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'2^8 Gaelic Society of Inverness.
or strong drink when going into the Tabernacle. David complains
that he was the song of the drinkers of strong drink. Lemuel's
mother warns her son against the use of strong drink, and advises
him to "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to jierish, and
wine unto him that is heavy of heart. Let him drink and foi-gct
his poverty, and remember his misery no more" -words whiili,
with characteristic tact and unerring good taste, our own National
Bard used as motto for " Scotch Urink," and paraphrased so ex-
quisitely :
—
" Gie him strong drink until he wink,
That's sinking in despair ;
An' liquor guid to fire his bluid,
That's prest wi' grief an' care
There let him bouse and deep carouse,
W'i' bumpers flowing o'er,
Till he forgets his luves and debts,
An' minds his griefs no more "
But the strong drink of the Bible was not obtained by distillation.
The Hebrew word " Yayin " means the wine of the grape, and is invariably
rendered " wine," which was generally diluted before use.
The word "Sbechar," which is rendered "sti'ong drink," is used to
denote date wine and barley wine, which were fermented liquors
sufficiently potent to cause intoxication, and wex-e made by the
Egyptians from the earliest times. The early Hebrews were
evidently unacquainted with the art of distillation.
Muspratt states that there is no evidence of the ancients
having been acquainted with alcohol or ardent spirits, that, in fact,
there is every reason to believe the contrary, and that distillation
was unknown to them. He quotes the case of Dioscorides, a
physician of the time of Nero (a.d., 54-68) who in extracting
quicksilver from cinnabar, luted a close cover of stoneware to the
top of his pot, thus showing that he was unacquainted with the
method of attaching a receiver. Muspratt further states that
neither poets, historians, naturalists, nor medical men make the
slightest allusion to ardent spirits. This is more significant as the
earliest poets and historians make constant references to wine
and ale, dilate on their virtues, and describe the mode of their
manufacture.
The Egyptians, however, are said to have practised the art of
distillation in the time of Dioclesian (.v.n. 1^01-305), and are supposed
to have communicated it to the Babylonians and Hebrews,
who transmitted it westward to the Thracians, and Celtae of
;