136 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Kent and Sussc:c arc the counties where hops are mostly grown, but large quantities 

 are raised in Hampshire, Worcestersliire, and Herefordshire ; whilst the finest kinds 

 come from a small district around Farnham in Surrey. 



Hops serve three important purposes in brewing : — 



1st. They impart an agi'eeable flavour to the beer. 



2nd. They check acetous fermentation, and thus render the beer capable of being 



kept. 

 3rd. Their tannin helps to clarify the beer by precipitating the albumen of the 



barley. 



Their active qualities reside chiefly in the golden yellow grains of hqmlite with 

 which they are covered. According to Payen, the lupulinic grains contain 2 per cent. 

 of volatile oil, 10'30 of bitter principle, and 50 to 55 of resin ; the scales also contain 

 tannin. The volatile oil is acrid, its odour that of hops, and its colour yellowish : it 

 is said to act on the system as a narcotic. Lnjndine, or the bitter principle of hops, 

 is neutral, uncrystallisable, yellowish white, very bitter, and destitute of the narcotic 

 property of the oil. " 



In the manufacture of beer the tannic acid is of great ser\'ice, as before explained. 

 All genuine beer contains tannic acid. The resin is of a golden yellow colour, and 

 is soluble in alcohol. It appears to be the oil changed into resin by oxidisation. 

 Recently some fine beer has been manufactured by the use of lupuline extracted from 

 hops without the actual addition of the hops themselves, but we doubt the ultimate 

 success of the experiment, from the absence of the other constituents wliich we have 

 mentioned beside the lupuline, in the hop. The odorous emanations of hops possess 

 narcotic properties, hence the benefit of a pillow of hops for inducing sleep. It 

 is a popular remedy in hop countries, and the benefit which is said to have been 

 obtained from it by George III., for whom it was prescribed by Dr. Willis, in I 787, 

 brought it into general use. Hops are given internally in the form of tincture and 

 extract, to relieve restlessness consequent on exliaustion and fatigue, and to induce 

 sleep in the wakefulness of mania and other maladies, to calm nervous irritation, and 

 to relieve pain in gout and arthretic rheumatism. Dr. Farre tells us he finds the 

 tincture and extract both very useful in gouty spasm of the stomach. The preparation 

 still holds a place in the British Pharmacopoeia. The yellow powder, lupuline, is 

 administered sometimes in the form of powder or pills. They are aromatic and tonic. 

 Tincture of hops has an advantage over opium, in not producing constipation, and in 

 not disordering the stomach. Magendie, however, alleges that he never could observe 

 any effect on animals, even from preparations of lupuline, and many medical men 

 have denied any soporific power in the preparations of hops. Dr. Christison does 

 not place much reliance on the efiicacy of any of these substances, and says, " Various 

 reasons favour the conjecture that whatever hypnotic virtue may be possessed by 

 hops, it resides in the volatile oil ; and if it be so, the ordinary officinal preparations 

 must be inert, and the only good form is either lupuline prepared from hops not too 

 ripe and not too long kept, or a tincture made from it before it is injured by age, such 

 as the Tinctura Lupuli of the Edinburgh College." 



The young shoots of the hop, when blanched, by covering them with earth, form an 

 excellent substitute for asparagus, and are frequently eaten in the hop district, where 

 it is often necessary to remove some of the suckers. The stems of the plant contain 

 a large quantity of strong fibre, which may be used for cordage or textile fabrics ; 

 but, though rewards have been offered by the Society of Arts for bringing it into use, 

 it has hithei'to been little employed, jute and hemp being much cheaper and superior 



