' AMARYLLIS AT THE FAIR * 283 



achieve, gave to it the vigour of years, the full manhood 

 of strength. 



' There was in it an alchemic power analysis cannot 

 define. The chemist analyzes, and he finds of ten parts, 

 there are this and there are that, and the residue is 

 " volatile principle," for which all the dictionaries of 

 science have no explanation. 



' " Volatile principle " — there it is, that is the secret. 

 That is the life of the thing ; by no possible means can 

 you obtain that volatile principle — that alchemic force — 

 except contained in genuine old ale. 



' Only it must be genuine, and it must be old ; such as 

 Iden brewed. 



' The Idens had been famous for ale for generations. 



* By degrees Alere's hand grew less shaky ; the glass 

 ceased to chink against his teeth ; the strong, good ale 

 was setting his Fleet Street liver in order. 



' You have " liver," you have " dyspepsia," you have 

 " kidneys," you have " abdominal glands," and the doctor 

 tells you you must take bitters — i.e., quassia, buchu, 

 gentian, cascarilla, calumba ; aperients and diluents, 

 podophyllin, taraxacum, salts ; physic for the nerves and 

 blood, quinine, iron, phosphorus ; this is but the briefest 

 outline of your draughts and preparations ; add to it, for 

 various purposes, liquor arsenicalis, bromide of potassium, 

 strychnia, belladonna. 



' Weary and disappointed, you turn to patent medicines 

 — American and French patent physic is very popular 

 now — and find the same things precisely under taking 

 titles, enormously advertised. 



' It is a fact that nine out of ten of the medicines com- 

 pounded are intended to produce exactly the same effects 

 as are caused by a few glasses of good old ale. The 

 objects are to set the great glands in motion, to regulate 

 the stomach, brace the nerves, and act as a tonic and 

 cordial ; a little ether put in to aid the digestion of the 

 compound. This is precisely what good old ale does, and 

 digests itself very comfortably. Above all things, it 



