Messrs. Paul And Burrow's Mineral Waters Establishment.

MESSRS . PAUL AND BURROW'S MINERAL WATERS ESTABLISHMENT .

"VTOT many among those who rejoice in drinking tho various lij-ht -1- ^ 1 but agreeable beverages which are known as mineral wab-rs , tho gingerbcors , tlio lemoti and other ' * ' ades " io tho appeasement of their thirsty souls over give a ( bought to tho skill , knowledge , and labour * . \ hich aro involved in their mamifactiiro , tho ingenious people who first compounded them , or tlio timo when thoy were first in ! reduced ii'to the category of things potable . Why should they , in .

deed ? Is it not enough to drink them . ¦> ud be refreshed , without troubling oneself as to the manner in wbich thoy aro prepared , or who first prepared ihem and when ? Thero aro thoso who think champagne or claret-cup is the nearest approach to tho nectar of the old heathen divinities—that nectar in which the jovial Bacchus indulged so freely , and of which even cloud-compelling Jupiter did not

disdain to partake on festive occasions , or as a relief to his feelings when haughty Juno took him to task mare sharply than usual for hia numerous peccadilloes . Some prefer the moro full-bodied wines of Spain or Portugal , while for others a copious draught of modest beer lias superior attractions . Liquor of somo kind is a necessity of our being , but so long as a man gets his share of his favourite tipple—bo it

the modest quencher of Mr . Eiohard Swivoller , tlio sack ot old Jack Falstaff , or the particular vanity of the hypocritical Stiggins—who care ? , wc ask , whence ii came , or how or by whom it has been invented or compounded ? To drink and be happy is the thought of the moment , all else ia of secondary consideration . And yot the history of liquors from the purs water of tho earliest to tho enp

" wbich cheers , but not inebriates" of theso degenerate clays , from the divine nectar of Mount Olympus to tho rum punch and porter of the British Islea is not tho least interesting of the many studies on which we may profitably bestow a little attention . Be it our present task to extol tho admitted virtues of a class of beverages , which finds ever-increasing favour with the public , whether wo consider them in

their native or manufactured simplicity ; as ingredients to bo deftly componnded with other and stronger potables for the perfectly legitimate purpose of quenching tho thirst and making the heart glad , * or as possessing medicinal properties of considerable value . Wo include not in onr programme the abuse of these or other beverages . It is not improbable that the wines of tho aucients wore often

qualified by thoso who drank them , and possibly even doctored by the more nnscrnpnlons vendors . Spices likewise and other materials wore often laid under contribution , in order to mako them attractive to the palates of more refined drinkers . Even the great Falstaff himself , whoso capacity for imbibing sack would seem to have beon unquenchable , could detect in his least sober moments tho presence

of too much lime in his potations ; bnt we cannot say how far back it is since man discovered the art of imitating by artificial means those mineral waters which Dame Nature has so bountifully provided in some countries for tho health or pleasure of tho inhabitants , or when or by whom it was first suggested that alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks could be compounded together into something that shonld be

both refreshing and palatable . We havo , however , before us a copy of an old report that was presented to tho National Institute of France towards tho end of last century , and from which wo have been able to gather somo useful information as to what had beon done previously in connection with the manufacture of artificial mineral waters , as well as of tlio many great improvements and

farther discoveries in relation to snch manufacture as wero made by AI . Nicolas Pan ] , the founder , in 1802 , of the present well-known and enterprising firm of Paul and Burrows , From the first section of this report , which was presented to the National Institute in December 1799 , and is throughout highly laudatory of AI . Paul ' s method , we learn that in 1755 AI . Venol , of Montpellier , presented to the

Eoyal Academy of Sciences , Paris , " an account of his success in imitating Seltzer Water , by passing throngh pure water the gas arising from effervescing substances . " Then it was that for the first time chemists began to conceive the hope of " producing , by artifificial means , mineral waters exactly resembling those of Nature , and tho prejudice , before entertained , of its beimg impossible to

communicate to simple water the samo principles and tho samo virtues that are found in natural mineral water , gradually disappeared . " No long timo elapsed , and Dr . Black made his discovery respecting fixed air , or , as it has since como to be termed , carbonic acid , while the fur . ther successive discoveries of Dr . Priestley , the Due do Chanlnes , and AI . Ruelle as to the solution of this aeriform acid in water

" brought to light the trne composition of its spirituous or acidulous waters , and afforded the means of imitating them perfectly . " Aloreover , " the knowledge which was at the same time accumulated from all hands respecting the various salts dissolved in water ; the manner of detecting them with certainty , and extracting them without alteration ; the solubility of iron by the assistance of the carbonic acid

and that of the fetid or hepatic gas ( sul phurated hydrogen ) in water , furnished the means of composing , from their respective ingredients , artificial waters in the several classes of acidulous , alkaline , bitter saline , simple and acidulous chalybeate waters , and likewise sulphureous waters . " We are next told that "Bergmann was the first who , in his valuable dissertations , published in 1774 , 1775 , and 1778 ,

on tbe preparation of cold waters , on the aerial acid , and on the analysis of waters in general , gavo easy processes ( if imitating , from their scrupulous examination , the waters of Seidchutz , Seltzer , Spa , and Pyrmont ; ancl also the hot and cold hepatic , or sulphureous waters . lie showed that no mineral water could bo considered as exactly analysed , unless it could be imitated in all its properties

by dissolving in simple water the same principles that had \ r en obtained from tho compounded ono ; and he proved that there wns no exception to this general rule . " In 1779 , AI . Duchanoy published a treatise on the art of preparing artificial mineral waters , but though tho modes of doiug so were detailed at greater length , they did not yield much information that was new , or different from what had been previousl y furnished by Bergmann . Duchanoy , however ,

Messrs. Paul And Burrow's Mineral Waters Establishment.

had the very great merit of offering " tbe first entire aud systematic view of tho artificial preparation of most of tho mineral waters in use , according to the principles of an art whioh , not twenty years before , had been doomed impossible . " AI . Paul next appears on the scene , having , just previous to the date of the report from which we are quoting , set on foot an establishinent for the manufacture of artificial mineral waters in Paris .

He had for ten years been associated with a Jfr . Gosse , who is described as " an ingenious apothecary of Geneva , " in the preparation of mineral waters in that city , and so great was their success that tho sale reached annually 10 , 000 bottles of thoir artificial seltzer water . Of tho value , from a medical point of view , of 31 . Paul ' s labours , and the genuineno's of his success , wo conld not havo stronger testimony than that furnished bv the following declaration of the medical facnlty of Geneva , dated 2 Gth August 1796 : —

" We , undersigned , physicians of the faculty of Geneva , declare that having submitted to our examination the factitious mineral waters prepared by Air . Paul , we havo seen with , singular pleasure that tho means invented by tho said Air . Paul surpass all the attempts thafc have hitherto been mado that science , united to industry , has produced in his hands tho happiest effects , since he can now , with

perfect ease , furnish the public with a constant supply of artificial mineral . waters stronger aud more- energetic than tho samo waters when issuing from the laboratories of Nature ; so that wc can posttively assert that Air . Paul , by his laudable efforts , has succeeded in rendering himself equally interesting to physicians and useful to

humanity in the euro of diseases . ( Signed ) " SOLOMIAC , M . D . and Senior of tho Faculty . " DujFANT , AI . D . AIlKOOTJO , AI . D . " ViKUSSEirx , AI . D . BUTINI , AI . D . " ODIEU , AI . D . VEinLAiii ) , AI . D . " VrojfiRu , AI . D . "

With such credentials in their favour it is not to be wondered at that Alessrs . Paul & Co . shonld seel : the wider spheres of operations offered by Paris and London . Section II . contains a list of the nine different kinds of mineral waters prepared at the Paris establishment , with the medicinal properties exhibited by each . Among tbcm wo find seltzer waters , spa ,

waters , gascons alkaline waters , seidlitz waters , oxygenated waters , hydrogenated waters , hydro-carbonated waters , and hydro-sulphureous waters . In Section III . are described tho several processes by which these artificial waters are prepared , and tho points which at once attracted the attention of tho Eeporting Committee wero " the simplicity of the apparatus , the order that prevailed in their respective

arrangements , the ingenious means employed for procuring water , and for filtrating it between the pure reservoir and that from which it is taken when about to be mineralised . " Not less were they struck with the machinery " for obtaining thi carbonic acid from carbonate of lime ( chalk ) , either by heat , or by the addition of sulphur ( vitri . olic ) acid ; " bnt especially did they admire " the rapid mechanism by

means of which tho gases are compressed aud condensed in tho water that is to receive them . " Those apparatus appear to havo been two in number , the first being " a metallic cylinder , which passes through a fnrnaco , and is provided at each extremity with contrivances thafc enable the operator to see what is going on within it at any time during the process ; and also to collect , transfer , measure ,

and purify the gases thus separated . Theother apparatus was appro , priated " to obtaining elastic fluids by effervescence , " and is repre . sonted by tho Committee as being still more simple . Its performance , we are told , "is so exact thafc nothing whatever is wasted ; it co \ ects tbe whole of tbe gas , and ia so contrived , that tha effervescing materials can never swell so much as to reach the first water through

which the gas passes . " Further , "the gas furnished by this process is drawn ont by the same pump , and coriveyel into the same casks as that wbich is expelled by heat . " . During the visit of tho Committee , they saw AI . Paul prepare , " in loss than two hours , two small casks of seltzer water , as well with the carbonic acid expelled by heat , as with fche same gas disengaged by means of the sulphuric

acid ; " and tbey remarked that " tho saline and other fixed matters thafc enter into the composition of somo of theso waters , and especially those of seltz , seidlitz , spa , & c , are put in their duo quantities , well mixed ancl powdered , into each bottle , before it is filled with tho gaseous water , which is drawn immediately from the cask , where ifc receives the impregnation . " The Section concludes with a

short account of the various ingredients , which enter into the several mineral waters prepared by AI . Paul . The rest of the pamphlet is descriptive of the results of an examination of the different waters three days after they had been in the possession of the Committee ( Section IV . ) , and " Observations on tho Modes of Preparation , and on the Nature of tbe Waters" ( Section V . ) , the whole concluding with

a very strong recommendation in favour of giving tho most distinguished approbation to the processes of Messrs . Paul and Co . This Report , as we have said , was presented to the National Institute of Franco in December 1799 , and three years later we find the firm established in London , whore it quickly made for itself a name , which has continued over since , and which under its present designation by the style and title of Alessrs . Paul nnd Burrows , it still retains .

The mineral waters , the sodas , " beers , " aud lemonades , which arc prepared on the very extensive premises of theso gentlemen in Eudell and Wilson-sfcreets , arc justly held iu high repnto by the public at largo . Tho samo care is observed even in tho minutest details , there is the samo exact composition of the ingredients so that the relative proportions of each aro determined to a nicety , and there is tho samo skill , the samo expedition in tlio preparation of the jraseous water as attracted the admiration of the French Eeporting

Committee towards the close of last century . We have , however , been sufficiently particular in our remarks upon the processes invented by AI . Nicolas Paul , fche founder of the firm , is to render it unnecessary for us to go fnr . ' . her into detail as to the manner in which thoy are at present carried out . Aloreover , a dry tcchriic . il description might befhistor our readers instead of enlig hten-