270 Prof. Graham and Hoffmann on the Alleged 



their establishment, would entertain the idea for a moment 

 that any practice involving concealment was possible. But 

 even in the absence of all such scrutiny, the idea of strych- 

 nine being mixed with beer anywhere, or in any circumstances, 

 involves an amount of improbability which might well dispel 

 all suspicion on the subject. 



There is an Act of Henry VII., which prohibits the adul- 

 teration of ale by brimstone or hops. The place of the hop 

 was then supplied by sage, horehound, chamomile, and other 

 indigenous bitter plants. Since that period, the character of 

 the national beverage must have undergone a silent revolu- 

 tion, for all varieties of beer, both pale and brown, now owe 

 their distinctive properties to the hops which are boiled in 

 the malt infusion, and fermented along with it, as completely 

 as wine owes its peculiar character to the grape ; substitute 

 any other bitter for the hop, and the fermented wort would 

 no longer be recognised as beer. 



Were mere bitters all that is required, it would be easy 

 to prove that the extract of quassia would supply a bitter 

 which is perfectly harmless and agreeable, and infinitely less 

 expensive than strychnine. 



But the process of brewing pale ale is one in which nothing 

 but water, the best malt, and hops of the first quality are 

 used, and is an operation of the greatest delicacy and care, 

 which would be entirely ruined by any tampering with the 

 materials employed. Strychnine could not fail to be rejected, 

 from the ungrateful metallic character of its bitterness, in- 

 dependent of all objections of a more serious kind. This 

 peculiarity of taste is also calculated to betray its presence. 

 Small, too, as the proportion of strychnine may be, which is 

 necessary to impart the degree of bitterness of pale ale, the 

 quantity rises, as has been seen, to a poisonous dose in half 

 a gallon of the fluid ; and as this poison is one of those which 

 are known to accumulate in the system, its poisonous action 

 would inevitably follow, in occasional cases, upon the con- 

 sumption of much smaller portions of beer when continued 

 for many days without intermission. The violent tetanic 

 symptoms of poisoning by strychnine are also such as could 

 scarcely fail to excite suspicion and alarm. Add to these 



