Bain-Marie
It’s a full vase of water in which the cucurbit of the still is plunged. When water boils it transfers its heating both in the still and in the substances it contains. By means of this the substances submitted to distillation receive the heating effect through water intermediation. Due to a popular mistake people believe that a Sister of Charity, called Maria, gave rise to the name “bain-marie” because of her opinion on distillation system. This method of distillation was known by ancients before the foundation of the Sisters of Charity, and we believe this philosophy invention brings back to Ipazia, Teone’s daughter, the Athenian mathematician, stoned by Christians in the IV century.
Font: L.S. Lenormand, L'Art du distillateur, Parigi 1817.
