59. Tralles' Table of Percentage of Alcohol

59. Tralles' Table of Percentage of Alcohol. When the temperature of the spirit is 60° Fah., the first column of the table on page 26 gives at once the percentage of alcohol by measure; when the temperature is below 60° an addition must be made of 1 measure per cent, for every 5 degrees of the thermometer; and when above 60° a like quantity must be deducted. This correction will amount to the fraction 1/5 or the decimal 2 for every single degree, and is very easily made. If the specific gravity sought cannot be found exactly in the table, the difference between it and the next greater specific gravity in the table must be taken, which will give the numerator of a fraction, having for its denominator the number found in the third column against the next greater number just emploved. This fraction, added to the percentage of alcohol in the first column of the table against the said specific gravity, will give the true percentage sought. Thus, if the specific gravity of a spirituous liquor is .9605, what is its alcoholic content ? Here .9605 is not in the table, but the next greater number is .9609; the former must therefore be deducted from the latter, and the difference (4) put as the numerator of the fraction, having for its denominator the number (13) in the column of differences against .9609. The fraction 4/13 so found, added to the percentage against .9609 in the first column, gives 334/13 as the true percentage of alcohol in the given sample