Note 28 — Adulteration of Wine.
Reading edition
The gypsum had the property of clarifying wines, was known to the ancients. "The Greeks and Romans put gypsum in their new wines, stirred it often round, then let it stand for some time; and when it had settled, decanted the clear liquor. (Geopon, lib. vii. p. 483, 494.) They knew that the wine acquired, by this addition, a certain sharpness, which it afterwards lost; but that the good effects of the gypsum were lasting."