly condensed by each successive chamber being colder than the one below it, in consequence of the wash entering the pipes from above, and only getting gradually heated by contact with the alcoholic vapour as it advances from chamber to chamber. As in the lowest of these chambers the heat is greatest, the alcoholic vapour or the condensed spirit con tains a large amount of water ; but as the chambers are successively cooler, the alcoholic vapour and condensed spirit at last arrive at a temperature only sufficient to con vert spirit of the strength wished into vapour, and by an adaptation of valves, the substitution of an impervious partition for the perforated plate, and the admission of the alcoholic vapour into the chambers cooled by the passage of the cold wash in its contained pipes, that spirituous vapour is condensed, and the spirit is drawn off at one operation, of the very strength which it ought to have,
and of the utmost purity.Flat-bottomed and fire-heated stills are considered the best for the distillation of malt spirit, as by them the flavour is preserved. Coffey's still, on the other hand, is the best for the distillation of grain spirit, as by it a spirit is obtained almost entirely destitute of flavour, and of a strength varying from 55 to 70 over proof. Spirit produced of this high strength evaporates at such a low temperature that scarcely any of the volatile oils on which the peculiar flavour of spirits depends are evaporated with it, hence the reason why it is not adapted for the distillation of malt whisky, which requires a certain amount of these oils to give it its requisite flavour. The spirit produced by Coffey's still is, therefore, chiefly used for making gin and factitious brandy by the rectifiers, or for being mixed with malt whiskies by the wholesale dealers.
As the preparation of alcoholic spirit is the most important industry in which the operation of distillation occupies a prominent place, the establishments in which the manufacture is conducted are known as distilleries. But there are many other important industries in which distillation is an essential feature, being in them employed either for the separation, purification, or concentration of various products. A large proportion of the essential oils are, for example, obtained by the distillation of the substances containing them from water or a mixture of salt and water. The treatment of other bodies in which distillation plays a part will be found under their respective headings.
DISTRESS is one of the few cases in which the law still permits an injured person to take his remedy into his own hands. Other instances mentioned in the text-books are self-defence in the case of a personal assault, the reseizure of property wrongfully taken away, the abatement of nuisances, &c. Distress differs from these as being a remedy for what is really a breach of contract, and it is the only case of the kind in which such a remedy is given. It is the right which the landlord has of seizing the personal chattels of his tenant for non-payment of rent. Cattle damage feasant (doing damage or trespassing upon a neighbour's land) may also be distrained, i.e., may be detained until satisfaction be rendered for the injury they have done. The cattle or other animals thus distrained are a mere pledge in the hands of the injured person, who has only power to retain them until the owner appear to make satisfaction for the mischief they have done. Distress for rent was also at one time regarded as a mere pledge or security; but the remedy, having been found to be speedy and efficacious, was rendered more perfect by enactments allowing the thing taken to be sold. Blackstone notes that the law of distresses in this respect “has been greatly altered within a few years last past.” The legislature, in fact, converted an ancient right of personal redress into a powerful remedy for the exclusive benefit of a single class of creditors, viz., landlords. Now that the relation of landlord and tenant in England has come to be regarded as purely a matter of contract, the language of the law- books seems to be singularly inappropriate. The defaulting tenant is a “wrong-doer,” the landlord is the “injured party;” any attempt to defeat the landlord s remedy by carrying off distrainable goods is denounced as “fraudulent and knavish.” The operation of the law has, as we shall point out, been mitigated in one important respect by a recent Act, but it still remains an almost unique specimen of one-sided legislation.
by 4 Geo. II. c. 28 it was extended to rent seek, rents of assize, and chief rents (see Rent.) It is therefore a general remedy for rent certain in arrear. All personal chattels are distrainable with the following exceptions:—1, things in which there can be no property, as animals feræ naturæ; 2, things in actual use; 3, things delivered to a person following a public trade, as a horse sent to be shoed, &c.; 4, things already in the custody of the law; 5, money, unless placed in a sealed bag; 6, things which cannot be restored in as good a plight as when distrained; 7, fixtures; 8. beasts of the plough and instruments of husbandry; 9, instruments of a man s trade or profession. These exceptions, it will be seen, imply that the thing distrained is to be held as a pledge merely—not to be sold. They also imply that in general any chattels found on the land in question are to be available for the benefit of the landlord, whether they belong to the tenant or not. This principle worked with peculiar harshness in the case of lodgers, whose goods might be seized and sold for the payment of the rent due by their landlord to his superior landlord. Now, however, by the Lodgers' Goods Protection Act (34 and 35 Vict. c. 79), where a lodger's goods have been seized by the superior landlord the lodger may serve him with a notice stating that the intermediate landlord has no interest in the property seized, but that it is the property or in the lawful possession of the lodger, and setting forth the amount of the rent due by the lodger to his immediate landlord. On payment or tender of such rent the landlord cannot proceed with the distress against the goods in question. And originally the landlord could only seize things actually on the premises, so that the remedy might be defeated by the things being taken away. But by 9 Anne c. 14, and 11 Geo. II. c. 19, he may follow things fraudu lently or clandestinely removed off the premises within thirty days after their removal, unless they have been in
the meantime bona fide sold for a valuable consideration.
