"THAT BAD BEVERAGE, BEER" 371 



the resources of modern science, and to keep abreast of public 

 needs. It is doubtless true that his enterprise has been re- 

 warded, although less abundantly than that of a successful 

 chocolate-maker. The latter has the additional satisfaction of 

 winning praise for his shrewdness in employing chemists where 

 the brewer incurs only suspicion, and of gaining approval for a 

 product containing much sugar and starch, while these ingre- 

 dients are held suspect in beer. Such diverse verdicts are to 

 be expected so long as scientific processes are so dimly under- 

 stood, and while men continue to live chiefly on catchwords. 



The man who desires to comprehend something of the 

 operations of modern brewing will do well to study the pages 

 of some up-to-date text-book on the art, following up this 

 study by a visit to any large brewery, where he may see the 

 various processes carried out. He will of course observe the 

 presence of an Inland Revenue official, and may be told that 

 at every stage in the production of beer there is the exercise 

 of public control acting through a trained officer, so that the 

 quality and quantity of every material are supervised, and 

 anything in the nature of illegality prevented. He will 

 probably be led to contrast this state of things with that 

 which attends the production of countless other food-products, 

 such as jam, potted meats, bread, or temperance drinks. There, 

 instead of the constant presence of a government official, we 

 have no supervision beyond the occasional visit of a local 

 inspector or the intermittent attentions of a medical officer of 

 health. Under such conditions adulteration is possible and 

 indeed not infrequent ; but in the case of beer the addition of 

 any harmful or unauthorised ingredient is practically impossible. 

 When one considers further that beer is of all beverages the 

 one most free from disease-carrying germs, such as are often 

 found in water and aerated drinks, it is not difficult to agree 

 with Prof. H. E. Armstrong's opinion that " Beer is the 

 only safe drink at the disposal of the public all over the 

 world. It is the only sterilised drink available for public 

 consumption." 1 



Research in connection with Brewing 



The foregoing apology for beer has furnished testimony as 

 to the dependence of modern brewing processes upon scientific 



1 Journal of the Institute of Brewing, 1908, vol. xiv. p. 145. 



