124: HOP SUBSTITUTES. 



CHAPTEE IX. 



HOP SUBSTITUTES IMPORTS AND PRICES OF FOREIGN HOPS 

 BEER STATISTICS AND MALT CONSUMPTION. 



THE superiority of the hop as an ingredient in our malt 

 liquors depends upon the fact of its containing within itself 

 several distinct and independent elements of activity, which 

 the bitter herbs that have at different times been employed 

 as a substitute do not possess. 



Professor Dragendorff, the eminent toxicologist of the 

 University of Dorpat, has published in the * Archiv der Phar- 

 macie of Jeca' for 1874, a most valuable paper on his 

 researches into the nature of the bitter substances used in 

 the brewing of beer. This has been translated from the 

 German into French, by our mutual friend Dr. 'Jules Morel, 

 Professor of Chemistry at Ghent, under the title of ' Sur la 

 Kecherche des Substances ameres dans la Biere,' * 60 pages ; 

 but I am not aware that it has yet appeared in English. 

 It gives practical and complete tests, from large experience, 

 for determining the various adulterants that may possibly be 

 used by the brewer. 



The use of hops for beer does not date very far back, as 

 Bazile Valentin is the first author of the middle ages who 

 notices their use ; and it was in 1524 that the cultivation 

 was first commenced in Flanders. From that country they 

 were transported to England in the reign of Henry VIIL, 

 and soon spread over the counties of Kent, Essex, and 

 Sussex. English hops well prepared, and especially well 



* Bruxelles : Jules Combes, 1874. 



