GERVAIS (Jean-Antoine): Opuscule sur la vinification, traita - Lot 133

GERVAIS (Jean-Antoine): Opuscule sur la vinification, traitant des vices des méthodes usitées pour la fabrication des vins, et des avantages du procédé de M.lle Élizabeth Gervais, brevetée du gouvernement par ordonnance de S.M. Louis XVIII, pour la même fabrication; suivi des lettres de M. le Comte François de Neufchateau et de M. le Comte Chaptal, Pair de France, à M.lle Elisabeth Gervais, sur l'importance dudit procédé. Montpellier, J.-G. Tournel, 1820. One volume. 13 by 22.5 cm. 118-(2) pages. Modern striped half morocco à la Bradel, gilt head. Binding signed LAVAUX. 2nd edition, published the same year as the original. "The real inventor of the "Mademoiselle Gervais" method for making wine is Dom Nicolas Casbois, professor of physics and member of the Metz Academy. In one of his memoirs, published in 1782, he wrote: "It is conceivable that the less fermenting wine communicates with the outside air, the less it must lose of that volatile part which gives it its strength, and which is called spirit. Therefore, to obtain the most generous wine, it must be fermented in perfectly closed vessels. But fermentation produces gas, and this gas is elastic; make sure that the gas can get out without outside air getting in. Only a valve can do this." This is exactly Mademoiselle Gervais' system. This process has been studied by a number of learned societies. It has obtained government authorization for use. The present opuscule makes no allusion to N. Casbois. There are two editions of this book dated 1820, both from Montpellier." (Chwartz).