The cover image was created by the transcriber, and is placed in the public domain. Minor printer's errors have been corrected, but variant and irregular spellings are retained. THE ART OF DRINKING. A HISTORICAL SKETCH. FROM THE GERMAN OF G. G. GERVINUS. TRANSLATED FOR THE UNITED STATES BREWERS’ ASSOCIATION. New York : UNITED STATES BREWERS’ ASSOCIATION. 1890....

G. G. Gervinus (1805-1871) is recognized as one of the foremost historians of Germany. He was a man of marvelous erudition. His fame rests not only upon a great number of profoundly learned works, but also upon his brilliant advocacy of the constitutional rights of the people, as against the reactionary tendency of the German princes during Metternich’s despotic rule. He was one of the seven celebrated professors of the University of Göttingen who boldly protested against the violation of the Co

A sketch of the art of drinking might seem to announce a subject unworthy of a man whose energies have been devoted to earnest purposes and serious aims in life. But it is not my intention to make the sketch a mere treasure-box of all sorts of curiosities, nor to gratify thereby the curiosity of idle readers. When it is approached from a scientific standpoint, the dignity of science must necessarily exclude all frivolous treatment, as well as all shallow and superficial purpose. Many would be sa

I would only here and there touch upon the botanical and industrial culture of the grape, as many very valuable works on the subject already exist (among others, Henderson’s “ History of Ancient and Modern Wines ”), which make almost a complete literature of wine. I shall also speak of the home of the grape only for the sake of preserving the natural order of things, and shall touch later upon the mythical origin of wine, or the preparation of wine. If we look for the original country of the gra

If the learned men of China can be trusted, the grape-vine must have been known in their country more than a thousand years B. C. They refer to this in old books, the “ Tshu-ly ” and the “ Shi-King ;” but as to the latter, that seems everywhere to refer to the wine made of various grains, which is almost exclusively used in China. At all events, it seems to be proved by the most trustworthy witnesses that rice-wine is older in China than the wine of grapes; for while the highest age that can be