Weight of spirits per gallon by Sikes's hydrometer.

If the decimal point be moved one place to the left, the numbers showing weights per gallon will represent specific gravities.

The method of using this table is as follows. Suppose that a cask has been weighed first empty and then when filled with spirit, and the weight of the latter thus found to be 600 lb. Its indication is, say, 7 0. Then from the table, the weight of the spirit per gallon is 8 275 lb. The volume of the spirit is therefore 600 % 8 275 = 72.5 gallons. These bulk gallons, of which the strength is known from the indication and the temperature, are then converted into the equivalent proof gallons in the manner already shown. Thus if the temperature is 60° F., the indication being 7.0, the strength is found from the table (ante) to be 61.1 over proof. The equivalent number of proof gallons is therefore 161 1 per cent. of 72.5, = 116.8.

In practice, the actual division (weight of spirit in lb. % weight per gallon) is obviated by the use of tables (Loftus's tables) which have been worked out for the purpose.

The legal authority for the use of Sikes's hydrometer for fiscal purposes in the United Kingdom is contained in Sec. 134 of the Spirits Act, 1880: - "All spirits shall be deemed to be of the strength denoted by Sykes's hydrometer ... in accordance with the table lodged with the Commissioners ' [of Inland Revenue]. According to Sir N. Highmore,1 the use of Sykes's hydrometer "was established by an Act of Parliament, 58 Geo. 3 c. 28," passed on 23rd May, 1818 (and known as The Hydrometer Act). It appears, however, that previously to this, in 1816, an Act had been passed sanctioning the use of this hydrometer and tables, and although it was repealed by the Act of 1818, it was nevertheless important as containing a legal definition of proof spirit. The Act in question (56 Geo. III, c. 140) recites that "an hydrometer hath with great care been completed, and hath, by proper experiments made for the purpose, been ascertained to denote as proof spirit that which at the temperature of 51° Fahrenheit weighs exactly 12/13th parts of an equal measure of distilled water . . . and it is expedient to establish the same in lieu of Clarke's hydrometer. ..."

This definition of proof spirit is not in so many words re-enacted in the Act of 1818, but this Act decrees that "all spirits shall be deemed and taken to be of the degree of strength at which the said hydrometer, called Sikes's hydrometer . . . shall denote such spirits to be' (Sec. 2). Proof spirit is therefore what is shown as such by the "said hydrometer," and the word 'said' refers to the instrument described in the 1816 Act. There is perhaps room for argument as to the validity of a definition in a statute which has been repealed, so long as the definition has not been expressly re-enacted. But there is no room for doubt that proof spirit (in this country) is what is known as such by Sikes's hydrometer; and so long as this instrument is constructed to "denote as proof spirit that which at the temperature

1 "The Excise Laws." Vol. I, p. 316 of 51° Fahr. weighs exactly 12/13th parts of an equal measure of distilled water," there is no ambiguity about the specific gravity of proof spirit. Or rather, there is only one ambiguity. The temperature of the water is not stated in the definition. It was, however, stated in the tables published for use with the instrument as being 51° F., and this removes the ambiguity.

As regards the table mentioned in Sec. 134 of the Spirits Act, 1880, the statement in the Act of 1818 is as follows (Sec. 3): - "And whereas the strengths of spirits denoted by the said hydrometer, called Sikes's hydrometer, according to the temperature thereof, have been . . . set down in a table intituled ' A Table of the Strengths of Spirits, denoted by Sikes's Hydrometer,' and which said table has been and is subscribed by the hand of the Right Honourable Nicholas Vansittart, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and lodged with the Commissioners of Excise for England ... be it therefore enacted, that the strengths of spirits so set down in the said table, shall ... be deemed and taken to be true and just."

It may be noted that the spelling " Sikes " used in the earlier statutes has somehow got changed to "Sykes" in the Act of 1880.

It may also be noted that, under the provisions of Section 4 of the Finance Act, 1907, the Commissioners of Customs and Excise may authorise by regulations the use of any means approved by them for ascertaining the strength or weight of spirit. The legalisation of the revised tables now in use is contained in Sec. 19 of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1915, and is as follows: -

' (1). The revised and extended table, an original copy of which, marked Table I. (Spirits) has been signed by the Chairman of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise, and deposited in the office of the King's Remembrancer at the Royal Courts of Justice, shall be substituted, as the table to be used by Officers of Customs and Excise for the purpose of ascertaining the strength of spirits by means of Sikes's hydrometer, for the table of the Strengths of Spirits denoted by the said hydrometer which is required to be used for the purpose by the Spirits (Strength Ascertainment) Act, 1818. "(2). Where by reason of the high temperature or strength of spirits the strength of the spirits cannot be ascertained by means of Sikes's hydrometer, the strength may be ascertained by means of a supplemental hydrometer (to be called Sikes's A Hydrometer), a specimen of which, marked by the Chairman of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise, has been deposited in the office of the King's Remembrancer at the Royal Courts of Justice, and by means of the use of the supplemental table applicable to that hydrometer, an original copy of which, marked Table II. (Spirits), has been signed by the Chairman of the Commissioners and deposited in the same office.