Abstract
THERE has been recently issued by H.M. Stationery Office new tables correlating percentages of proof spirit and percentages of alcohol by weight with specific gravity at 80° F., compiled by Mr. Francis G. H. Tate, of the Government Laboratory (2s. 6cL net), whose well-known book on the British system of alcoholometry entitled “Alcoholometry: an Account of the British Method of Alcoholic Strength Determination” was noticed in our columns in March 1931. It is understood that these tables are to be legalised for use in Great Britain. They should prove very helpful both in England during the summer months and throughout the year in those countries where the minimum temperature approximates more closely to 80° F. Proof spirit was legally defined so long ago as 1816, though it was not until 1847 that Joseph Drinkwater determined the relative proportions of alcohol and water in it. The Fahrenheit temperature then selected was 51°, which is proving often to be inconvenient in practice. At the temperature of 80° F. now chosen, proof spirit has a specific gravity of 0-913162; it contains 49-28 per cent of alcohol by weight, or 57-25 per cent by volume. Absolute alcohol at this temperature is equivalent to 175-35 per cent of proof spirit.
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Tables of Alcoholic Strength. Nature 132, 889–890 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132889d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132889d0