516 British Poisons : [Nov. 



prior to the beer trade being thrown open was about 4,500. About one 

 half of these belong to the great brewers^ who have also, in one way or 

 other, acquired such dominion over the remainder, that very few of them 

 have it in their poAver to serve their customers with any other beer than 

 that which their masters, the great monopolists, choose to furnish to 

 them. This monopoly, as we shall see, has led to an extensive system 

 of the most pernicious adulteration ; and has no doubt given the hint to 

 many of those wretches who, by mixing an unusual quantity of opium 

 in beer, are in the habit of committing extensive robberies, and even 

 murder ! 



Mr. Golding Bird, an intelligent revenue officer, who, in the short space 

 of three weeks visited about five hundred public houses and made fifty- 

 three detections, states in evidence, that it is usual to draw off twenty 

 gallons from a butt of one hundred and eight gallons of porter, and sub- 

 stitute the twenty gallons with water mixed up with colouring prepai'ed 

 from burnt sugar, treacle, salt, sugar, copperas, and liquorice. He had 

 reason to believe from appearances that all the five hundred houses he 

 visited adulterated their beer. Nearly the whole fifty-three convictions 

 were at houses owned by the brewers ; he never detected those practices 

 at what are called free houses ! The latter, at that period, sold their 

 beer at five-pence, while many of the former sold at four-pence. They 

 affirmed that the burdens imposed upon them, in one way or other, by 

 the great brewers were so heavy, that they could not obtain a livelihood 

 without adulterating their beer ; and IMr. Bird considers them as the mere 

 servants of the great brewers. On the premises of one person, a com- 

 position called multum, composed of opium, liquorice, and some other 

 matter of a very strong flavour, was found. It was made up in balls, 

 one piece as large as a small egg being a sufficient dose for a barrel. 

 This composition may be laid up in so small a space that all may use it : 

 without being detected. 



By sundry convictions, it appears, that beside this multum, the fol- 

 lowing materials are used in adulterating beer — viz. copperas, used- 

 almost universally, to give it a fine head ; (but which, according to the 

 evidence of Dr. Ure, a celebrated chemist, is not very pernicious;) 

 opium, tobacco, quassia, powered gentian, coculus indicus, gi-ains of para- 

 dise, prepared chalk, vegetable bitters, liquorice, corriander, ground 

 orange-peel, treacle, honey, sugar, &c. ; and that it is impossible to 

 detect the adulteration by the tasle of the beer, and in fact, " a gentle- 

 man at the excise office, made the experiment, and proved that the 

 public taste could not detect much of the adulteration, that may be 

 practised by the brewers ;" and that " the excise directed two kinds 

 of beer to be brewed, the one pure, and the other full of impurities 

 — the commissioners preferred the adulterated beer ! an intelligent man, 

 accustomed to brew beer, made the same mistake." This observation 

 is also applicable, though in a less degree, to ale. Mr. Marrian, 

 brewer and ale-conner of Birmingham, states it on his experience, 

 that detection is very difficult : " sometimes there are many things, 

 that will make ale of different tastes, and it would not be right to 

 condemn ale for that only, when we know that there are many things 

 that will give it a different flavour ; such as cleaning it too soon, put- 

 ting the yeast to it too soon, or cleansing it at an improper time ;" 

 in short, detection by the taste or colour, is totally impossible. On 

 this subject. Dr. Ure, who made experiments, and was examined by 



