MALT LIQUORS. 297 



rotoxin, to harmless or quasi-harmless bitter roots and woods, such as 

 quassia, gentian, &c. Complete and exhaustive sehemes of analysis 

 have been compiled, such as Dragendorff's, Ender's, &c., for the detec- 

 tion and isolation of such foreign bitters. Either these methods of 

 investigation are faulty or difficult of manipulation, or the use of for- 

 eign bitters is very much less prevalent than is generally supposed, for 

 the cases where such bitters have been detected and isolated are very 

 scarce in chemical literature. In fact, Eisner, a German authority on 

 food adulterations, goes so far as to say that there has never been a 

 case where the existence of a foreign bitter in a inalt liquor has been 

 proven with certainty. This is going too far, of course, for picrotoxin 

 and picric acid have undoubtedly been found in beers, and probably 

 more cases of such adulteration would occasionally have been discovered 

 were it not for the difficulty of the analysis and the small quantity of 

 matter required for imparting a bitter taste. But there is probably 

 much less of this hop substitution than the space given it in works on 

 the subject would indicate. Hops not only give the bitterness to beer 

 but also impart to it its peculiar aroma, and enhance its keeping qual- 

 ities, and unless it were at a time when they were very dear it would 

 hardly pay the brewer to sacrifice the good flavor and keeping qualities 

 of his beer in order to save a few cents a pound in his bitters. 



It is stated by authorities on the subject that the bitter matter of 

 hops is precipitated by acetate of lead, while with all hop substitutes 

 the filtrate from the lead precipitate retains its bitter taste. The ex- 

 cess of lead should be precipitated by sulph ureted hydrogen before the 

 filtrate is tasted for bitterness. I examined qualitatively by this test all 

 the samples analyzed and found them all free from foreign bitters ac- 

 cording to it, with one exception, No. 4811, which contained a bitter 

 other than hops, though not in sufficient quantity to admit of its sep- 

 aration and identification. All the samples except Nos. 4801, 4811, and 

 4815 gave a plainly perceptible odor of hops in the distillate. 1 



PRESERVING AGENTS. 



We come now to what I consider the most important sophistication 

 of beer at the present day and the most reprehensible and most deserv- 

 ing of repressive legislation. The use of artificial preserving agents not 

 only introduces foreign matters into the beer which are more or less in- 

 jurious, according to the nature of the material used, but also serves to 

 cover up and hide the results of unskillful brewing or unfit materials ; 

 giving to the public for consumption a liquor, that, if left to itself under 

 natural conditions, would have become offensive to the senses and putrid 

 with corruption long before it was offered for sale. 



The only means of preservation allowed by the authorities in Ger- 

 many and France is the process called, from the name of its author, 

 " Pasteurization." This process is entirely rational and commendable, 



1 See Appendix A. 



