[1481] Stoves are now used for this purpose.
[1482] “Hydromēlum,” on the other hand, made of water and apples, was the same as our modern cider.
[1483] See B. xxiii. c. 9.
[1484] “Subfervefactis.” “Just come on the boil.”
[1485] The oxymel of modern times contains no salt, and is only used as a medicament.
[1486] As drinks, no doubt; and with good reason, as to most of them.
[1487] Coactus.
[1488] Our medicinal wines will mostly keep longer than this, owing probably to the difference in the mode of making the real wines that form their basis.
[1489] There is little doubt that this is fabulous: wine taken in excess, we know, is productive of loss of the senses, frenzy in the shape of delirium tremens.
[1490] This is not unlikely; for, as Fée remarks, the red wines, containing a large proportion of alcohol, act upon the brain and promote sleep, while the white wines, charged with carbonic gas, are productive of wakefulness.