Occupations > British wine-maker, and domestic brewer

SACCHAROMETER.
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DESCRIPTION AND USE OF THE SACCHAROMETER.
This valuable instrument, which has become the
brewer’s compass, is of a very ancient invention,
and is said to have been in use as far back as
the beginning of the seventeenth century. It
appears, however, that its use was not generally
known, until Mr Martin, about the year 1768,
constructed his, which he advertised, as Mr Rich¬
ardson ironically tells us, “as useful for discov¬
ering the strength of domestic liquors, such as
beer, ale, punch,” and so on. Quin, Richardson,
Dring and Fage, Diccas and others, followed
Martin. Since that time many saccharometers
have been constructed, each claiming a superiority
over the rest. But Dr Thomson, who was one
of the three individuals selected by government to
inquire into the differences in value between the
English and Scotch barleys and malts, in his re¬
port, has shewn that these instruments are almost
all mathematically incorrect; and he has himself
accordingly invented one which is made by Alex¬
ander Allan of Edinburgh. The before-mentioned
instruments, especially that of Diccas, are made
to shew the number of pounds of extract contained
in thirty-six gallons of water, each pound of