The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-04 00:00:00

TELLERS

F. The screw seam _cently launched
t
t Deptf or d, was ceived in the fitting _
P "W
S PAP
basin at Woolwicii. The -paddlewheel steam-sloop, - _rt
Hecate l 3 as been undoeked, 1
and the Driver has been
docked for repairs. ~i43,:\•?4,
:I,Xt-,

'~~~;
x

i
1 zi
.4-;:we,
~
THE EFFECT OF
WAR 0
i- - --------- INDIA.i \ 4 • ~..
• • .2titia t
_.--4.--
. , .
One clear half century .
I war. Since then,
..A. . ii.
by a naN a
antly at
India -was affected
t incess
has been almos
coasts and "
though England has elapsed since Britis......
ls r X India have been
aid war risks, no one v::-
war ii i some quarter of thfreegelforboem, the
ap
"r:nglish merchant hasp .
se-
No ... I 'ited for convoy. Even
it were the shorter line .„
.- Itussia, crossed as
everoverland route was as safe
pereoahensioth . 'trn,r,
war wi -: . ''.ll
"tea' uin 1856, when the .:11
of co un:that Anglo-Indians can.
- ,cation, the overland
'1
and uni terruk idea of danger, scarcely estimate
deed, h s been ti. '-e security,asinpeace. So profound, in.-
. in the world . '.1,1
scarcely! realise the Englishmen . .
their position during - a naval war.
- power, save Britain and '.
e'l
Yet there is ;,,
the sea would more
full consciousness of ,
r. i
probably no class of _
.1
whom a war with the on')
w that we record. :Ind
America, capable of holdin, OW
injuriously affect. It is with a lisastrous, unPo-'
the calamities which must folio, ,st inevitable.
our conviction that a naval war, a. -id comma
pular, wicked as it may be, is amt. B.ed Sea
Its effect will be to put a stop to the rat. 's cora-
-ans-
nication now almost in our hand. The "he
telegraph may be laid down, but the cable .
paratively useless while no messages can be t.
mitted through France or the Mediterranean. I
overland route may not be closed, for its importanet.
is so great that armed steamers may be employed
to convey the mails. But the swifter route will be
closed at once, and the steamers will be hampered -
and delayed byl the necessity of precaution. Our
navy is not now so strong as to sweep the Medi-
terranean clear at the very commencement of the
war. How specie is to be sent overland we fail to
perceive, and even round the Cape a large remit-
tance will require a squadron for its convoy. That
single circumstance, a mere incident inherent in -_
hostilities with a first-class Power, will enormously --gips;
increase the embarrassments of the Indian Govern-
ment. f 4-
The only resource will be to send a strong ;lIT
squadron to the entrance of the Red Sea, and pa- , 1"1,;l
trol the Mediterranean with a steam fleet, thus , ,
diverting no inconsiderable section of our strength ' ' '
simply to keep open a road. On: the longer route
matters will be even worse. Steam has not been
generally employed for the carriage of heavy goods
round the Cape. Our ships -from China and
India are the richest which sail the ocean, and
will be in a proportionate degree the objects of
attack. The system of issuing letters of marque
has never been finally abandoned. Every sharp
Havre trader, every unscrupulous Yankee will be
taking them out, and in a few months war risks must
be added to the other drawbacks on our costly
trade. The trade may bear it, for, with the excep-
tion of silk and indigo, the demand must increase.
The prices of saltpetre and seeds, of all fibres, and
all articles of food ought to rise as they had begun
to do during the Russian war. But war changes
commerce into speculation, and though a few for-
tunes may be made more rapidly, and on a larger
scale than before, the mass of traders must suffer
annoyance only surpassedby their direct pecuniary
loss. The effect upon the Indian money-market
will depend materially on the duration of the war,
but, sensitive as that market is, we may safely
affirm that the average of fluctuation and conse-
quent loss will be about three times that of the
London Exchange. Every movement in the coun-
try itself will pi oduce exaggerated apprehension,
from the certainty that England can lend no aid,
and, as we pointed out last week, three of our great
cities are not exempt from actual danger of attack.
War, we fear, will not yield to Anglo-Indians the
pleasurable excitement it is apt to afford to quiet
Englishmen.—Friend of India.

"f

ADULTERATION OF BEER.

All the various kinds of beer, known as porter,
ale, Strasburg, Louvain, small beer, &c., differ from
each other only in the manipulation and relative
proportions of their proper ingredients, unless
noxious substances be mixed up with the latter.
Beer, according to its strength, contains from 3 to
8 per cent. of pure alcohol; but its quality may be
influenced by the nature of the water or clarifying
substances used, or by the vessels used either to
brew or to keep the liquid, and which may impreg-
nate it with copper, lead, calcareous salts, or tartaric
acid. The copper, if any, may be discovered by
evaporating the beer to the consistence of an ex-
tract, incinerating the latter, and treating it with
dilute nitric acid, which will assume a bluish colour,
and become darker by the addition of ammonia. If
a piece of iron scoured with dilute sulphuric acid
be then introduced into the solution, the former
will be precipitated upon it in a metallic state. The
presence of lead will become evident by sulphate of
soda, which produces a white precipitate ; oxalate
of ammonia will effect a similar precipitate if the
liquid contain calcareous salts, and tartaric acid,
which is not dangerous to health, may be detected
by a solution of potash, poured on the extract above
described, redissolved in water, which will give a
granular precipitate. But adulteration in its stricter
sense comprises the substitution of various drugs or
leaves for hops. Such are the leaves of the box-tree
and of the rnenyanthes, the flowers of the linden
tree, gentian, poppyheads, guaiacum, or lignum
vitae, Spanish juice, henbane, grains of paradise,
coculus indicus, cayenne pepper, nux vomica, and
a powder composed of sulphate of copper, persul-
phate of iron, fecula, and a bitter and astringent
extract of some sort. Some of the above substances
are the reverse of noxious ; the leaves of the box tree
are sudorific and slightly purgative ; gentian is
tonic and a febrifuge ; guiacum is hot, aromatic,
and anti-rheumatic ; Spanish juice is innocent, and
used only to deepen the colour, &c. But poppy-
heads are narcotic, henbane stupifying, cocculus
indicus is acrid and intoxicating, and nux vomica,
as well as other drugs of the strychnos genus, are
positively deleterious, producing tetanus, and even
in small doses giddiness and convulsions. They are,
in fact, used to poison dogs and cats with, and
brewers using them consequently incur a serious
amount of responsibility, the more so as this kind
of adulteration may be easily detected by reducing
the beer to an extract as above, and then treating
it by alcohol ; the latter dissolve& the strychnine
and brucine, which are the vegetable bases of the
family of the stiychneie, and their nature is imme-
diately tested by sulpuric acid and bichromate of
potassia. As for the compound powder, the only
really noxious substance it contains is sulphate of
copper, the test for which is given above.

m e,
re
s yester ay receive