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Tunnery at Messrs. Allsopp & Sons' Brewery, Burton-on-Trent.

PLATE. I.-QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, NO. xxvii.

THE QUARTERLY

JOURNAL OF SCIENCE.

JULY, 1870.

I. BEER, SCIENTIFICALLY AND SOCIALLY
CONSIDERED.

By JAMES SAMUELSON, Editor.

DURING a visit which I paid last year to Germany, the Tyrol, and Switzerland, I was greatly struck with the fact that in countries where beer is the national beverage, the humbler classes are comparatively sober; whilst in those parts where wine, even the thin wine of the country, and ardent spirits usurp the place of the milder beverage, there is a nearer approximation to the habits of our own people-in other words, there is a large amount of drunkenness.

In publishing elsewhere a short account of my observations,* I ventured to express the opinion that the man who should succeed in introducing into Britain and bringing into general consumption a mild, brisk, sparkling beverage such as one gets abroad, would be a greater benefactor to his people than the most self-denying devoted advocate of teetotalism, and some of the most influential organs in the country, and notably three,† have more or less emphatically endorsed this view in their criticisms. What is still more satisfactory, I have received inquiries concerning the difference between the processes of manufacture of the English and German beer, from persons who have the will and ability to carry out my suggestion, whilst German beer is daily more sought after, and in our large towns, such as London, Manchester, and Liverpool, it may readily be procured, though the cost is rather high owing to the limited consumption. Instead, therefore, of having over-estimated the importance of the beer question, I find that it is far more deserving of consideration than I had imagined, and after having directed my attention to it, and inquired further into its scientific and social aspects, I have arrived at the conclusion that there are few subjects of greater national importance to us as Englishmen.

gone

One of the journals to which reference has been made,‡ has so far as to say that "wholesome beer and wholesome recreation

*The German Working Man.' Longmans.

The Illustrated London News,' January 1; The Pall Mall Gazette,' January 8; The Gardener's Chronicle,' March 19.

t The Pall Mall Gazette.'

VOL. VII.

Y

are, for the most part, beyond the reach of our working men ;" and although much of the blame rests with the operatives themselves, who prefer to give 6d. per quart for bad beer at a public-house, rather than the same price for the finest Burton ale, which they could easily procure by combination, yet it is perfectly true that a large proportion of the beer now sold to the masses is totally unfit for consumption. If any of my readers are disposed to doubt this, let them read the following paragraph which I have extracted from the proceedings of the Liverpool Select Vestry, as reported in the Liverpool Daily Post' of January last:

66 POISONOUS BEER AND LUNACY: A BREWER'S TESTIMONY." "A conversation as to the cost of pauper lunatics arose, and Mr. Glover, addressing the committee, said he thought that, with regard to lunacy, they began at the wrong end. He had visited the lunatic asylums in Lancashire within the last three or four months, and he had asked the masters of the institutions what was the cause of the increase in pauper lunatics? The answer was drunkenness, and he (Mr. Glover) believed that that was the case. He thought the health committee ought to be asked to appoint some sort of an inspector to look after the quality of the drink sold. They appointed inspectors of meat and fish, and they condemned bad fruit, but bad drink was ten times worse than all of them. There was a law which, if put in force, punished people for using poisonous ingredients in the making of beer-preventing them from using grains of paradise, nux-vomica, oil of vitriol, ammonia, and other things that were used in making beer. That was in addition to malt and hops, but if only malt and hops were used there would be no lunatics from drink. His impression was that all a working man could spend in honestly brewed beer would not kill him or drive him mad, if the beer were good. There were some dishonest publicans as well as dishonest brewers; and there were some publicans who rode handsome chargers, and their wives were driven about in splendid equipages, and they were doing great injury to people and filling the workhouses. He believed the drink they sold was not honest drink, but contained some of the things he had described. When a brewer had beer that would not keep long, he said to his customer, when it got a little sour, that he would change it. It was taken back to the brewery when sour, and then the dishonest publican bought it for 10s. or 17. a barrel. He then went to the druggist's shop, and got something that neutralized the acid; and, was not the poor creature who afterwards drank the beer likely to go mad? If a man had a pint or two of good honest beer, he would never go mad. The health committee ought to attend to the matter, and see that good beer was given to the people."