Am bJe°cU"'i7h7arm  }         Some  Constituents  of  Hops.  5  8  3 
without  the  aid  of  artificial  heat,  and  were  found  to  shrink  about 
three-fourths  in  weight;  after  much  perseverance  one  troyounce  of 
the  dried  bracts  was  obtained.  Some  difficulty  was  next  experienced 
in  powdering  them  ;  rubbing  them  with  sand  in  a  mortar  was  first 
tried,  and  found  to  be  exceedingly  slow  work  ;  grinding  in  a  drug  mill 
was  next  attempted,  but  found  to  be  simply  impossible  ;  the  method 
finally  resorted  to,  and  found  to  work  nicely,  was  to  cut  the  bracts  in 
pieces  with  shears.  This  may  readily  be  done  by  grasping  the  hand 
full  of  them  and  passing  the  shears  repeatedly  through  many  of  them 
at  once,  sifting  out  the  fine  particles  from  time  to  time.  The  powder 
thus  obtained  was  exhausted  with  stronger  alcohol,  and  a  tincture 
obtained  possessing  a  bitter  taste  and  some  odor,  neither  of  which 
would,  however,  hardly  remind  one  of  hops.  The  alcohol  was  dis- 
tilled off  from  the  tincture,  and  an  extract  obtained  weighing  seventy 
grains.  To  the  distillate  was  added  some  water,  the  alcohol  distilled 
off  at  a  gentle  heat,  and  the  heat  then  raised.  The  distilled  water  was 
observed  to  have  a  slight  foreign  odor,  but  could  not  be  recognized  as 
the  odor  of  hops  ;  it  had  no  effect  on  litmus  paper,  and  produced  no 
change  in  color  with  a  solution  of  permanganate  of  potassa,  evidently 
containing  not  more  than  the  merest  trace  of  volatile  organic  matter. 
Of  the  extract  obtained  twenty  grains  was  reserved  for  further 
experiment,  the  remaining  fifty  grains  being  tried  in  the  following  man- 
ner :  One-half  of  it  was  given  to  a  healthy  person;  no  effect  being 
experienced,  in  one  hour  the  remainder  was  given  ;  no  effect  whatever 
was  noticed  upon  either  pulse,  temperature  or  respiration.  The  por- 
tion reserved  was  dried  by  means  of  the  water-bath  until  it  ceased  to 
lose  weight,  after  which  the  weight  was  found  to  be  1*013  gram  >  °f 
this,  '225  gram,  or  about  22  per  cent.,  was  insoluble  in  water;  the 
portion  soluble  in  water  was  found  to  give  the  reactions  characteristic 
of  tannin,  and  also  to  contain  a  small  amount  of  bitter  extractive. 
The  amount  of  the  extract  reserved  was,  however,  too  small  to  admit 
of  many  experiments. 
(  I  then  endeavored  to  determine  the  nature  of  the  tannin  contained 
in  hops,  700  grains  of  which  were  exhausted  with  boiling  water,  the 
decoction  evaporated  nearly  to  extractive  consistence,  and  treated  with 
alcohol  to  remove  the  gummy  matter.  The  alcohol  was  evaporated 
and  the  residue  dissolved  in  water  ;  the  percentage  of  tannin  was  then 
