Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-11
Deadly Drugs Occasionally Used to Adul-
terate Beer.
HONEST BREWERS In THE MAJORITY.
WRITTEN FOR THE D1sPATcH.l

every country into which beer mas Deen In
troduced, it has become the national bever-
age, until now it is the favorite drink in all
northern and temperate parts of Europe and
Asia. Even in Paris, where wine and
absinthe are supposed to hold full sway,
beer is consumed to an enormous extent.
Coming home, Allegheny county con-
sumed, approximately, 5000, 900 gallons of
beer during the year ending June 80, 1889.
These figures represent about 80 gallons
for each man, woman and child in the
county.
PERTINENT QUESTION.
Now, considering this enormous and uni
versal use of beer, and in view OF the fact
that, locally, an enormously greater tnan
usual amount of this beverage has been
consumed recently, the quality Of beer being
manufactured is a matter of importance.
Some investigations into its purity, then,
NAV be interesting and timely. An analysis
for impurities of 15 samples of beer as II is
furnished to the Pittsburg consumer by
brewers, within and without the county,
gives the following results:
Lead present in three samples
Arsenic present in two samples.
Cocculus indicus (picrotoxin) present in i've
samples.
Saiicylic acid present in two samples.
Strychnine present in no samples.
Picric acid present in no samples.
Tobacco present in no samples.
Opium present in no samples.
Bacteria (living) present in no samples.
OF the three brands of beer containing
lead, one was of bottled and two of tapped
beer. How the metal came to be present in
the bottled article can only be conjectured
(probably it was from artificial glucose used
as an adulterant), but it is quite certain that
the presence of lead in the tapped beer was
owing to the fact that the beer was con-
veyed from the barrel in the cellar to the
faucet in the barroom by a lead pipe of
about 25 feet in length in the one instance,
aud 35 feet in the other. The free acids, acetic,
Tactic and carbonic, in the beer, converted
the metallic lead into soluble salts which
were dissolved and carried along by the
beer flowing through the pipes.
THE DANGER OF LEAD PIPES.
DIR. HAY, the well-known chemist, some
time ago pointed out the danger of using
lead pipe for this purpose, and recommended
that pipe of iron, lined with an enamel
free from lead, be used instead. 1t may be
me ntioned that the samples of tapped beer
which contained lead were obtained when
wei had more than SO saloons in the city
a time when beer had more opportunity TO
stand in the pipes than it has, now. 1t is
true that the quantity in one case would be
small, but, as is we'll known TO medical
science. lead, like all metals, tends to ac-
cumulate in the system, and, no
matter how small the dose, it will
eventually produce chronic lead poison
ing. Physicians are constantly meeting
with cases where this form of poisoning can
be diagnosticated, but where it is a very
difficult matter TO ascertain the source of the
lead. Until pipes made of material other
than lead are used for tapping, beer must
come in for a share of the blame in these
r Al - L.
professional friend of mine had two patients,
both bar keepers (though in different
saloons), who were suffering with chronic
lead poisoning. The source of the lead in
both instances, my friend and agreed, and
analysis showed, was the lead tap pipe. A
sample from each of these saloons is in
cluded in the table above and constitute two
the three instances in which
LEAD WAS FOUND.
In both cases, no lead was detected in
ser taken directly from the bar
S. As soon as the matter was
'ught to the notice of the pro-
etors of the respective saloons, they i'm
,diately made arrangements to have the
er barrels placed in the barroom and
pped directly with spiggot, without the
Intervention of compressed air and lead
Nipe, or pipe of any kind; and. though. the
wo bartenders continued to drink beer as
before, the symptoms of lead poisoning all
subsded.
How the arsenic found in two samples got
into the beer, is a matter very easy of ex-
planation. In order to increase the profits,
the unscrupulous brewers of these beers
had used artificial glucose in the manufac-
ture. This substitution would be harmless
and justifable, perhaps, were it not for the
fact that in the artificial conversion of starch
mt oil nlrh
commercial sulphuric acid almost invariably
contains arsenic. Whence the
ARSENIC IN THE BEER.
True, this poisonous metal was not founed
in very great quantity, and probably would
act as a tonic and increase the avoirdupois
of the man who drinks four or five glasses
daily of the beer containing it; but what of
the man who drinks Is or 20 glasses or more
a day? If he drinks continually of that
one brand of beer he must inevitably suffer
from chronic arsenical poisoning. This is
no gauzy hypothesis; it has occurred with
in the writer's personal knowledge.
Picrotoxin was found in five samples It
is the poisonous active principle of cocculus
Indicus, the fruit of which was used to
adulterate the beer for the purpose of
cheaply increasing It's bitterness and intox-
icating effects, with corresponding saving
OF hops and OF malt.
A CHEAP ADULTERANT.
1t taxes but very little cocculus indicus
to infuse great amount of bitterness into
an enormous quantity of beer, and as but
one-twentleth of grain, when repeated sew
eral times at short intervals, is sufficient to
produce the intoxicating effects of
the drug, it is seen that it
makes a cheap adulterant. A solution con-
tanning the picroto1in obtained from
sample OF beer was injected hypodermatic-
ally into guinea pig. with the result of
literally tieing him up in a kno: with the
tetanic spasms. Death followed in a short
time. This is called the physiological test for
picrotoxin, and, though little hard on the
guinea pig, is confrmatory of the accuracy
of the chemical test. 1t is possible that the
intoxication due in part to the picrotoxin in
beer may have something to do with many
acts of violence which might not be COM
mitted under the influence of alcohol alone
The effects of the long-continued use of
picrotoxIn are most disastrous, the nervous
system being chiefly affected. The differ
ence between drinking pure beer and one
containing picrotoxin is, other things being
the man who drinks the adulterated
product
AN UNNECESSARY EVIL.
Salicvlic acid is not DANGEROUS adulter-
amt. but il has no business in the beer. If
enough hops are used there is no necessity
for il.
Strychnine and picric acid were not found
in the samples analyzed, though they are
sometimes used to increase the bitterness
and the profits.