Adulteration of Pale A les by Strychnine. 269 



facturer of organic products in France, had received at one 



time an order for an extraordinary quantity of strychnine, of 



which the destination was at first unknown to him ; but which 



he afterwards learned had been entirely exported to England, 



and used, as he informed M. Payen, to complete the bitter of 



certain kinds of beer. 



We have reason to know, although it is not stated by M- 



Payen, that these remarks of Pelletier refer to a period ten 



or twelve years past ; and further, although not informed of 



the amount of the order, we have got good authority to state 



that fifty or a hundred ounces would have been considered a 



large order for strychnine at that time. The calculation 



already given shews how utterly insignificant such a supply 



of strychnine would be for its imagined application in the pale 



ale breweries. It is likewise known that the manufacture of 



strychnine has not been on the increase in France of late 

 yearg si/Ii diiW .eloh umaoo orfi 



' M. Payen excuses his stateme|W#fhe ground that similar 

 suspicions are conveyed in a French work " On Adulterations 

 and Falsifications," by Chevallier, published nearly a year 

 ago ; but which have not hitherto received any formal contra- 

 diction in England. Notwithstanding the latter circum- 

 stance, our distinguished correspondent concludes by express- 

 ing his regret that he ever said " that the fraud appeared to 

 have been practised," although he had added the remark at 

 the time, " that this falsification had no doubt ceased." 



It thus appears, that the charge which has been put into 

 the mouth of M. Payen, was never made at all by that gentle- 

 man, so far as it applies to the present practice of English 

 brewers, and with reference to anterior times, that the charge 

 reposes simply and exclusivly upon the privately expressed 

 opinion of a deceased chemist, the grounds of which are en- 

 entirely unknown to the world, a.nd must ever remain so. 



In conclusion, it is scarcely necessary to refer to the sifting 

 nature of the chemical examination which the beer of Messrs 

 Allsopp's manufacture for months past have been subjected 

 to, and which establish their incontestible purity. Indeed, no 

 one who has witnessed, as we have done, the open manner 

 and gigantic scale in which the operations are conducted in 



VOL. LIII. NO. CVI.— OCTOBER 1852. T 



